Agnes McKeehan 
      Sex: F
Individual Information 
     Birth Date: 5 Jun 1742
    Christening: 
          Death: Bef Feb 1787 - Cumberland Co., Pa
         Burial: 
 Cause of Death:
Parents 
         Father: John McKeehan (      -1783)
         Mother:
Spouses and Children 
1. *William Appleby (Abt 1752 - Abt 1808)
       Marriage: Abt 1770
       Children:
                1. Elizabeth Appleby (Abt 1770-1845)
                2. Grace "Grissy" Appleby (1775-1832)
                3. Jane (Jean) Appleby (Abt 1777-      )
                4. John Appleby (1778-1863)
                5. James Appleby (Abt 1779-1866)
                6. William Appleby (Abt 1784-      )
Notes
General:
The will of John McKeehan, written in 1782, refers to William Appleby as his son-in-law, and John McKeehan appoints William Appleby as an executor. By definition William Appleby is married to a daughter of John McKeehan. But which daughter? The only reasonable choice, based on the will, is Agnes.

The will mentions another daughter Elizabeth. The arrangements that John McKeehan makes for her future welfare imply that she is not William Appleby's wife. See notes under Elizabeth for more details.

So why do we choose Agnes?

1) Neither Bessie P. Douglas nor anyone else has provided a husband for Agnes. Thus she is available.

2) Agnes was born in 1742 and thus had her first child at 28 and her last child at 42. Those ages are reasonable.

3) It is sometimes said that William Appleby's wife was Nannie Megehin. The website of the Appleby Heritage Association no longer exists, but at one time there was at that website a short biography of James Appleby, son of John Appleby and Sarah Bell written probably in the 1920's by a great-granddaughter based on her father's written records. Her father Andrew Benjamin "Bud" Appleby was a great-great grandson of William Appleby and he says that his wife was Nannie Megehin. I think we can regard this as primary evidence. He could reasonably know on the basis of family tradition the name of his great-great grandmother. 'Megehin' is not itself a surname; it does not appear in the 1840, 1850 or 1860 census. It is a corruption of 'McKeehan'. What is significant for us is 'Nannie', which is most commonly a nickname for 'Nancy' but can also be a nickname for 'Agnes'. A Google search for "Agnes (Nannie)" produces examples of women named Agnes who were called Nannie. Moreover, the etymon of Nancy is Agnes.

4) The only other daughter besides Elizabeth and Agnes that we know of is Janet. She was born in 1734 and is thus too old to have had a child in 1784.
picture

Sources

1 Bessie P. Douglas, "The Families of Joshua Williams of Chester Co., Pa & John McKeehan of Cumberland Co., Pa with Some Allied Families," Augsburg Press, Minneapolis, 1928, pg 289.

2 Northwest Arkansas Genealogical Society, "Cemeteries of Washington County, Arkansas," 1980, vol 3.

3 Dorothy (Dee) Appleby Turner, Appleby Heritage Association, http://appleby.rootsweb.com.

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