William H. McKee

MCKEE, MCWILLIE, CRABTREE, SMITH

Posted By: S. Ferrall (email)
Date: 8/11/2008 at 20:02:01

WILLIAM H. McKEE.

William H. McKee has been a resident of the Kittitas valley for three decades and during the past twenty years, has been actively identified with ranching and stock raising interests, now owning one hundred and twenty acres of excellent land five miles west of Ellensburg.

He was born in Allamakee county, Iowa, on the 1st of May, 1859, a son of David and Henrietta (McWillie) McKee, both of whom were of Scotch-Irish descent. They had become pioneer settlers of Iowa and continued to make their home in that state until called to their final rest.

William H. McKee spent the first fourteen years of his life in the state of his nativity and in 1873 removed to Kansas, where he followed farming until 1887. Subsequently he spent one year in Nebraska and on the expiration of that period made his way westward to Washington, settling in the Kittitas valley in 1888.
Here he devoted his attention to the trade of carpentering for a number of years and then in
1898 purchased eighty acres of land five miles west of Ellensburg. He has since purchased an additional tract of forty acres, so that his holdings now embrace one hundred and twenty acres, whereon he cultivates both grain and hay and also raises cattle and sheep. His undertakings along these lines have been attended with gratifying and well-deserved prosperity, for he is a man of good business judgment, unfaltering industry and undaunted enterprise.

In 1882 Mr. McKee was united in marriage to Miss Annie Crabtree, daughter of Benjamin Crabtree. They have become the parents of two children: Blanche, who is now the wife of E. A. Smith, a ranchman of Kittitas county, and William Glen, who is engaged in ranching in the Kittitas valley and is married and has two children.

In politics Mr. McKee is independent, always, considering, the capability of a candidate rather than his party affiliation. His religous faith is that of the Presbyterian church, while fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His career has ever been characterized by upright principles and acts, honorable motives and during the long period of his residence in this section of
the state he has won an extensive circle of warm friends.

~History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton counties. Volume 2, by William Denison Lyman, 1919, pg 644