Margaret Logan McKee, or "Miss Maggie" as she was to be known to her Danville neighbors, was born September 23, 1854 in Richmond, Kentucky. In her later years, she would recount to this writer her memories of her very early childhood days in Missouri before the Civil War, and later seeing the Union troops marching through Danville, and hearing the artillery exchanged at the Battle of Perryville. She would also recall how the college and churches of Danville were filled with the wounded and dying soldiers for many months thereafter.
Although she wanted to attend Vassar as a member of what would be one of its first graduating classes, she attended Caldwell Female Institute, which was later merged with Centre, graduating in 1875.
On November 24, 1880, she married John Adamson Cheek, known as "Mr. Addie" to his friends and neighbors. Sometime after her father, Dr. Alexander McKee's death, the couple moved into the Todd-McKee-Cheek house at 226 North Fourth Street in Danville, and would occupy it for the next 47 years.
She was the family historian -- both oral and written -- of her generation. Her mind was most acute, for may of the oral traditionas she conveyed have been confirmed precisely after her death from other archival sources. She could recount stroies of her forebearer, Jane Logan, for whom she was originally named, being killed by a Shawnee Indian raid on the Virginia frontier in 1763, of her g2 grandfather, Jack Ashby's role at the Battle of the Monongehela in the French and Indian War, when General Braddock was killed, of his heroic ride to bring the news to Williamsburg, of the family's settling in Kentucky, of her experiences as a very young child in Missouri experiencing the internecine strife between slaveholders and free soilers in her neighborhood, and similar experiences in Danville during and after the Battle of Perryville.
One time during World War II, her nephew, Albert Miller Hillhouse was home on leave from the Army. While in Washington he did some family history research at the National Archives, and discovered that his wife (and her grandmother Maggie) were cousins of two very famous Confederate Generals: Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. During these home leaves, one of his favorite pasttimes was to have a "remembering time" when Maggie could recount the family stories.
Miller was from Georgia, and proud of his Southern and Confederate roots -- his grandfather had been a captain in the Confederate Army; and although Maggie was a Kentuckian of Virginia origins, she was fiercely proud of her immediate family's Union loyalties during the Civil War.
On one particular "remembering time", Miller asked her excitedly, "I have discovered you are kin to Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. Please tell us what you remember of them, Mother Cheek!"
She quietly folded her hands, pursed her lips, and in her fashion, twiddled her thumbs for what seemed an eternity. She was obviously agitated, but then slowly, deliberatively and deliberately with an icy stare at Miller said firmly, "Yes, they were our cousins. But they aren't worth remembering."
Although she wanted to attend Vassar as a member of what would be one of its first graduating classes, she attended Caldwell Female Institute, which was later merged with Centre, graduating in 1875.
On November 24, 1880, she married John Adamson Cheek, known as "Mr. Addie" to his friends and neighbors. Sometime after her father, Dr. Alexander McKee's death, the couple moved into the Todd-McKee-Cheek house at 226 North Fourth Street in Danville, and would occupy it for the next 47 years.
She was the family historian -- both oral and written -- of her generation. Her mind was most acute, for may of the oral traditionas she conveyed have been confirmed precisely after her death from other archival sources. She could recount stroies of her forebearer, Jane Logan, for whom she was originally named, being killed by a Shawnee Indian raid on the Virginia frontier in 1763, of her g2 grandfather, Jack Ashby's role at the Battle of the Monongehela in the French and Indian War, when General Braddock was killed, of his heroic ride to bring the news to Williamsburg, of the family's settling in Kentucky, of her experiences as a very young child in Missouri experiencing the internecine strife between slaveholders and free soilers in her neighborhood, and similar experiences in Danville during and after the Battle of Perryville.
One time during World War II, her nephew, Albert Miller Hillhouse was home on leave from the Army. While in Washington he did some family history research at the National Archives, and discovered that his wife (and her grandmother Maggie) were cousins of two very famous Confederate Generals: Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. During these home leaves, one of his favorite pasttimes was to have a "remembering time" when Maggie could recount the family stories.
Miller was from Georgia, and proud of his Southern and Confederate roots -- his grandfather had been a captain in the Confederate Army; and although Maggie was a Kentuckian of Virginia origins, she was fiercely proud of her immediate family's Union loyalties during the Civil War.
On one particular "remembering time", Miller asked her excitedly, "I have discovered you are kin to Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. Please tell us what you remember of them, Mother Cheek!"
She quietly folded her hands, pursed her lips, and in her fashion, twiddled her thumbs for what seemed an eternity. She was obviously agitated, but then slowly, deliberatively and deliberately with an icy stare at Miller said firmly, "Yes, they were our cousins. But they aren't worth remembering."
