Thomas McKee
{{short description|British Army officer and politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Thomas McKee
| nickname =
| image = File:Thomas McKee.jpg
| caption = Often identified as a portrait of his father Alexander, this is probably Thomas McKee because the uniform is that of an officer of the 60th Regiment of Foot of the 1790s.Nelson, p. 159
| office1 = Superintendent of Indian affairs for the Northwestern District
| term_start1 = 1796
| term_end1 = 1800
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 =
| office2 = Member of 2nd Parliament of Upper Canada for Kent
| term_start2 = 1797
| term_end2 = 1800
| predecessor2 = François Baby
| successor2 = Thomas McCrae
| office3 = Member of 3rd Parliament of Upper Canada for Essex
| term_start3 = 1801
| term_end3 = 1804
| predecessor3 = New - split from Suffolk & Essex
| successor3 = David Cowan
| birth_date = {{circa|1770}}
| birth_place = Ohio Country, British America
| death_date = 20 October 1814
| death_place = Île des Cascades, Lower Canada
| parents = Alexander McKee (father)
Nonhelema (mother)
| spouse = unknown (1st)
Thérèse Askin m. 1797 (2nd)
| children = 1 son with Askin
| relatives =
| allegiance = Great Britain
| battles = Siege of Fort Recovery, War of 1812
| rank = Captain (British Army)
Superintendent of Indian affairs
Major (militia)
| branch = British Army (1791–1806)
British Indian Department (1797–1814)
local militia (1807–1814)
}}
Thomas McKee ({{circa|1770}} – 20 October 1814) was a British Army officer and politician.
Biography
McKee was born in the Ohio Country around 1770. He was the son of Alexander McKee (c. 1735–1799), an important official in the British Indian Department, and the grandson of Thomas McKee (c.1695–1769), a veteran of King George's War and the French and Indian War as well as a business associate of George Croghan. His great-grandfather Alexander McKee (d.1740) immigrated to Pennsylvania from County Antrim, Ireland, around 1707, and was a veteran of the Battle of the Boyne. His mother was Nonhelema a Shawnee chief.
In 1788, the Ojibwa and Ottawa granted him a lease for Pelee Island for 999 years. In 1791, he became a member of the 60th Regiment of Foot of the British Army at Detroit. Three years later, he was part of the Siege of Fort Recovery.{{Cite book|title=Autumn of the Black Snake : the creation of the U.S. Army and the invasion that opened the West|last=Hogeland|first=William|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=2017|isbn=978-0-374-10734-5|edition=First|location=New York|pages=321|lccn=2016052193|oclc=974612291}} eventually reaching the rank of Captain in 1796. In the same year, he became superintendent of Indian affairs for the Northwestern District. In 1797, he also became responsible for the Amherstburg region and he was elected to represent Kent in the 2nd Parliament of Upper Canada. McKee was reelected in 1800 to represent Essex. Around 1806, his duties with the 60th Foot ended, he joined the local militia and served as a Major in the militia during the War of 1812. In 1814, he was accused of grave misconduct, having gotten drunk and allowed his native followers to become drunk and disorderly. During his life, he owned seven or eight slaves.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fX2F94OiaosC&dq=Thomas+McKee+canada+slave&pg=PA430 | isbn=9780773583115 | title=Done with Slavery: The Black Fact in Montreal, 1760-1840 | date=February 2010 | publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP }}
He died near Île des Cascades in Lower Canada in 1814 while travelling to Montreal.
References
{{Reflist}}
- [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2542 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online].
- Nelson, Larry L. A Man of Distinction among Them: Alexander McKee and the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754–1799. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-87338-620-5}}
- Hagen, Ronald E., Catspaw the Girty, McKee, and Elliott Families, and Indian Negotiations on the American Frontier 1710-1778. Coneault Lake, PA, 2024 ISBN979-8-89553-01202
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Thomas}}
Category:British Indian Department
Category:Canadian slave owners
Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada
Category:Royal American Regiment officers