John McKee

Background

John McKee was the son of John (or James) and Esther (Houston) McKee and the cousin of Sam Houston and John Letcher. He was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

Education

John attended Liberty Hall Academy, now Washington and Lee University.

Career

In 1792, McKee was appointed by Gov. William Blount of Tennessee as a commissioner to the Cherokee in order to agree on the line designated by the treaty of Holston and, with the other two commissioners, reported that, when the Cherokee did not appear, the line had been measured according to instructions. The next year, he was appointed by Blount to try to conciliate the Cherokee and was sent to accompany a deputation of five Chickasaw to visit the president at Philadelphia. In 1794, he was appointed temporary agent of the Cherokee. He signed the treaties of December 1801 and of November 1805 with the Choctaw and appears on the official roll sent to Congress on February 17, 1802, as agent to that tribe. During the Creek War he was active in persuading the other tribes to remain at peace with the United States and in 1814 led an expedition of six or seven hundred Choctaw and Chickasaw to the Black Warrior River. After the war, he bent his energies toward the final removal of the Five Civilized Tribes to reservations beyond the Mississippi. He helped to negotiate the treaty of October 1816 with the Choctaw, but in 1818, he was on a commission that failed in its attempt to win their consent to removal. He was one of the first settlers in Tuscaloosa County, where he had charge of the land office. In 1823, as an ardent admirer of Andrew Jackson, he was sent to represent the Tuscaloosa district in Congress. There he spoke but rarely, and after three successive terms he retired. He was a member of the commission to settle the boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1830, he was one of the commissioners to negotiate the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, whereby the Choctaw ceded their claim to all their eastern lands except such small parcels as might be granted to individual Indians who would undertake to accept allotment and citizenship rather than emigrate across the Mississippi. He died at his plantation home, "Hill of Howth, " which he had built about 1818 near Boligee, Alabama.

Achievements

• McKee served as agent to the Cherokees and Choctaws, and was the first Representative of Alabama's 2nd District from 1823 to 1829. He was also commissioned by President James Madison in 1811 to help wrest East and West Florida from Spanish control.

Connections

McKee was said to have been legally married to an Indian wife.

Father:

James John McKee

1735 - 1808

Mother:

Esther (Houston) McKee

Cousin:

Sam Houston

Cousin:

John Letcher

References

• Reminiscences of a long life: historical, political, personal and literary.