WEEK 26 – LEGEND

This week in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, the prompt is “Legend”.

Like every family, there is at least one story of being related to someone famous and mine is no different. Well my husband’s paternal line anyway. The “Keetley” surname has been difficult to trace as I’ve said before in other posts.

My father-in-law asked me years ago, whether I had connected his family to the “Pony Express” Keetley yet. I looked at him, I’m sure with confusion on my face, as I wasn’t really sure what he was even talking about.

I was born and raised in Australia, and was new to U.S. research. I wasn’t even really sure what the Pony Express was, let alone spending time researching the “Wild West” during the 1860’s. At this point, I was more of a novice, still learning the correct ways to research and document, and I hadn’t connected him with anyone else, other than his parents and grandparents in Charleston, South Carolina. I hadn’t even considered looking for people in other states.

So I asked him what he knew about this possible connection, and he told me what I dreaded he would, “I have no clue, but he is definitely related!” Great, this should be interesting, I thought.

I did a quick Google search and found out through various websites that John H. Keetley (Jack) was born 28th November 1841 in England. They also said that he had died in October 1912.

I took that information and searched for his death certificate.

I saw that the name of the informant was Marguerite Keetley, living at the same address as Jack when he died. Was she his wife? His child? His father was listed as John Keetley and his mother’s name was unknown. Did Marguerite know enough about his father to know his name considering she didn’t know his mothers?

Next I did a search for the 1910 census. I figured it would be easier to start there and then work my way backwards.

According to the 1910 census, he immigrated in about 1850, and was Naturalized. He had been married to his wife, Marguerite for about 21 years and they had no children. Marguerite was from Ireland and immigrated in about 1872. So Marguerite, the informant on the death certificate, was his wife!

I looked for Jack in 1900, but didn’t find anything. Then in 1880, I found Jack working as a Dealer in Stock in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was 37 years old and single. His birth place is listed as Missouri, his father’s New York and his mother England. Very different locations recorded compared to the 1910 census.

I looked for Jack in the 1870 and 1860 census’ but haven’t found anything yet! Since I wasn’t having much luck with the census records I thought I would look for an obituary next. I found two!

These records indicated quite a lot about the man. They said that during the Civil War years, he resided in St. Joseph, Missouri, which is where he rode for the Pony Express.

He was born in England, moved to the U.S. as a small child and lived here with his family. His father was Henry, who died about 1862, and his mother, unnamed, died in about 1902. He has a sister named Mrs. Elizabeth Richards, who still lives in St. Joseph, Missouri.

He left there about 1872 and travelled the country working for mining companies. He worked in South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah and South America.

The second obituary mentions his mining exploits in more detail and that is survived by his wife and sister.

I will use all the information I have gathered on his family and write about that in another blog post, hopefully soon.

So far I have his father as Henry and/or John. With Jack’s name being John H. maybe his father was John Henry? Even with all the information I have on Jack, I am still no closer to knowing if he is related!!!

So for now, this is just another family story, a legend. Another puzzle to solve. Another Keetley that is making me scratch my head and wonder!