James McKay was a farmer and political figure in New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

, Canada. He represented Charlotte County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton. It was established de jure when the colony was created in 1784, but only came in to session in 1786 following the first elections in late 1785. Until 1891, it was the lower house in a bicameral legislature when its upper house...

 from 1875 to 1878 as a Liberal member.

He was born in Pennfield, New Brunswick, the son of Alexander McKay, an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

immigrant. On 26 December 1872 he married Mary Elizabeth Hawkins, who died 7 September 1873. On 18 March 1883 he married Ellen Gillespie (1855-1928).