Joel McKee was Hartford, Connecticut's first Methodist minister.

His daughter, Elisabeth Ann, Sophia's sister, was a prominent abolitionist and suffragette.   She was highly educated, learning to read at age three.   She married Dr. William Kingsbury at age 25 and was widowed four years later.

In her younger years, she taught music and was preceptress at the Mount Morris Academy in New York.   In 1857, at about age 40, she began to travel and lecture throughout the United States, continuing into her 80's.