Looking for parents and grandparents of Lt. Col. Aeneas Mackay, Quartermaster General, U.S. Army, d. 23 May 1850 at St. Louis, MO. Gravestone reads: “Indian War / War of 1812 / Mexican War.” His first wife, Anne Macomb, d. 1825. He m. Helen Legate, b. 17 Feb 1809 at
Leominster, Worchester County, Massachusetts, in 1827. Helen Legate Mackay
d. 1864
at Darlington, Wisconsin. Daughter of Major Legate of Galena, Illinois. Another Aeneas Mackay died during the Revolutionary War, but I have not been able to establish a connection. Apparently in 1850-51 Fort Mackay, on the Santa Fe Trail, was named for "Bvt. Col. Aeneas Mackay"; then re-named Fort Atkinson. In short, he was fairly prominent, and it seems strange to have no definite information about his parentage.
The older Aeneas Mackay (1721-1777) had a son, Samuel (b. 1766) and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Stephen Bayard. Samuel and Stephen founded Elizabeth, PA (formerly Elizabeth Town) in 1787. I have not been able to find any further information about Samuel's descendants, though it seems plausible that he might be the father of the Col. Aeneas Mackay who died in 1850.
Many thanks to anyone who might help to fill in these gaps!
