I spent a few hours yesterday at PRONI reading original documents from the time of the 1798 rebellion in County Down.

As one speaker at the conference I attended recently noted, the rebellion and its aftermath provide a wealth of material about ordinary people and particularly the voices of women.

Thus, I found myself reading what some witnesses to the massacre of the McKee family had to say.

Afterwards I found the Belfast and Literary Magazine volume 1 from 1825 is available via JSTOR to view and I was able to read the words of Rev Samuel Edgar regarding the rebellion.

Unfortunately he said nothing about whether Hugh McKee was married to Edgar’s own sister, what her name was or in fact to refer to the incident at all.