The following history and origin of the McNees name was done by John C.
McNeese (deceased) of Long Beach, California in 1981, and is based on
his many, many years of researching the McNees name. His research
consisted of traveling throughout the United States, Ireland, Scotland
and other European countries. If you utilize the following in you family history, please include John
as the author, as we are all indebted to him for his exhausting
research.
The McNees Family Name
The genealogical research of the McNeese family, a family among the oldest
families in America, has been underway for many, many years by a number
of different family members. One of our older genealogical records was
supplied by SAMUEL McNEESE in the early 1870's. This record is in the
book "History of Beaver County Pennsylvania" from which the
following paragraph is taken.
The name McNeese, originally spelled McNees, is not one of frequent
occurrence in this country. The family had its origin in Holland, from
whence they went to Ireland in 1608, and in 1668 earliest member of this
family to make her home in this country arrived in America. This was
Cornelia VanSant (Covert) McNees who took up land along the Harlem
River, now part of the New York Central Railroad.
The
spelling McNees must be a typographical error; it should be Nees, Neese
or Ness. The addition of MC or Mac, prefixes meaning the son of, stem
from Ireland and Scotland.
No record of the McNees spelling has been found in early Ireland or
Scotland records at this writing. The McNeece, McNeice, McNess have been
recorded. Neese and McNeese have been found only in Irish records.
The records that we have compiled seem to confirm the statements above. The
name Naes, Neas, Nees and Neese have been found in early colonial
records and in the first census of the United States taken in 1790.
Because the name is unusual, it has been spelled and pronounced many,
many ways. It is not uncommon
to find the name spelled different ways on the same document. In one
cemetery the name on the husband's tombstone is McNees and his wife's
next to his is McNeese. Different spellings often occur in the US Census
records in which the census takers took great liberties with the last
name. German and Dutch census takers often omitted the prefixes MC and
Mac. The differences in spelling have made it difficult to find our
forefathers in many census records. The spelling McNeese predominates by
far, so we have assumed it was the accepted spelling for at least the
past two hundred and fifty years.
Those
people interested in the Nees and Neese names can find them in the
Berlin, Germany, phone directory. Neese is German means "big nose".
People named Nees and Neese, according to German researchers, are
descendants of Nese of Amaland whose records are traceable to 947 A.D.
The Neses
were true nomads under the rule of the German King, Otto I: The Great.
Their genetic background seems to have contributed to their nomadic
lifestyle. Perhaps this explains the frequent moving of the families
that is evident even today.
The following variants of Nese were; Nase, Neis, Neese, Niese, Nies and
Nice, which were undoubtedly of Slavic origin as they are
found-primarily in Southeast Germany. Swerg Nase is mentioned in 1386.
Neisse, the name of a town and river near the Czechoslovakia border has
been changed to Nysa. The town is located on the river 40 miles
southeast of Wroclaw, Poland.
The migration of
the nomads to the west, the date unknown, finally ended in Holland.
Undoubtedly it was here in the early 1500's;s that the religious
philosophy of the Selesian German Mennonites was embraced. Because of
the Mennonite religion, thousands were persecuted to death, particularly
in Holland. The religious principles of the Mennonites were later
adopted by George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, commonly
known as Quakers. The name Quaker was given to the Friends when Fox told
the prosecuting and persecuting Judge, Servas Bennet, he should quake at
the name of the Lord. Many Neeses, approving the teachings of the new
religion, became Quakers.
From
Holland the Neeses migrated to Ireland, reportedly in 1608. We can
assume that the migration was the result of religious persecution and
wars, which seem to have played a big part in the divisions of the
families and of the changing of the spelling of the names. This division
of families is well illustrated by the diverse spelling found in our
Revolutionary and Civil War records. It was during the settlement in
Ireland that the prefixes Mac and Mc were added to the name.
The move
into Ireland was not an auspicious one because of the embroilment of the
Irish in civil and religious wars in the worst of which Oliver Cromwell
and his army tried to exterminate the Irish and any other people not
professing to the Puritan Religion. The attack on the Quakers was more
violent and in excess of that on any other church particularly when
Charles II became King ....because of their opposition to the
established church, their refusal to conform to social customs such as
removing their hats to a political officer, because they addressed
everyone with thee and thou, because they refused to take an oath. In
spite of the tenet not to fight, some Quakers joined the army and navy
in which they were missionaries as well as fighters. To escape from
fighting and persecution, many decided to migrate to the New World.
Some
of the Quaker McNeeses were already established on the Island of
Barbados before 1650, only three years after the Quaker movement
started. The 1650 wills and records of the Island are the oldest
documents proving the Mackernesse migration to America. In the year 1658
to 1659 the exodus to America was precipitated by a fine of 11,000
levied against them. In 1684 Edward Mackerness, a 23 year old and bonded
servant for four years, was sent to Virginia. His brother, William,
followed five years later, to where is uncertain, possibly
Massachusetts, as there were kin there and William is listed as a
ferryman in 1731.
Migration into the New World was increased by William Penn, the Quaker
founder of Pennsylvania. His liberal government and energy in promoting
the sale of land induced a flood of emigrants to settle in Pennsylvania
and the eastern seaboard in 1682. To date the above mentioned Edward was
among the first.
The
migration did not end the persecution of the Quakers. They were driven
out of Puritan settlements, to return meant death. Ears were cropped,
holes burned in tongues and other atrocities were committed in spite of
which the Quakers continued to flourish, the McNeeses among them. There
are a few Quaker family members even today.
At what
time period some of the families embraced the Catholic religion is still
unclear. It seems that some joined the Presbyterian Church before 1720.
Only research will give the answer.
The
research has found and authenticated over seventy different spellings of
the family name. All have to be compiled and then through a process of
elimination confirmed. Our minimum requirements for proving data to be
accurate must contain two verifiable records. All other data are treated
as clues or classified as hearsay. The assumption that the McNees,
McNeese, McNeice and etc. names found in the United States are all of
the same family is a false assumption, particularly the commingling of
the first name.
Since the amount of data is so very large, it will be quite some time
before any publications will be available. To be organized and included
are pictures and stories contributed by family members. Any omission of
information about a family is not due to intention, but to the lack of
the information which might have been supplied by the family.
All
material that we have collected and published will be sent to the
McNeese University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, were it will be available
in the McNeese room in the Frazer Library located on campus.
Only
facts and truth make a family record believable and reliable.
By: John C. McNeese
Long Beach, California
1981