El
Dorado County
Biographies
GEORGE W. McKEE
George W. McKee, a prominent
businessman of Placerville, displayed in his life many of the sterling
characteristics of his Scotch ancestry, including the reliability, perseverance
and keen discrimination for which the Scotch people are noted. In 1805 his grandfather, with his wife and
children, immigrated from the land of hills and
heather and took up their residence in Pennsylvania. Soon afterward Andrew McKee, the father of
our subject, was born. Having arrived at
years of maturity he married Miss Mary Hill, who also was of Scotch lineage and
was born in the Keystone state. He was a
blacksmith by trade and was a man of considerable reputation and influence in
his county. For a number of years he
served as a captain of the militia of Beaver County and throughout his entire
life he lived in that county, bearing his share of the work of progress and
improvement. Both he and his wife were
worthy members of the Presbyterian Church.
In their family were four children, viz.: Andrew James, deceased; Mary Elizabeth, the
wife of James Magill, a merchant living in Pueblo, Colorado; Agnes Jane, the
wife of William Curry, a farmer living near Burgettstown, Washington County,
Pennsylvania; and George W., the subject of this review.
George W. McKee was born in Beaver
County in 1840, and there he pursued his education. He spent the greater part of his youth with
an aunt upon a farm. With a desire to
try his fortune on the Pacific coast he left home at the age of eighteen years
and in 1858 sailed for California, crossing the Isthmus of Panama and thus
making his way up the Pacific coast. He
located in Alleghany, Sierra County, where he became engaged in drift and
tunnel mining, meeting with good success in his ventures. In 1864 he returned to his home in the east to
visit his mother and relatives, again making the journey by way of the water
route. The same year he returned by the
Nicaragua route and once more took up his abode in Alleghany, where he
continued until 1874. In that year he
removed to Fairplay, El Dorado County, where he
purchased the Fairplay House, conducting it
successfully for twelve years. In 1886
he became the owner and proprietor of the Ohio House in Placerville and
continued the conduct of the same until 1898, when he sold out. Thus for twenty-four years he engaged in the
hotel business and was a popular landlord, widely and favorably known
throughout the northern part of California.
His earnest desire to please his guests and his well-conducted hostelry
won him a liberal patronage, while his admirable qualities of manner gained him
many warm personal friends.
In 1870 Mr. McKee was united in
marriage to Miss Mary L. Bain, who was born in Oleta, Amador County,
California, and is a daughter of August Bain, a California pioneer of
1852. They have one son, Joseph F., who
is now a progressive young businessman of Placerville. Mr. McKee is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and has three times served as the master of his lodge. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, is a past king
of the chapter and a past commander of El Dorado Commandery. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine, his
membership being in Islam Temple, at San Francisco. In politics he is an earnest Republican, unswerving
in his advocacy of the party principles, but he has never sought or desired
public office, preferring to devote his time and attention to his business
affairs, in which he has met with creditable and well-deserved success.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 649-650. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies