WEEK 2 – CHALLENGE #1

For Week 2 of Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, the prompt is “Challenge”.

When thinking about what to write, the only thing I couldn’t get out of my head was how much of a challenge it has been to try to break down a brick wall I’ve had since beginning the research into my husband’s paternal line.

His great grandparents were Jesse Edward Keetley and Sarah Alice Brunson, names I got from my Father-in-law’s baby book, which was put together by his mother, Helen Legare Keetley. (Helen also listed Sarah’s mother as Rebecca Davis). I asked my father-in-law Bill for any information about them, and he said he didn’t know very much as they died before he was born and his father didn’t talk about them. Bill said he’d been to their graves years ago and thought there were a couple of children buried with them. They lived in St James Santee (McClellanville), Charleston County, South Carolina and had at least 3 children that he knows of – Alma, Lillian and Jesse Jr.

So, I did the only thing I could do, and that was to turn to the records. I decided to start with Sarah. NOTE: I have listed all names as I found them in the indexes, so there are several different spellings of the surnames Keetley and Brinson.

Using Sarah’s headstone, I found what I believe is her death certificate. Sarah Keirtey was born 5 January 1880, with parents listed as Ben and Ann Brinson. She died on 13 May 1915 at 5 p.m. of Puerperal Septicemia (or postpartum infection), due to Privation. There was no information on burial to help confirm this was the same Sarah. This also gives me possible information about the names of her parents and that there was another child I needed to find.

Searching South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965 at FamilySearch.org, I found a death certificate for Lulu Kentley. Her parents were Jesse Kentley and Sarah Brinson. She was born on 12 May 1915 and died 13 May 1915 at 5 a.m. (a mere 12 hours before her mother!) Cause of death was “Premature Birth, due to Privation”.

A search at SCERA located a birth record for Lula Keiter, born 12 May 1915. Father’s name is illegible, aged 48 and mother is Sarah Brinson, aged 35. All these people are from St James Santee and the doctor listed is the same as on the 2 death records. The certificate says Sarah had 6 children, 3 still living.

I needed to start putting this family unit together, so I looked for census records next. I located the family in the 1910 Federal Census living in St James Santee, Charleston County, South Carolina.

Jesse E. Keethley is the head of household and is aged 35 (born @1875). He has been married for 8 years and it is his 2nd marriage. He and his mother were born in South Carolina and his father in North Carolina. He was working as a Watchman at a Sawmill and was renting his house on McClellanville Road.

Next is Sarah A., his wife, age 31 (born @1879). She was born in South Carolina as were both of her parents. She has been married for 8 years as well (good so far!), and it is her first marriage. That places the marriage at about 1902. She is the mother of 4 children, 2 still living.

Two children are listed in the household: Lilla L. (this is Lillian) aged 5 and Essie E. (this is Alma) aged 3. So, I realize that there are 2 children missing from this family group. They must have been born and died, sometime between @1902 when this couple married and before the 1910 census. Since South Carolina didn’t start keeping official birth or death records until 1915, I have been unable to locate these 2 children.

So to recap, I have Jesse and Sarah as parents to Lillian, Alma and 2 unknown children. Jesse Jr. (my husband’s grandfather) was born in 1912 and little Lulu was born in 1915. That is all 6 of her children accounted for.

This census opens up a lot of new information, and after correlating other evidence, a lot of new questions and challenges. More on Jesse Sr. in Challenge part 2. (I’ll link it here when completed).

Things are going so well up to this point you are probably wondering where the challenge comes into this post. Well, it is here. This is the only information I have on Sarah that I can verify. I have not been able to locate a marriage record for this couple or any newspaper articles.

A search of the 1900 census would lead me to Sarah as a young single lady, probably with her parents and siblings. Unfortunately a search for Ben and Ann Brinson came up blank.

I searched at familysearch.org for Sarah B*n and that gave me 202 results. A lot of them weren’t in the right county or with surnames similar to Brinson. Then I searched for B*ns?n in Charleston County, SC. This way I could eliminate everyone that didn’t fit this search parameter. The ” * ” is for more than one character, and the ” ? ” is for exactly one character. The results returned 7 matches, 2 were males and 3 were too old for our Sarah. The remaining 2, born in 1877 and 1878 were possible matches.

Household	Role	Sex	Age	Birthplace
Rebecca Brunson	Head	F	51	North Carolina
Sarah Brunson	Daughter	F	22	South Carolina
Lilly Brunson	Daughter	F	14	South Carolina
Florence Brunson	Daughter	F	10	South Carolina
Alberry Brunson	Daughter	F	12	South Carolina
Benjamin H Brunson	Son	M	20	South Carolina

and …..

Household	Role	Sex	Age	Birthplace
M J Brunson	Head	F	64	South Carolina
Sarah W Brunson	Daughter	F	23	South Carolina

The first match seems the most likely for Sarah’s family but I am still not sure. Sarah’s daughter-in-law, Helen, did list a Rebecca as Sarah’s mother, but Sarah had died 25 years before Jesse Jr. and Helen married. This information can only be taken with a grain of salt until I can find something more substantial to prove it one way or the other.

I have researched this Brunson/Brinson family a little bit but I can find nothing that connects our Sarah to them definitively. They were also living in St James Santee, and were buried in the same cemetery as Sarah so it seems like a possibility. I also found no evidence of their Sarah other than in this 1900 census. Who were her parents? Siblings? Why can I find no mention of her anywhere?

Is Sarah a daughter of Rebecca Davis Brinson who married Benjamin H. Brinson? If you are connected to this family and have any information please contact me!!