MACKY, John

John Macky

John Macky was a son of Doctor Robert Macky and Catharine  Snickers. The name is variously spelled,  but spelling it without the ‘e’ was conforming to early custom. It was sometimes spelled McKay, although Dr. Robert is not thought to have been related to the Quaker Robert Mckay who was one of the first settlers of the Shenandoah·Valley.

"Doct. Robt. Macky of Winchester, Virginia,” made a will on the 14th day or November, 1807 (Fred. Co.  Bk. No. 2, p. 414), in which he left all his estate to his wife “Kitty Macky," during "her natural life or widowhood," but if  she should marry again, she would be entitled to only one-third  of his estate. Upon her death or remarriage, his estate was to be equally divided among his six children: Mary, Elizabeth, Frederick, John, Sally and Kitty. He appointed his wife executrix to serve with "my trusty friend Henry St. G Tucker,”  and his son Frederick William Macky. executors. His son Frederick  was evidently not of age in 1807, as the will states "when he  attains the age of twenty-one years."  He must have reached legal maturity by the 3rd of May, 1814, because "Frederick W  Macky, one of the executors,!' was granted certificate for probate on that date. There were three codicils to the will, one of which, dated November 15, 1807, had to do with any charges against Dr. Samuel Taylor, husband or Mary Macky, being deducted from his "wife's fortune.”  Another dated May 12, 1809 explained the provisions in regard to Mary Taylor’s children, she having died, and added that his wife “with the advice and consent of my executors, and if she thinks proper, may advance  to any or our children any proportion of their respective shares…” The third codicil, dated March 11, 1810, recited, “I this day give to my son Fred. W. Macky, all my medicine, shop furniture, medical Books and Surgeons instruments, and  to my son John Macky my Encyclopedia & all my other books.”

Dr. Frederick Williams Macky died intestate prior to May 20, 1816. The appraisement of his personal estate (Fred. Co . Will  Bk. 10, p. 19) gives a long list of the instruments for amputating, tooth drawing, midwifery, and of hairlip needles as well as bottles of medicine and scales with weights. The books,  

such as Bells Surgery in 2 volumes, Monro’s Anatomy in 3 volumes,Chapman’s Midwifery, Lawrence on Ruptures and Boyer on the Bones are all set forth to a total of 99 volumes, including medical dictionaries. A horse appraised at $100. and a  saddle at $10. brought the total amount of his personal property' to $654.25. 

Dr. Robert Macky had been a surgeon in the Revolutionary  War. (Va. Mag. of Hist. &  Biog., v. II, No. 3, Jan. 1895,  p. 255). The Virginia Magazine of History & Biography (v. 34,  p. 360) says that Dr. Robert Macky of Winchester was one of'  the executors of Thomas Bryan Martin, a nephew and heir of'  Thomas, Lord Fairfax.  According to the Journal of Dr. Alexander Balmain, rector of the Episcopal Church in Winchester  from 1781 to 1821, Dr. Macky was a contributing member (2  per annum) of his congregation 1n the years 1783, 1784, 1785  and 1804. These are the only years for which he gives such  information.  A portrait, reputed to be that or Dr. Robert Macky, was owned by William McDonald Neill, probably a descendant or Dr. Macky’s granddaughter Catherine S. Baldwin,  who married Simund C. Neill on July 11, 1850 (Register, Frederick Parish, Oct. 1825-1842). 

