Duncan McRee

Duncan McRee

• Father: John McRee Jr. b. circa 1776
• Mother: Unknown (?)

• Duncan McRee was born circa 1804.
• His name was recorded as McRae in many instances.
• He married Anne Eliza McGehee, daughter of John Moore McGehee and Nancy Chambers, circa 1824.
• Duncan McRee and Anne Eliza McGehee appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1830 in Montgomery County, North Carolina, East of the PeeDee & Yadkin River.. Other (counted but unnamed) members of the household apparently included Morreau McRae and Ann Eliza McRae. (Also enumerated were one male age 15-20, one male age 20-29, one male age 30-39, one female age 0-5, two females age 5-9, and one female age 10-14. Possibly this accounts for William Chambers LeGrand and family living with them, but it doesn't quite fit).
• Duncan McRee appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1830 in Steele's District, Richmond County, North Carolina, with a notation, "Duncan McRae of Montgomery County." No family members are enumerated; the only person enumerated is one slave, a male age 36-54, apparently caretaker of the property.
• Duncan McRee died circa 1837.
• His wife Anne Eliza McGehee became a widow at his death.
• Duncan McRee appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1840 in Montgomery County, North Carolina, East Side of the Peedee and Yadkin Rivers, listed as "Estate of Duncan McRae."
• Mr. A. Lyttle, a lawyer of Wadesboro wrote a letter on October 11, 1858, in which he says: "Wm. C. LeGrand who married Jane Paul, I have long been associated with. His mother's name was Margaret Chambers and his father's name was John LeGrand. After the death of John LeGrand his mother married Andrew Wade. William C. LeGrand ran through all his property and was supplied in part with all the necessaries of life by my wife's former husband, Dr. McRee, and herself as she was a cousin of W.C.L. He was a fine man but a bad manager. Both he and his wife's family were highly respectable."
       Quoted from Helen Johnstone Rose's book Our Family History: Johnstone, LeGrand, MacGillivray, Maclaren (1981), kindly shared by her nephew John B. Johnstone.
• The following is from a letter of James L. Beverly of Wadesboro, North Carolina, written on April 12, 1891, copied in longhand by Aunt Margaret in 1902. "Jane Green Paul married William C. LeGrand on March 10, 1829. They lived near Wadesboro, North Carolina. His brother Edwin O. LeGrand married and moved to Texas. The girls all married. James and John LeGrand were last heard from just before the late war. They were quite thrifty old bachelors, owning valuable mill property and a large whiskey distillery in Burk[e] County, North Carolina. When John LeGrand died he left his children well, but William C. was fond of high life and after he married, went through all his property. They lived with Duncan McRee, his wife's cousin, and his wife in the same house. William failed in business and sold his land to the McRees. He taught school for a while. There is no stain on the character of any of the LeGrands. They are very fine people."
       Quoted from Helen Johnstone Rose's book Our Family History: Johnstone, LeGrand, MacGillivray, Maclaren (1981), kindly shared by her nephew John B. Johnstone.
• Based upon evidence that Duncan McRee was a "cousin" of Jane Green Paul LeGrand, it an educated guess that he was the son of an unknown son of John McRee, father of Jane's mother Deborah McRee Paul, and therefore a second cousin.

• Last Edited: 15 Oct 2014