Zilphia Alelia McKay

  General Notes:

See general notes on her brother, Richard McKay, for 1900 census facts.

In an email frpm Edna Searles dated October 3, 2011:
... Richard J. and Theresa McKay... had one son Richard T. McKay and one daughter Zilpha Alelia . . .[who] was my grandmother. After the second marriage to William Doughtie you find the son and dtr on the census records living in the same house close by. My grandmother [Zilph A. McKay] studied art at Bellhaven College in Jackson Mississippi.

I do remember my Great-Grandmother Theresa even tho I was only about five years old because we spent many nights in her home but I do not remember William at all. I never knew your relative William Doughtie, but my sister mithe. I did know "Lizzie" the half sister my grandmother Zilpha called "Sister" .. that was Elizabeth . They loved each other and were very very close.

I do remember the The McKay-Doughtie home on the Boeuf River in Girard, LA. I do remember details about the house and some of the furnishings. Sorry I can't help you with any more of the relatives. I do think I told you about one that might have been a Doughtie... a pilot of a crop-duster that crashed. He was a sweet man that ended up with a plate in his head and was never the same. Another cousin and I were playing in the front yard and heard the airplane crash. He had been spraying the cotton field across from Grandmother McConnell's home . Iam sorry but I can't remember his name. A McConnell cousin has a few of the furnishings from the house. The antique marriage bed and a chest of drawers. He owns a B & B in Texas. I got to see them again. But the High Teester Bed with the the twisted posts and mosquito netting and trundle bed under it that took three steps up to get into was the one I remember the most and got to sleep in when we visited. One very similar to one in George Washington's Mt. Vernon home.

Best to you,
Edna

  Research Notes:

In an email on 8/21/2011:
To lhagen@vt.edu
Hi, thought I had sent this months ago.
Hello to you.
I am Edna Searles, (married name)
My mother was the daughter of,
Daughter of Zilpha McKay,
Zilpha Alelia McKay was the step- daughter of a Doughtie.
We will have to talk later. I am getting ready for a party and can't do more right now.
Would love to talk to you about what you know also.
Edna


The 1910 Federal Census for Police Jury Ward 1, Richland Parish, Louisiana, District 113, page 1A, dated April 15, 1910 records Zilpha (28 - LA/Mississippi/Mississippi) and Charles (30 - LA/England/LA) Copes with children Marie (7), Combs (5) [son], Francis (4) [daughter], and Charles (2). Also in the household is a widowed grand mother Mary Dawson (75 - Mississippi/SC/SC). Charles is a farmer and has been married to Zilpha for 8 years. Zilpha has had 4 children all of whom are still living.

This may or may not be Zilpha McKay but Zilpha is clearly gone by 1920 and Charles has remarried:
The 1920 Federal Census for Police Jury Ward 1, Richland Parish, Louisiana, District 103, page 1A, dated April 15, 1920 records Charles M. (40 - LA/England/LA) and Ruby (21 - Mississippi) Copes with children Marie (16), Combs (14), Frances (13), and Leslie (12).

Zilphia married Edwin Lucian McConnell. (Edwin Lucian McConnell was born on 1 Nov 1875 in Alabama, died on 4 Apr 1945 and was buried in Masonic Cemetery, Rayville, Richland Parish, LA.)