Catharine Snickers Macky was a daughter of Edward Snickers and Elizabeth Taliaferro. Edward Snicker, "being sick, weak of Body but in perfect sense and memory,” made his last will  on the 18th of June, 1790, before witnesses Daniel Morgan,  Sigismund Stribling and Matthew Wright (Fred. Co. Will Bk., No. 5, p. 296). He left to his only son, William Snickers,  "the tract of land on which he now lives known by the the name of Clermont containing 413 acres," land in Loudoun County and  a tract of land "held under lease from Lord Farefax (sic) to  Lord Dunmore lying nere (sic) the Warmsprings in Berkeley County held by me in consideration or a sum of Money lent  Lord Dunmore… also Sundrey Negrows…”  To his daughter  Sarah Alexander, he left “the tract of Land on Which I now live containing 411 acres known by the name of Springfield,  Also Sundrey Negrows.” To h1s daughter Catharine Mackie (isc), he devised "the tract of Land Whereon John Obanion now lives which I purchased of Martin Ashby…” and to his daughter  Elizabeth Stribling, "the tract of Land whereon She now lives  known by the name of No. 1..also Sundry Negrows.” To his  granddaughter "Polly' Mackie", be gave a Negro girl named Kitty, and to his  grandson Edward Mackie, a Negro boy named Sam.  (This grandson Edward, child of his daughter Catharine must have died young for this is the only reference to him that  has been found.) The sheep on his Springfield plantation were to be divided equally' between his three daughters, Sarah Alexander, Catherine Mackie and Elizabeth Strlbling.  William  Snickers, Sarah Alexander, Doctor Robert Mackie, Thomas Stribling and General Daniel Morgan were named executors. When the  will was probated on January 4, 1791, Daniel Morgan refused to  “take upon himself the burden of the execution thereof.”

His four children, three daughters and one son were (according to Hayden’s Virginia Genealogies, p. 41; Frederic County Marriage Register, No. 1; and tombstones in Mt. Hebron Cemetery,  Winchester, Va.):

1. Sarah Snickers, born June 18, 1756. She married first,  on February 12, 1773,  Morgan Alexander,  and had one child Elizabeth, who married James Ware on the 10th of november, 1796.  Her mother, Sarah, married secondly the Rev Charles Mynn Thruston, a colonel in the Revolution, who was known as the "fighting Parson."  

2. Catharine Snickers, born August 20, 1757, married Dr. Robert Macky. Their daughters were:

1. Mary Macky who married Dr. Samuel Taylor on May 21, 1801 (Fred. Co. Marr. reg. No. 1, p. 167, line 32) and had one  daughter, Mary Taylor.  She married J. R. McKim Holliday and had four children, of whom one, Margaret, married Dr. G. F. Mason.

2.  Elizabeth or Betsy Macky married E. Jacquelin Smith on January 9, 1812 (Fred. Co. Marr. Reg. No. 1, p. 156, line 29)  and had five daughters and two sons. 

3. Sallie Macky married on May 14, 1818, Dr. Robert  Baldwin, a son of Dr. Cornelius Baldwin (Fred. Co. Marr. Reg.  No. 1, p. 10B, line 1) and left no issue. 

4. Catharine or Kitty Macky married Dr. Archibald Stuart Baldwin. brother of Dr. Robert Baldwin. She was born  on July 13, 1800, and died on February 8, 1874 (tombstone).  

3. William Snickers, who was born in July 1759, married Fannie Washington in 1793 and they had four daughters and two sons (Welles, History of the Washington Family(, p. 188). 

4. Elizabeth Snickers, born November 11, 1761, married Thomas Stribling on December 4, 1788, and had four sons, two of whom died unmarried.

Catharine Snickers’ mother, Elizabeth Taliaferro, was reportedly from Gloucester County, Virginia; little else  about her has been discovered. It is probable, however, that she was the younger daughter Elizabeth, mentioned in the will of Francis Taliaferro of Spotsylvania County, drawn on the 25th day of February, 1757, and proved on the 7th of March,  1758. (Will Bk. B., p. 343). Francis Taliaferro owned thousands of acres of land in Spotsylvania, Orange, Caroline and King George Counties, Virginia. He left to his daughter,  Elizabeth Taliaferro, 1000 acres in Orange County and to his  other daughter, Ann Hay Brooke, another large tract. (If this Elizabeth Taliaferro is the same one who married Edward Snickers, then, the children of her descendant, Richard W Trappnell  are on both sides of their family descendents of Francis Taliaferro. His daughter,  Ann Hay Taliaferro Brooke was the great-great-great grandmother of Evelina Bedinger Trapnell.)

