THE MACKEY LINE OF DESCENT

Our Mackey ancestry has been traced back to the birth of Jonathan Mackey who was born in the County Down of Ireland in 1615. Here is his list of descendants and their places of birth:

I. Johnathan Mackey  b.1615 County Down, Ireland
II. John Mackey unknown birth information
III. William Mackey  b. 1712   Inverness, Scotland
IV. Robert Mackey       b. 1750                     Maryland
V. William Mackey     b. 1803   Welsh Run, Franklin, PA
VI. James Mackey       b. 1830   Welsh Run, Franklin, PA
VII. Thomas Mackey   b. 1852   Galion, Crawford, OH
VIII. Guy Mackey        b. 1875   Galion, Crawford, OH
IX. Robert Mackey  b. 1908   New York City, NY, NY
X. Phillip Mackey        b. 1943   Akron, Summit, OH
XI. Gabriel Mackey b. 1988   Westerville, Franklin, OH

Most Irish and Scottish genealogists are in agreement that the 

words Mackay, Mackie, Mackey, etc. are Anglicization's of 

MacAoidh or son of Aoidh. The proper pronunciation sounds like 

eye or "McEye". When I began researching our ancestors in Galion,

Ohio the census takers had written our surname as McKey and

other variable ways of spelling the name. The prefix "Mac" means

 "son of ".

We also know that many Scotland people were sent to Ireland in the 1600s, our people among them. These people were called Scots-Irish by their neighbors in America, because of where they emigrated from in the 1700s. The "Scots-Irish" would have preferred to be called Scots or Scotch. They remained true to their Scottish upbringing even though they lived in Ireland for about a century. I am proud of my Scotch heritage!