Uncovering the Story of Jennie McKay: Restoring a Forgotten Branch of the McKay Legacy (Part 6)
Series: Beyond the Paper Trail: Unlocking Jennie McKay’s Roots in Oregon History
History remembers the grand, sweeping narrative of the McKay family—a lineage of fur-trade elite, explorers, and leaders who shaped the Pacific Northwest. From the legendary Lower Chinook leader Chief Comcomly to the famous Anglo-Métis pioneer physician Dr. William Cameron McKay, their name is etched into the bedrock of Oregon history.
Yet, for over a century, a vital piece of that family tapestry was entirely omitted from mainstream records. Jennie McKay, born in Oregon City in 1848, carried the unmistakable blood of both Chief Comcomly and the McKay dynasty. While her life has been explored in the context of the region's tribal histories, looking at Jennie through the lens of her paternal family reveals a fascinating, hidden chapter of the McKay legacy—one that was nearly erased by Western historians, but is finally being restored.
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| Jennie McKay Riggs in her youth (circa 1860s, estimated ages 15–22). |
That chapter began in the mid-1840s, when Dr. William Cameron McKay was living in Oregon City, practicing medicine and clerking at the store owned by his grandfather, Dr. John McLoughlin. It was during his time in town that he formed a relationship with Jennie’s mother, Mary, a Klickitat woman.
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Oregon City in 1845–1846, as drawn by British officer Sir Henry James Warre. This is the bustling frontier settlement where Dr. William C. McKay clerked at his grandfather's store and met Jennie’s mother, Mary.
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A Hidden Link in the McKay Dynasty
Jennie McKay’s existence bridges two distinct worlds, born from a brief intersection of cultures during a chaotic period of transition for her father. In 1848, the year of Jennie's birth, Dr. William Cameron McKay was navigating a time of intense personal upheaval. His first wife, Catherine, passed away in May of that year. Simultaneously, his demanding career as a frontier doctor and scout kept him in a state of constant, rapid mobility across the Oregon Territory.
Based on the timeline of Dr. McKay’s travels and subsequent relationships, his union with Jennie’s mother, Mary, a Klickitat woman, was a brief encounter rather than a formal, traditional Chinook marriage alliance. Because no permanent political union or wealth distribution was established between the families, Dr. McKay’s life soon took him to other regions of the Pacific Northwest. Mary was left to raise their daughter permanently in Oregon City within her own close-knit maternal network alongside Jennie's maternal aunt. Whether they lived in Oregon City permanently or moved seasonally with their Klickitat kin, their ties to the area were ultimately reshaped by mid-19th-century displacement orders.
The Invisible Proximity to the McLoughlin-McKay Household
Though Jennie was raised outside of her father’s direct household, she grew up in the literal shadow of the McKay family empire—and her own flesh and blood. In the 1840s and 1850s, Oregon City was a tightly condensed frontier settlement where the prominent McLoughlin House sat right in the heart of the community.
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| The historic McLoughlin House in Oregon City, where Dr. John McLoughlin and Marguerite Waddens lived in close proximity to local Indigenous networks. |
Dr. William Cameron McKay was the grandson of the famous fur trader Thomas McKay. Thomas's biological mother was Marguerite Waddens McKay McLoughlin.
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This daguerreotype of Marguerite McLoughlin, taken late in her life, is her only known photograph.
Though remembered in her youth for her striking beauty and presence,
later chronic illness significantly altered her health and appearance. |
This means that Marguerite—the revered Cree-Métis matriarch of Oregon City and wife of Dr. John McLoughlin—was actually Jennie’s direct paternal great-grandmother.
The McLoughlin and McKay households were not isolated white spaces; they were deeply Indigenous and Métis environments managed by high-status women. Marguerite and her inner circle maintained robust social and trade networks with the local Indigenous communities fishing at Willamette Falls. In a town of that size, it is an absolute certainty that Marguerite knew her own biological great-granddaughter was living just down the street with Mary. The most powerful evidence of this silent recognition is that Jennie openly and publicly carried the McKay surname throughout her life. In the social codes of the 19th-century frontier, a Native child could only carry a prominent fur-trade surname publicly if the paternal family tacitly acknowledged the bloodline.
Erased by Archives, Restored by Research
Despite carrying the McKay name and living on the doorstep of her prominent biological relatives, Jennie’s branch was completely severed from her father’s official legacy. Following the regional shifts of the 1850s, Jennie remained west of the Cascades, eventually marrying Chief Solomon Riggs. Meanwhile, Dr. McKay spent his long public career and later life east of the Cascades, working as a government physician at the Umatilla and Warm Springs agencies.
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| Chief Solomon Riggs (Umpqua), husband of Jennie McKay. |
When 19th-century Western biographers, newspapers, and pioneer census takers went to write the history of Dr. William Cameron McKay, they operated under strict Victorian standards of legitimacy. They tracked only his later church marriage to Margaret Campbell, completely erasing his brief relationship with Mary and omitting Jennie from the public record entirely. Mainstream internet references and historical profiles simply repeated these omissions for decades.
But history is finally catching up to the truth. By bypassing traditional historical gatekeepers—including recently linking Jennie directly back to her father on Find a Grave and Ancestry, supported by DNA evidence confirming her descent from Chief Comcomly—modern genealogical research is actively forcing a rewrite of the frontier narrative. Jennie McKay is no longer an omitted footnote; she is rightfully restored to her true place in the great, complex lineage of the McKay family tree.
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| Jennie Riggs (née McKay), captured in her later years at Grand Ronde. |
The truth of their father-daughter bond ultimately survived through the voices of those who remembered. Clara Riggs recalled this powerful moment in community history, sharing how Dr. McKay, grandson of Chief Comcomly, traveled directly to the Grand Ronde Reservation searching for Jennie and openly identified himself as her father.
"Dr. 'Billy' McKay once came to Grand Ronde looking for Jennie, identifying himself directly as her father."
—Clara Riggs (1984 interview, Walking in the Great Circle)
While Western census rolls and pioneer histories spent over a century omitting her paternal line, Clara's account ensures the story remains intact. Dr. McKay’s acknowledgment of his daughter bridges the gap between official record and lived memory. By pairing these tribal oral histories with archival evidence, we finally restore Jennie McKay Riggs to her rightful place in the family tapestry—not as an erased chapter, but as a resilient matriarch whose full legacy is restored.
Sources:
Oral Histories & Primary Testimony
Historical Artwork & Visual Records
Warre, Sir Henry James. Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory (1845–1846). Drawing/illustration of Oregon City.
Marguerite Waddens McLoughlin Daguerreotype (c. 1850s). Oregon Historical Society / McLoughlin House Collection.
Jennie McKay Riggs Portrait Photography (c. 1860s portrait in her youth; c. 1900s studio portrait at Grand Ronde).
Genealogical & Institutional Archives
Ancestry.com & Find a Grave Genealogical Records. Family lineage linkage and community-restored trees for the McKay, McLoughlin, and Riggs branches.
U.S. Federal Census & Pioneer Census Rolls (Oregon Territory). Historical documentation tracking Dr. William C. McKay, Chief Solomon Riggs, and Grand Ronde Reservation census records.
Church & Vital Records. Documentation recording Dr. William C. McKay's marriage to Margaret Campbell and regional land/probate files.
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