According to pension records in the National Archives, (File N1, WC 73503,  War of 1812), John Macky was born about  May 25, 1794. He must not be confused with another John Macky,  apparently an older man, who lived in Winchester about the same period. There are records showing a marriage between John Macky' and Rebecca Wickersham and later with a widow, Hannah Smith nee Parkins, whom he divorced in 1814. It is difficult to determine whether there was any blood relationship  between these two men of the same name.

Rebecca Holmes McGuire was a redheaded, seventeen year old Irish lass when she married John Macky. The pension record includes a notarized Claim in his widow states that he was of medium size, had dark hair and blue eyes, and that  they were married in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, by Dr. Alexander Balmain, “clergyman of the P. E. Church,”  on the 25th of May, 1815, and that neither of them had been married before (see also Fred. Co. Marr. Reg. No. 1, p. 110A).  John Macky was just twenty-one.

She was the elder daughter of Edward McGuire, the second of that name. His father was Edward McGuire, the immigrant, who came to the Valley or Virginia sometime before October 3, 1747, when he purchased from Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor, a grant of 346 acres or land on the Wappacomo. On May 30, 1753, he obtained another grant of land in Winchester. He had been born at Ardfert near Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, in 1720.  He “soon became a man of wealth and influence. He had been well educated… Edward Mcguire was, of course, a Catholic and gave the ground as well as contributing largely to  the building of the  Catholic Church in Winchester, the first church of that denomination in the Valley of Virginia.”  He married first Susannah Wheeler of Prince George’s County,  Maryland, and they had three sons and two daughters.  Of these children, Edward, Jr., was the youngest. He married secondly Millicent Dobie by whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1806, he died in Winchester and was buried under  the chancel of the old Catholic church. (The McGuire Family in Virginia, Wm. G. Stahard, Compiler, 1926, p. 23.).  His will was dated July 19, 1806, and was proved on the first of December of that year. (Fred. Co., Will Bk. 8, p 270-273).

The second Edward McGuire “was born in Winchester in July 1767. He was bred to the business of a merchant, entering first the store of Col. Dowdell in Winchester with whom he remained several years.   After attaining the age of 20, he began business for himself at Battletown, now Berryville, and was so successful as to be able to also to open stores at Winchester and in North Carolina.  Desiring to retire, he sold his three stores for 8000 Virginia currency, but fraudulent behavior on the part of the purchaser prevented him from receiving any of the purchase money for a long time and brought him to acute financial embarrassment.  In 1805, he commenced keeping the large hotel in Winchester (which had been built by his father and previously rented to various innkeepers), made a very comfortable fortune, paid all his debts and supported and liberally educated his children.

“He was a quiet man, apparently stern to those who did not know him well; but in reality sociable and hospitable, and generous and charitable to the needy.  His son said, in his own old age, that his father was the most strictly truthful man he had ever known.” (Stanard, p. 32-33.)

He died on November 23 at his home in “Woodville,” near Berryville.  Standard and the Frederick Parish Register, 1825-42, both say he died in 1827, but his will was dated the 12th of November, 1828, and was proved on December first of that year.  It provided for payment of his debts and then his estate was to be divided equally among all his children, except that over and above their equal share, his daughter Rebecca Macky was to have $500., his son Edward D. McGuire, a Negro boy named Bill; his son John Samuel McGuire, $500. Towards completion of his education.  His son Hugh H. McGuire and his son-in-law Alexander S. Tidball (a lawyer and the husband of his daughter Millicent) were the executors. (Fred. Co. WIll Bk. 15, p. 19.)

His wife had predeceased him on March 28, 1828. He had married Elizabeth Holmes on March 10, 1796, Hugh Holmes, surety. (Fred. Co. Marr. Reg. No. 1, p. 122, line 11.) She was a daughter of Joseph Holmes and Rebecca Hunter.  

