Andrew John Markey

 

 

(October 11, 1862  to  February 03, 1950)

 

Kay's grandfather, Andrew John Markey was born in Oakley, Fife, Scotland, on October 11, 1862.  He had sisters Bridget, Mary, Alice and Elizabeth, and a brother, Bernard, who died as a child.  There were also some 1/2 siblings from his mother's first marriage.

 

In about 1884, Andrew is said to have stowed away on a ship (family story) to go to America, but I have not been able to locate when or where he arrived.  My first information about Andrew ‘in the new country’, is that he was in Vancouver, British Columbia in May, 1887.  He wrote a poem about a mine explosion that happened in Nanaimo.  Somewhere he wrote that he had the poem printed and sold copies.  On the bottom of the copy of the poem that I have, he wrote "at age 10, a draper in the pit; at 20, in the U.S.A.".  He wrote a great deal of poetry, much of which was self-published.  His spelling was strictly phonetic and his penmanship very difficult to read.  Luckily, he got a typewriter when he was about 70 years old, and typed alot after that.  What papers of his that the family has were recovered from his youngest daughter's (Mary Markey Schmid's) garage about the year 2000.  (He died in 1950.) 

 

Andrew claimed to have been self-educated, and called himself 'the ghost of Robert Burns'.  He wrote at least 1 piece of music, which he copywrighted in 1915.  He also copywrighted a phamplet on a process for making tombstones (an occupation he worked in sporadically in Oklahoma and in Texas).  Additionally, he was granted a patent on a game table (in the 1940s).  It suffices to say that he was obviously very creative.  It is sad to surmise that none of his 8 children (2 died in infancy) took much interest in his writings or projects. 

 

He did not marry until 1899 (in his late 30s), and his last child was born in 1916.   His children were Andrew (1901-1954), Anne "Deedee" (1903-1992), Brian Paul (1905-1907), Brendon (1906-1967), Elizabeth (1909-1910), Alice (1911-1999), John (1914-1977) and Mary(1916- ), who is now living in a nursing home in San Antonio, Texas.  The family lived at various locations in Oklahoma while Andrew bought and sold oil well leases, and various locations in Texas, ending up in San Antonio.  (Two daughters, Anne, who remained unmarried, and Alice, who married her mother's first cousin, John Campbell, moved to Corpus Christi, Texas about 1949 and remained there until their deaths.) 

 

A great deal more can be said about Andrew Markey (who referred to himself as 'Pat'), and Kay will write more in the future.  He was a very interesting man.  He died in February, 1950.  A photo of Andrew is shown below.  As he normally appeared, he is wearing a suit and hat, and is smoking a pipe.