Margaret Logan McKee, or "Miss Maggie" as she was to be known to her Danville neighbors, was born September 23, 1854 in Richmond, Kentucky. In her later years, she would recount to this writer her memories of her very early childhood days in Missouri before the Civil War, and later seeing the Union troops marching through Danville, and hearing the artillery exchanged at the Battle of Perryville. She would also recall how the college and churches of Danville were filled with the wounded and dying soldiers for many months thereafter.
Although she wanted to attend Vassar as a member of what would be one of its first graduating classes, she attended Caldwell Female Institute, which was later merged with Centre, graduating in 1875.
On November 24, 1880, she married John Adamson Cheek, known as "Mr. Addie" to his friends and neighbors. Sometime after her father, Dr. Alexander McKee's death, the couple moved into the Todd-McKee-Cheek house at 226 North Fourth Street in Danville, and would occupy it for the next 47 years.
She was the family historian -- both oral and written -- of her generation. Her mind was most acute, for may of the oral traditionas she conveyed have been confirmed precisely after her death from other archival sources. She could recount stroies of her forebearer, Jane Logan, for whom she was originally named, being killed by a Shawnee Indian raid on the Virginia frontier in 1763, of her g2 grandfather, Jack Ashby's role at the Battle of the Monongehela in the French and Indian War, when General Braddock was killed, of his heroic ride to bring the news to Williamsburg, of the family's settling in Kentucky, of her experiences as a very young child in Missouri experiencing the internecine strife between slaveholders and free soilers in her neighborhood, and similar experiences in Danville during and after the Battle of Perryville.
One time during World War II, her nephew, Albert Miller Hillhouse was home on leave from the Army. While in Washington he did some family history research at the National Archives, and discovered that his wife (and her grandmother Maggie) were cousins of two very famous Confederate Generals: Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. During these home leaves, one of his favorite pasttimes was to have a "remembering time" when Maggie could recount the family stories.
Miller was from Georgia, and proud of his Southern and Confederate roots -- his grandfather had been a captain in the Confederate Army; and although Maggie was a Kentuckian of Virginia origins, she was fiercely proud of her immediate family's Union loyalties during the Civil War.
On one particular "remembering time", Miller asked her excitedly, "I have discovered you are kin to Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. Please tell us what you remember of them, Mother Cheek!"
She quietly folded her hands, pursed her lips, and in her fashion, twiddled her thumbs for what seemed an eternity. She was obviously agitated, but then slowly, deliberatively and deliberately with an icy stare at Miller said firmly, "Yes, they were our cousins. But they aren't worth remembering."
Although she wanted to attend Vassar as a member of what would be one of its first graduating classes, she attended Caldwell Female Institute, which was later merged with Centre, graduating in 1875.
On November 24, 1880, she married John Adamson Cheek, known as "Mr. Addie" to his friends and neighbors. Sometime after her father, Dr. Alexander McKee's death, the couple moved into the Todd-McKee-Cheek house at 226 North Fourth Street in Danville, and would occupy it for the next 47 years.
She was the family historian -- both oral and written -- of her generation. Her mind was most acute, for may of the oral traditionas she conveyed have been confirmed precisely after her death from other archival sources. She could recount stroies of her forebearer, Jane Logan, for whom she was originally named, being killed by a Shawnee Indian raid on the Virginia frontier in 1763, of her g2 grandfather, Jack Ashby's role at the Battle of the Monongehela in the French and Indian War, when General Braddock was killed, of his heroic ride to bring the news to Williamsburg, of the family's settling in Kentucky, of her experiences as a very young child in Missouri experiencing the internecine strife between slaveholders and free soilers in her neighborhood, and similar experiences in Danville during and after the Battle of Perryville.
One time during World War II, her nephew, Albert Miller Hillhouse was home on leave from the Army. While in Washington he did some family history research at the National Archives, and discovered that his wife (and her grandmother Maggie) were cousins of two very famous Confederate Generals: Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. During these home leaves, one of his favorite pasttimes was to have a "remembering time" when Maggie could recount the family stories.
Miller was from Georgia, and proud of his Southern and Confederate roots -- his grandfather had been a captain in the Confederate Army; and although Maggie was a Kentuckian of Virginia origins, she was fiercely proud of her immediate family's Union loyalties during the Civil War.
On one particular "remembering time", Miller asked her excitedly, "I have discovered you are kin to Turner Ashby and A. P. Hill. Please tell us what you remember of them, Mother Cheek!"
She quietly folded her hands, pursed her lips, and in her fashion, twiddled her thumbs for what seemed an eternity. She was obviously agitated, but then slowly, deliberatively and deliberately with an icy stare at Miller said firmly, "Yes, they were our cousins. But they aren't worth remembering."
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