There is little authenticated information about Joseph Holmes prior to his coming to Winchester, Virginia.  He is reputed to have been born at Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, on August 22, 1746. (Ballykelly is East of Londonderry on the road to Limavaddy and close to Lough Foyle.) His father, Hugh Holmes, is said to have owned an estate of 400 acres there. Many of the books about Winchester in its early days mention Joseph Holmes.  Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants, list the Vestrymen of Frederick Paris in 1764, among them being Edward Snickers and Joseph Holmes (p. 181) and refers to the latter as “the Deputy-Commissioner General of Prisoners,” (p. 271). “The November Court 1784, Joseph Holmes produced his commission as Lieutenant Colonel and at the May Court 1785 was sworn as Sheriff,” (p. 90). “Upon the petition of Joseph Holmes, Gent. and others, merchants in the Borough of Winchester, that they may have a portion of public ground assigned them for the purpose of building a Tobacca Warehouse, ordered that…Robert Mackey…be appointed to lay off on the public lot adjoining Water Street, 100 feet square for the purpose aforesaid, and that said land is vested in Joseph Holmes…Trustees for the purpose aforesaid…” (p. 140). Water Street is now called Boscawen Street.  It got its original name because the Town Run frequently overflowed it and made it impassable (The Streets of Winchester, Garland R. Quarles, p. 18).

A compilation by Hammond Hunter in 1910, lists 13 children of Joseph Holmes and Rebecca Hunter – three named Joseph, two of whom died in infancy.  Joseph Holmes, the father, left no will, but the administration of his considerable estate took several years and there are numerous documents in the County Court House records in Winchester.  An inventory and appraisement of his personal estate taken at his “Grove Farm” on the 22nd day of January, 1793, lists household furnishings, horses, wagons and “1 pair sulky wheels.”  A fascinating list of his books includes such subjects as ancient history, military regulations, surveying, “family Phisic,” Virginia justice, Blackstone’s Commentaries and a Greek Testament. (Fred. Co. Will Bk. 7, pp. 1-24). The total value of his slaves was 972, one third taken out for Mrs. Holmes’ portion. The others were allotted to his children, Hugh Holmes, David Holmes, Miss Eilisa Holmes, Miss Rebecca Holmes, Miss Nancy Holmes, Miss Gertrude Holmes, Joseph Holmes and Andrew Hunter Holmes. (Fred. Co. WIll Bk. 6, Pt. 1, p. 79).

Mr. Hammond Hunter said that Judge Hugh Holmes was born at Mary Ann Furnace, York, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1768, and that he married Elizabeth Briscoe on December 20, 1791; that David Holmes was born March 10, 1769, and died August 20, 1832. He is buried in Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Winchester and his stone says he was a Senator from and a Governor of Mississippi.  Margaret Holmes was born at the “Red House” near Martinsburg on December 16, 1771, and died in 1803.  She married on March 7, 1793, the Rev. Nash Legrand, a denoted revivalist of the Presbyterian Church, who died while on a visit to Winchester in 1814.  Elizabeth Holmes, born May 25, 1777, married Edward McGuire, Jr.  Rebecca Holmes, born at “Stockholm Farms” on March 26, 1779, married Dr. Daniel Conrad in 1796. (From them descended several notable men, among them Holmes Conrad of Winchester.) Nancy Holmes was married to General Elisha Boyd (who lived near Martinsburg) in 1805.  She died July 20, 1819. Gertrude Holmes was born in 1788 and died August 24, 1827. She married WIlliam Moss of Fairfax County, Virginia, sometime after 1806.

The third son named Joseph Holmes was born in 1789 and died in 1810, aged 21.  Wayland refers to the “tragic death of Peyton Bull Smith who was killed Nov. 1809 near Shepherdstown on the Maryland side of the Potomac in a duel with Joseph Holmes.” (Historic Homes of Northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, John W. Wayland. The McCluer Col, Inc., Staunton, Virginia 1937, p. 50.)  Mr Hunter said that Andrew Hunter Holmes, born in 1792, was killed at Mackinaw in the War of 1812, aged 20.  The two teen-aged boys had been orphaned on the death of their mother in 1806.

