Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Col. AEneas Mackay and Unknown




Husband Col. AEneas Mackay 1

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died:  - Trenton, Mercer Co, NJ
         Buried: 17 Feb 1777 - First Presbyterian cemetery, Philadelphia, PA 1
       Marriage: 



Wife Unknown

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

   Other Spouse: George Adams, Esq. (      -      ) 2


Children
1 F Elizabeth Mackay 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Col. Stephen Bayard (1744-1815) 2


2 M Samuel Mackay 1

           Born: 20 Jul 1766 - Fort Ligonier, Westmoreland Co, PA 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 




General Notes: Husband - Col. AEneas Mackay


We do not know the date nor the place of birth of AEneas Mackay. He first appears in authentic history as a citizen of South Carolina. On the 10th of June, 1754, Capt. AEneas Mackay, in command of an independent company of "King's Soldiers," of one hundred men, from South Carolina, joined Washington in the midst of the Great Meadows, where he was constructing Fort Necessity, on his march from Wills Creek to Fort Duquesne. This was a year previous to Braddock's campaign. He being a British officer, and holding a king's commission, could not, in common with his fellow-officers, brook the idea of being the subordinate of a young man like Washington, who only held a commission from a province, and who was regarded by them as a young and inexperienced provincial officer. The question of priority of rank was immediately raised. The difficulty was only settled in a way honorable to all, when the small force of British-Americans were attacked by the much superior force of French and Indians, Washington then took command, and conducted the capitulation. He withdrew his force to Wills Creek, and leaving them there in security, he, in company with Mackay, proceeded to Williamsport to make their military report to the Governor. Washington rejoined his regiment at Alexandria, Virginia, and Capt. Mackay returned to Wills Creek, and was placed with his company under command of Col. Innes, who was engaged in erecting a fort there, which he called Fort Cumberland, after the Duke of Cumberland.
We next find Capt. Mackay at Fort Ligonier, while the garrison was yet commanded by officers of the king. Here he remained for several years, until 1766. In this year he was transferred to Fort Pitt, of which he was afterwards placed in command. While here it is well known he was a leading spirit of the Penns in resisting the claims of Lord Dunmore, of Virginia, and was made one of Penn's magistrates. He, with Devereux Smith and Andrew McFarlane, was appointed a king's justice for Westmoreland. At the breaking out of the Revolution he took sides with the colonies, and received his commission as colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment. He died in the first year of the war, from a fever contracted from fatigue and exposure in their march from Fort Pitt to Trenton in midwinter. His remains were taken to Philadelphia, and interred in the First Presbyterian burying-ground on the 17th of February, 1777.
In a notice of his death in the Pennsylvania Evening Post of Feb. 18, 1777, and which was evidently written by a loving friend, appears the following:
"On Saturday last Died of a putrid fever at Trenton, New Jersey, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, AEneas Mackay, Esqr., Colonel of the Eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Continental forces; & yesterday his remains were interred, with the honors of war, in the first Presbyterian Burying-Ground of this city. In him his country has lost a faithful servant & good officer, his widow an uncommonly tender & affectionate husband, his children an indulgent father, and the world an honest man. . . ."
Col. Mackay's wife was a lady of New York, afterwards married to George Adams, Esq., of Pittsburgh.

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Sources


1 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 92.

2 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 93.

3 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 82.


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