Appreciations of Life!: McKay Family Line

McKay Family

So I'll start with my Nanny in the McKay line, Clara Zadie (McKay) Mason. Clara was born October 12, 1914 to Benjamin Harvey and Camella Eleanor (McCullers) Mckay. Clara's father was 56 when she was born and died when she was 13. Clara's mother remained a widow until her death in 1970. Clara's mother had a sister named Clara.

Nanny and Papa (Clara and Lemmie Mason) had a way of making everyone feel loved. They often had a game of dominoes with family members. Papa loved to play Solitaire with cards (no computer in that day and age). Nanny loved laughter. I will always see her standing with her hand on her hip laughing. She loved to cook (and did a wonderful job of it), shop, play cards, go places and have her family over. When all the Masons gathered and played cards or dominos the house shook with laughter!! They gave great hugs. She was married when she was 18. She married a man in the oilfield so she moved often with her four children. I remember moving with their family as we were in the oil field also. I've heard many stories of when we moved to South America with them. How I wish my children and grandchildren knew them intimately. Praise God they will in heaven one day!!

So Clara passed away July 26, 1980 in Konawa, Oklahoma from pneumonia. I was pregnant with my last child and Papa would not let me go in and see Nanny at the funeral home because he said (an old wives tail) if I saw a dead body it would make my baby have problems.

Written by Benny Wayne Mason in 1971

THEM

They're beautiful! You just can't live without them. They're a necessity. Without them you would lose a lot of love and patience. They should have museums and palaces made for them in their name. They're easy to love because they love everybody. If only the whole universe was like them wouldn't it be beautiful? God should get some extra special prize for creating something that is extra special to me. In fact I would like to thank you, dear Lord. Thank you and bless you dear Lord for GRANDPARENTS like mine for they're wonderful! P.S. I love you Nanny and Papa.

A TRIBUTE TO CLARA MASON

A special name we've given to one so lovely and fair,
Who filled our lives with pleasures, far beyond compare,
Who always had a kind word or deed for those she met,
And when she said, "I love you," on that you could bet.
Her life was full of laughter, and the happiness she shared.
We always knew when she came 'round,
The family never gathered around her table just to eat,
For we were always well-assured it would be a delightful treat.
She wasn't just another common mother, sister, or granny.
She was one of a kind, Our very own, Our very special "Nanny."

written by Arvle Knight and read at her funeral

Let's get back to her parents......the McKays.

Benjamin Harvey McKay was born October 25, 1853 in Nettleton, Mississippi. When he was 20 he married Mary Ellen Suggs in 1873 in Mississippi. Mary Ellen passed away in 1886 when she was 31. Benjamin was a widower for five years then he married Ella Pennington in 1891 in Arkansas. Ella lived until 1898 and that same year after her death Benjamin married Camella Eleanor McCullers who was 20 years younger than him. He had 11 children -the majority with Camella. When you go back through the years of family history it is not unusual for men to be married more than once as the women often suffered in childbirth (remember most birth control did not become prominent until the 1950s). Clara, my grandmother, was actually born when Benjamin was 56. Is it any wonder we had very few family stories of him? Oh how I wish my parents and grandparents were alive to discuss all of this. Did they even realize the history of it all. I'm sure Camella (we called Ma Kay) did at one time but it sure wasn't elaborated on. It could be a great story of doing the best you can and persevering through it all. Camella outlived Benjamin by 43 years. She remained a widow all those years. Benjamin passed away in 1927 in Rush Springs, Oklahoma. He was 74. Camella lived until 1971 passing away when she was 97. I have a copy of her obituary where it was stated “ Mrs. McKay, a resident of Rush Springs for 52 years was born in Alabama died in the Physician and Surgeons Hospital following a three week illness. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Rush Springs and a resident of Marlow Manor for the past few years. She had 34 grandchildren, 65 great grandchildren and 14 great great grandchildren.” I also have a copy of her death certificate.

I have from his son Rush in 1997 that Benjamin McKay bought 80 acres one mile north of Rush Springs from a man named Savage. He built a house which has since burned down. They lived at Addison's Bend, Oklahoma for 18 years prior to building in Rush Springs. They grew cotton, farmed about 200 acres with mule teams. Cotton brought about $1.00 pr 100 pounds.

Benjamin shows up in many years of census:

1860 in Itawamba Mississippi when he is only 6. 1870 in Prentiss Mississippi when he is 16, his father is a farmer. In 1880 he is still in Prentis, Mississippi and a farmer but by 1900 he was in the census in Arkansas. In 1910 the family has finally made it to Oklahoma and 1920 in Rush Springs. Every year he is a farmer.

Camella is listed in the 1930 census when Clara is 15 and then the 1940 census all in Rush Springs. In the 1940 Census Camella is 67 and lives with her son, Willliam. It states there she only had a 5^th grade education. She certainly made a good life with a 5^th grade education.

Benjamin's father, William Franklin, passed away when Benjamin was 12 and his mother, Julia Patterson, when he was 36.

Picture above: 1896 Clark Co. Arkansas Possibly wedding day for Desey Ann McKay, on the right with the corsage. Her sister Georgia A. McKay, IN front, Her Father Benjamin Harvey McKay, On his right, his 2nd wife, Ella Lee Pennington, I am not sure if the children are Ellas from a previous marriage, or the two children from this union