Their mother was Rebecca Hunter, daughter of David Hunter and Martha McIlhenny.  Capt. David Hunter was the grandson of Andrew Hunter of Cloghan Farm, Tamlacht-Finlagen, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland (not far from the Holmes’ estate). The Hunters of Londonderry are said to be descendants of younger sons of the family of Hunter or “Hunterston and Wallik”, of Ayrshire, Scotland. David Hunter came to York, Pennsylvania, in 1742 or 1743. He owned and laid out the town of Hunterstow, six miles north of Gettysburg, now Adams County, Pennsylvania, and sold lots.  He was a captain of the 3rd York County Royal Colonial Troops and in 1758 served under Gen. Forbes in the expedition against Fort Duquesne. He was appointed to meet Sir John Sinclair and arrange terms. In 1747, he married Martha McIlhenny of Strabane Township, now Adams County, Pennsylvania.  They moved across the Potomac and bought 560 acres of land, now partly in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia.  He owned “The Red House” north of Martinsburg on the Road (US 11) to Falling Waters.

During the summer of 1776, while living at “The Red House Farm,” Captain Hunter mysteriously disappeared.  He was at home in June of that year, and in an old journal a Presbyterian minister speaks of riding from Martinsburg to Winchester on June 6, 1776, with Capt. Hunter and Capt. Joseph Holmes, his son-in-law. During the Civil War, an old house in the Valley of Virginia was ransacked by Unionists and a paper found there was sent to Capt. Hunter’s great-grandson, David Hunter Strother (a Union officer).  It was a writ of habeas corpus directing the Sheriff of Berkeley County to bring Capt. Hunter to the Capital at Williamsburg. The writ was issued in the name of George III and by the authority of Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, the 14th of May, in the 14th year of the reign of George III, etc. (Seldens of Virgina, etc., Mary Selden Kennedy, 1911. V. 2, p. 132-133.  Hunter Family Records, William M. Clemens. Virginia State Library Annual Reports, 1910-12. Eckenrode, “Revolutionary Soldiers”... Hunger (D) 1, p. D48, War 4, 203.)

Rebecca, their eldest child, was born in York County, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1748. She married Joseph Holmes in 1767. In her will dated September 10, 1806, and proved October 6, 1806, she left a feather bed and bedding to each of her daughters, Elizabeth McGuire and Rebecca Contrad.  To another daughter, Gertrude Holmes, she left the remainder of her beds and bedding and one “filley known by the name of Venus.” To each of her sons, Joseph Holmes and Andrew Hunter Holmes, she left a two-year old colt.  All the rest of her property was to be sold and the receipts divided equally between her daughters, Elizabeth McGuire, Rebecca Contrad and Gertrude Holmes, and her sons, Joseph and Andrew Hunter Holmes. Her executors were Archibald Magill and Thomas Faucett.  Martin Cartmell and David Holmes gave bond in the amount of $10,000. Her daughter Margaret Holmes Legrand had died, and no mention was made of her son Judge Hugh Holmes nor of her daughter Nancy Holmes Boyd. (Fred. Co. WIll Bk. 8, p. 254-244, 1806).

(Rebecca’s brother, Moses Hunter, married Mrs. Ann Steven Dandridge. Their daughter, Ann Evelina Hunter, married Henry St. George Tucker of Winchester; their great granddaughter, Evelina Tucker Bedinger, married Richard W. Trapnell, great-great-great grandson of Rebecca Hunter, and thus their children are descended from David Hunter and Marth McIlhenny on both sides). 

John Macky served in the War of 1812 as a 3rd Lieutenant in the 12th Regiment of Infantry, commanded by Colonel Isaac S. Cole.  He entered the service on the 29th of March, 1813, when he was 19 years old, and continued in active service until he resigned his commission a year later (Pension record). 

