CHAPTER 30 A FEARFUL FATE "No hope of help! No chance of flight! Better to die in open fight!" - OLD BALLAD. ONE MILE from Saintfield and about three hundred yards off the Lisburn Road stood the house occupied by Hugh McKee and his family. It was new, substantially built of blue stone, slated two storeys high, with windows in front and gable, but none in the rere. The foundation was partly cut out of the fade of a hill. McKee was a comfortable farmer; he and his family had received numerous prizes from the Linen Board for their success in cultivating flax and spinning yarn. Several old spinning wheels which they obtained as prizes are still to be seen in the neighbourhood, given by them as presents to their relatives. The household consisted of McKee, his wife, five sons - the youngest sixteen years of age - three daughters, grown-up women - as daring as the father and sons, and afraid of nothing; the whole family large, stout and robust, so much so that they were generally described by their neighbours as "a lot o' big, fat, course folk." There was also in the house a blind girl, aged about thirteen, who was a relative, and a servant named John Boles, McKee and his family were most unpopular. The father had made himself obnoxious by persecuting United Irishmen, and by his offensive ultra-loyalty. The family were in the habit of going out at night, challenging every one they met on the road, and firing shots, to the terror and indignation of people who passed their house. So great was the fear they thus inspired that many persons were in the habit of making a detour through the fields. One night a United Irishman, named Samuel Adams, was shot through the arm and side. Nelly McKee, a daughter of Hugh, seized a hatchet and attempted to hack off the man's head, remarking that "deid men tell nae tales!" Two Scotch soldiers who were in the house at the time prevented the perpetration of the deed................................. see Chapter 30 http://www.lisburn.com/books/betsey_gray/betsy-gray7.htm#INSURGENTS full book http://www.lisburn.com/books/betsey_gray/betsy-gray1.htm Other books on County Down on line a wealth of information http://www.lisburn.com/lisburn_books.html Enjoy Jane

Hi Jane, What a lovely lot of interesting reading you have sent, I'm impressed and send you my sincere thanks for your kindness. Now I'm on a learning curve and have some study to get my head into. Many thanks, James. -----Original Message----- From: nir-down-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nir-down-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Merseyside Sent: 21 January 2008 21:50 To: NIR-DOWN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [NIR-DOWN] Burning of Hugh MC KEE and family CHAPTER 30 A FEARFUL FATE "No hope of help! No chance of flight! Better to die in open fight!" - OLD BALLAD. ONE MILE from Saintfield and about three hundred yards off the Lisburn Road stood the house occupied by Hugh McKee and his family. It was new, substantially built of blue stone, slated two storeys high, with windows in front and gable, but none in the rere. The foundation was partly cut out of the fade of a hill. McKee was a comfortable farmer; he and his family had received numerous prizes from the Linen Board for their success in cultivating flax and spinning yarn. Several old spinning wheels which they obtained as prizes are still to be seen in the neighbourhood, given by them as presents to their relatives. The household consisted of McKee, his wife, five sons - the youngest sixteen years of age - three daughters, grown-up women - as daring as the father and sons, and afraid of nothing; the whole family large, stout and robust, so much so that they were generally described by their neighbours as "a lot o' big, fat, course folk." There was also in the house a blind girl, aged about thirteen, who was a relative, and a servant named John Boles, McKee and his family were most unpopular. The father had made himself obnoxious by persecuting United Irishmen, and by his offensive ultra-loyalty. The family were in the habit of going out at night, challenging every one they met on the road, and firing shots, to the terror and indignation of people who passed their house. So great was the fear they thus inspired that many persons were in the habit of making a detour through the fields. One night a United Irishman, named Samuel Adams, was shot through the arm and side. Nelly McKee, a daughter of Hugh, seized a hatchet and attempted to hack off the man's head, remarking that "deid men tell nae tales!" Two Scotch soldiers who were in the house at the time prevented the perpetration of the deed................................. see Chapter 30 http://www.lisburn.com/books/betsey_gray/betsy-gray7.htm#INSURGENTS full book http://www.lisburn.com/books/betsey_gray/betsy-gray1.htm Other books on County Down on line a wealth of information http://www.lisburn.com/lisburn_books.html Enjoy Jane ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.7/1234 - Release Date: 1/20/2008 2:15 PM