DANIEL AND CATHERINE COATES McKAY.

     Daniel McKay was born in Inverness-shire in the highlands of Scotland.  His parents brought him to this country when he was about seven years old.  When leaving the shores of his native land he said that he envied the sheep that were grazing on the hillsides.
     They settled near Philadelphia, and I remember an incident that my grandfather told me about himself and another boy buying a fish pond.  They kept it a secret from their parents and went out to try their first catch one evening when there was a "belling" in the neighborhood.  His father thought he had gone to the belling, and therefore made preparations to teach him a lesson.  But Daniel explained where he had been, and brought in as evidence a basketful of nice fish.  I need not add that the lesson was not given.
     He acquired a good education for the times; could speak quite readily four languages - his native tongue, English, German and that of the Seneca Indians.
     He studied astronomy with Franklin, and also studied to be a physician, but was obliged to give it up because he sickened at the cutting of human flesh.
     He then learned the trade of harness maker and saddler.  He removed to Bigtree, Genessee County, New York, and engaged in merchandising and fur trading with the Seneca

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Indians.  His Indian name was Shen-e-gi-dah.  He bought furs and shipped a canoe load at a time to his partners by the Indians, telling them to bring him a paper showing their safe delivery.  The partner would at times try to put off the Indians without a receipt, but they would say, "We want a paper to give to Shenegidah," and they would not return without it.
     Oct. 15, 1807, he married Catherine Coates, and that is the first link that gives me the right to come here as one of your number.  She was about twenty years old when she came from England and was a member of the Church of England.
     The family moved to Ohio about 1820, with horses and sleigh, and while taking a short cut of about fifteen miles across an arm of the lake, the wind changed, causing a crack in the ice, which the team jumped, and when safely on land they thanked God for their preservation.
     They stopped in Cleveland at Noble & Merwin's, and after waiting several days for the waters to subside, crossed the Cuyahoga on a ferry made of logs and worked by means of a rope stretched across the river.
     They settled on the south bank of Tinker's creek, about one-half mile from its mouth.  After several unimportant changes they located on land about one-half mile south of the eleven mile lock.  Here my father and mother became acquainted.
     Aunt Margaret said to my father:  "I like your brother, Luke, better than I do you."  He replied: "I like your sister, Jane, better than I do you."

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     Grandfather and family later moved to Brecksville, then to Boston, Summit County, where he kept a store.  On account of "going bail" there he lost nearly everything, and from that time on he and grandmother lived with my father in Independence, O., where they both died.'

INCIDENTS.

    While living near Tinker's creek, he lost his horse by going bail, and, as he was a cripple, they were afraid of his becoming a town's charge and warned him out of town.  He laughed at them and told them that as he was a township officer, he thought he had already gained a residence.
     He was stripped of his property three times by going bail, but he continued to have faith in"the brotherhood of man and that fatherhood of God."
     He was skilled in palmistry and believed that a person born in the old of the moon with flat finger balls would be short lived, and persons born in the new of the moon with plump finger balls would be long lived.  He thus predicted the lives of his own children, that his boys would be short lived and his girls long lived, which proved true.
     The constitution that I inherited from my grandparents was one of the factors that kept me alive through wounds and sickness during the war, while thousands less highly favored never returned.
     I was about six years old when grandfather died.  I have no record of his birth, but think they called him about 84 years old.  This would make his birth year 1756.
     Although born and brought up within ten miles of

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here, I am little acquainted with those present, and my feelings are much like Irving's when he visited the land of his ancestors.

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JANE M'KAY.

     Jane McKay, (dau. Catherine, dau. John Coates¹,) married, 1829, Abiel Newton, born Jan. 17, 1802.  Resided at Independence, O.

CHILDREN

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 CHAS. A. NEWTON.

     Chas. A. Newton4, (s. Jane McKay, dau. of Catherine, dau. John Coates¹,) married Louisa M. Day, born July 1, 1845, Deerfield, O.  Moved to Redlands, Cal., where he died Oct. 25, 1898, and where the family now reside.

CHILDREN.

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ROBERT BRUCE M'KAY.

     Robert Bruce McKay³, (s. Catherine, dau. John Coates¹,) married Miss M. Clark.

CHILD.

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MARY COONROD.

     Mary Coonrod married Edward Webb.  Their children are Edith Hurd, Franklin avenue, Cleveland, O., and Carl Webb, Richfield, O.

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NELL COONROD.

     Nell Coonrod married Virgil Newton Richfield.

CHILDREN.

CHILDREN

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dau. John Coates1,) married Ellen C. Seymour, Philadelphia.  They had two children - Arthur C. Morton, Canton, O.; Miss Anna Morton, Philadelphia, Pa.
     David Tower, the father, was a physician and studied for his profession at Philadelphia.  He died Sept. 25,  1878.

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ALICE THEODORA MORTON JONES.

     Alice Theodora Morton, (dau. Susanna, dau. Catherine, dau. John Coates1,) to whom I am indebted for the facts concerning the Morton family, is a bright woman, a member of Cleveland Sorosis and Literary Guild.  Is also active in many benevolent works.  She married James Jones.  Has no children and resides at 24 Monroe street, Cleveland, O.

MARGARET M'KAY DE MURRAY.

     Margaret McKay married a Mr. De Murray and had a son, who is in the civil war and died in Libby Prison.

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