Everard Kidder Meade’s “Notes on the History of the the Lower Shenandoah Valley,” in the Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, vol. XIV, 1956-7, page 61, says:

“James Singleton, of that part of Frederick which became Clarke County (‘Land’s End’), commanded what was known as ‘the Valley Brigade’ of Virginia militia in the War of 1812. He held the rank of brigadier general and brigade headquarters was in Winchester. From that town he wrote on April 23, 1813 the following self-explanatory letter to Gov. James Barbour:

“‘An act of the last Assembly, authorizing a company of flying artillery to be raised in each brigade, has induced me, upon the application of Mr. John Mackey, to name him for the command of that company to which the 16th Brigade (the ‘Valley Brigade’) is entitled. 

“‘Mr Mackey is the son of that worthy man lately dead, Doctor Robert Mackey. Mr. Mackey has had a virtuous and liberal education; he is sober, sprightly, active, prudent, commanded a platoon in the action at Williamsburg, in Canada, under Boyd, with great credit, and think him every way qualified for the command.  I avail myself of this opportunity to assure your excellency that for your official and personal success you have the best wishes of Yours etc.’”

This does not check out with the dates and other information in the Pension Claim filed by John Macky’s widow on February 15, 1855. The above letter was written a little over three weeks after John Macky was said to have entered the service.  Perhaps his earlier service was with the Virginia Militia.

The virtuous and liberal education may have been acquired, in part at least, at the Winchester Academy. Garland R. Quarles in his booklet, The Schools of Winchester, Virginia (1964), says that the Winchester Academy was a classical school for boys, which was incorporated in October 1786 by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia. “The trustees named in the petition for incorporation were Alexander Balmain, John Smith, Robert Macky, Philip Bush, Joseph Holmes and Rawleigh Colston. All of these men will be recognized by any student of local history as persons of leadership and substantial reputation in Winchester.” (p. 1).

In 1815, there was a business depression and land in the Lower Valley depreciated fifty percent in value, and money became ver “tight.”  Winchester was in 1810 a town of about 350 dwellings and had a population numbering 1780 free inhabitants and 348 slaves. (The Story of Winchester in Virginia, Frederic Morton, 1925, p. 122, 112).

When John Macky and Rebecca McGuire were married, they may have gone to housekeeping in the Corporation of Winchester or on one of their parents’ country places. The widowed Catherine Snickers Macky was probably then living in the town residence of her late husband, which was on the northeast corner of Braddock and “Pickadillie” Streets. This was “in Lott” No. 60 on the Flat made by John Baylis and had been bought from James M. Marshall et ux in 1799 (Deed Bk. 1, p. 144). In 1804, Robert Macky had purchased the property to the rear on the southeast corner of Braddock Street and Fairfax Lane (“in Lott” No. 77 with “out Lott” No. 16) from the executors and heirs of General George Washington. (Deed Bk. 1, p. 466). There are numerous instruments in the records, pertaining to land transactions of Robert Macky.  He leased a good many 5-acre lots “to farm letten,” as they put it.  Some were “to have and to hold for 999 years, renewable forever.”

After the death of Catherine Macky in 1832, the home was for many year occupied by her son-in-law and daughter, Dr. A Stuart Baldwin and Catharine Macky Baldwin. Following the Civil War and the death of Dr. Baldwin, the property went out of the family.  It was bought at auction for $3,350. By William H. Baker, of the “Baker’s Chocolate” family, in January 1889 (Deed Bk. 20, p. 229) and was sold by him in April 1892 to WIlliam V. Hodges and wife for $4,500. (Deed Bk., 21, p. 245). In October 1907, the Hodges sold the property for $16,000. to the United States Government as a site for a Post Office building, which still stands there (Deed Bk. 27, p. 237).

Rebecca McGuire was born at “Grove Farm,” the home of her maternal grandfather, Joseph Holmes. Her father, Edward McGuire, Jr., acquired his country place, “Woodville,” from Alexander White’s son, Robert, in 1808.  A daughter of Colonel James Wood, founder of Winchester, was the wife of Alexander White, who built the older parts of the house and named the place in honor of his wife’s family.  Edward McGuire, Jr., built the present (1937) front of the mansion which is about a mile and a half north of Winchester.  (Historic Homes of Northern Virginia, etc., p. 52). Edward McGuire, Jr., probably had a town house in Winch