For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 684
L. R. MCKEE. L. R. McKee, who has for several years been identified with educational matters in Muscatine county, was born in Conesville on the 16th of April, 1886, a son of Leander and Deborah (Hall) McKee. The father, who was a native of Coschocton county, Ohio, who was of German, Irish and Scotch descent, but the mother, who was born in Genesee county, Michigan, was of Irish extraction. They were married in Louisa county, Iowa, and immediately thereafter located on a farm which they continued to cultivate for seventeen years. At the end of that period they removed to Conesville, where Mr. McKee had taken the management of the elevator and also engaged in the shipping of stock. He was engaged in this for thirty years and then retired, continuing to make his home in Conesville, however, where he was living at the time of his death on the 17th of January, 1909, at the age of sixty-nine years. Mrs. McKee, who still survives and has now passed the sixty-sixth milestone in life's journey, continues to reside in the old homestead. Unto them were born the following children; Flora Belle, the wife of G. W. Tipton, of Conesville; Martha, the widow of J. E. Jean, living in Cedar Falls; Nettie D., the wife of J. F. Coffin, also of Conesville; John W., of Snyder, Oklahoma, who is married and has one son, Robert L., aged nine years; W. S., clerk of the district court, at Muscatine, who is also married and has one son, Tracy J., four years of age; L. R., our subject; Byron L., a bookkeeper in Muscatine, also married; and Eva Bell, who died in infancy.L. R. McKee remained at home and attended the common schools until he had reached the age of thirteen years, when he was sent to the high school at Muscatine and two years later entered the University at Iowa City, where he remained for six years. After leaving the University he spent ten months in the south and then returned to Conesville and began teaching in the rural schools in Louisa county. He took a three months course in the Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls after he had taught for two years and then accepted the principalship of the Conesville schools, which position he retained for three years. He received the nomination of the republican party for county superintendent at the last election but was defeated by a very small majority.
On the 29th of December, 1909, Mr. McKee was united in marriage to Miss Geneve E. Miller, who was born in Oregon on the 1st of September, 1888, and is a daughter of L. D. and Corena (Latta) Miller. Her parents, who are natives of the Hawkeye state, were married in Burlington, Iowa, and after their marriage they located on a farm in this state, which they operated for a time and then migrated to Oregon. They spent fifteen years in the latter state and then returned to Iowa in 1896 and are now living on a farm in Johnson county. They are the parents of the following children; Geneve E., the wife of L. R. McKee; Nellie, Tracy, Ruth and Stanford, the four latter are living at home. One child has been born to Mr.. and Mrs. McKee, Harry G., whose birth occurred on the 13th of November, 1910.
The parents are identified with the Reformed church of Conesville, and Mr. McKee is a member of the Royal Arcanum of Muscatine and also of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which he joined while attending the State University. He always gives his political support to the candidates of the republican party, as he considers that its policy is best adapted for the protection of home interests and industries. He is well regarded in the town where he is residing and where the greater part of his life has been spent, and he and Mrs. McKee have many friends and are poplar in the social circles of Conesville.
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