He was a soldier in the war of 1812- 14. In 1818 assisted in organizing the U. P. Church of White Oak Springs, now Butler. Was elected sheriff of the county in 1816, and in 1829 represented Butler in the State Legislature.

JAMES McKEE was born in 1780, and was the eldest child of Thomas McKEE. He came to Butler county in 1795, one year before his father, and purchased a tract adjoining that of his father, in Butler township. He married Mary McKEE, a daughter of John and Mary (HOGE) McKEE, of the Tuscarora valley, who became the mother of seven children, as follows: John, who served one term as sheriff of Butler county, and died in 1864; Robert, who resided upon the old homestead until 1888, then removed to Butler, and died December 18, 1890; Martha, who died in youth; Thomas, who died at the age of twenty-one; Mary A, who resided in Butler down to her death, July 2, 1890; James, who was drowned in the Ohio river in 1852, while en route to California, and Hugh, a surveyor of Butler county, and afterwards appointed surveyor of Kansas, by President Buchanan, died April 30, 1886. James and his brother Hugh, served in the War of 1812, and both did the duty required of them in common with the other soldiers of the county. The former served as sheriff of the county, also one term in the legislature, and died on October 1, 1832. His wife survived him more than thirty years, and died in 1874, aged eighty-seven.