My father-in-law, William, was apparently named for his great uncle William Keetley according to some writing in his baby book about why he was given his particular name. The writing was placed there by his mother, Helen (Legare) Keetley. A picture of that writing can be seen below.
Did Helen mean “great” or “grand” uncle? Those terms have been recently debated on Facebook as to which is the correct phrase for which generation.
If she was referring to “grand”, what I would have incorrectly called “great” up until a few years ago, she would have been referencing a sibling of William’s grandfather.
If she was referring to “great”, she would have been referencing a sibling to William’s great grandfather.
I know of no connection to a William Keetley in this family. My father-in-law’s grandfather was Jesse and he is the only one that I have knowledge of so far. I do not know who his parents or siblings were.
Considering she wrote “Uncle”William first, and then corrected it to “Great” uncle, I am thinking that she was leaning towards a sibling of her father-in-law. Then she realized that she was supposed to be writing this from her son’s point of view, and corrected herself.
Unfortunately I have no idea what she actually meant, but it gives me hope that I can find a William Keetley somewhere in South Carolina, giving me new leads on this record-scarce family!
Last year I wrote about a possible family for Jesse (you can read about them here!). There was a William listed in that family so maybe that is a path to investigate next.
My next step would probably be to research that family a little more, and see if there are any connections to them in William’s DNA matches.
I am hoping for a breakthrough on this line this year!!
A few weeks ago I wrote about Jack Keetley, a “Legend”, who rode for the Pony Express in Missouri and had a town named after him in Utah. In this post I will write about some of the family members that I have found so far. I hope to be able to follow them down through the years at some point soon to see if they come up as DNA matches.
In Jack’s obituary in 1912, it mentions he has a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Richards who was living in St. Joseph, Missouri. So I started there and looked for a 1910 census. I found a few Elizabeth Richards but nothing conclusive.
Death Certificate search
I searched for a death certificate next at Missouri Digital Heritage, part of the Missouri Secretary of State website. There were 16 results but only one mentioned Keetley in the name.
The death certificates states that Elizabeth was born in January 1837 in England, was a retired nurse, and was divorced at the time of her death in 1913 in St Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri.
Elizabeth Keetley Richards death certificate
Her parents are listed as John Keetley and Louisa Parrott, both born in England. (Jack’s death certificate also mentioned John as his father, with the mother’s name unknown).
Armed with this knowledge, and Jack’s obituary that listed his mother as dying in about 1902, I looked for a 1900 census for Louisa. I found her listed with 2 daughters in Washington Township, St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri.
Louise was 90 years old, born in England in September 1809 and immigrated in 1850. She was widowed, a nurse, and a mother to 14 children, only 5 of whom were still living by 1900. She also owned her own home. Maybe there would be property records to look for!
In the household with Louise was Helen Keetley, a daughter. Helen was born in January 1853 in New York. She was 47 years old and single. Helen was not listed as a surviving sister to Jack when he died, so she must have passed before 1912.
I went back to the Missouri death certificates, and found one for Helen. This record states that she was 65 years old and born in 1844 in England. (Obviously something is wrong with the dateand location of birth when comparing it the census). She passed away in March 1910, in Washington Township, Buchanan County, Missouri. Her parents names are listed as John Keetley and Louisa Parrott, both of England, and the informant was Elizabeth Richards.
Helen Keetley death certificate
The third person listed in the 1900 census was Emma Richards. She is a daughter of Louise, aged 63 and widowed, having been married 20 years. Her birth is listed as January 1837 in England, which is the same date as Elizabeth. She is also listed as a Richards. Is this Elizabeth? It also says that she is a mother to 4 children, 1 still living.
I searched the Missouri death certificates and couldn’t find an Emma Richards.
1880 Federal Census
In 1880, Elizabeth was living with H. K. White, presumably this is the same man as listed as the Informant on her death certificate, and the Executor of her will. He is living with his mother, S. K. White, and he is working as an Attorney at Law. Elizabeth is 43 years old, working as a Domestic/Servant and is divorced.
I looked for a will for Louisa, Helen and Elizabeth, unfortunately Elizabeth’s was the only one I found.
Elizabeth wrote her will on 9 May 1905 and added a codicil on 10 May 1905 and listed several people by name and relationship.
daughter, Julia Richards
son, John Richards
sister, Louisa Riley
sister, Hettie/Harriett Keetly
niece, Cappie Cyle
daughter, Alice Fisher
executor, Henry K. White
witness, Emily B. White
witness, Sarah K. White
children of Henry K. White:
Hilda K. White
Anna White
Sarah White
Mildred White
Marion White
Jean White
witness, C. V. Hickman
witness, Sidney S. Wilson (died in the latter part of 1911)
Elizabeth then added a second codicil on 23 September 1910, due to the death of her sister, Hettie/Harriett. She also revoked the inheritance to her niece Cappie Cyle and adjusted the inheritance to her daughters Julie Richards and Alice Fisher. Witnesses to this codicil were C. V. Hickman and Lloyd E. Thompson.
Hopefully this outline of the family so far shows how it all fits together. Most of the information corroborates other sources, with only a few discrepancies that will possibly be answered with more research. For now, without knowing if Jack’s family are actually related, it’s hard to invest more time. Maybe one day someone will read this post and have the answers I need, or even if I need future blog post ideas I can revisit this.
If you are related to any of the Keetley, Parrott, Richards, Riley, Fisher or Cyle names in these posts, please send a message. I’d love to hear from you. Thank you!
This week Ancestry.com offered free access to their database – U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999, so I went in and looked up some family names. Unfortunately they didn’t have a lot for the places my husband’s family lived, but I did find his father in 1961 and 1962.
Here is Bill’s entry for his Senior year. The photo is from 1962 at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Florida.
Bill – 1962
Several years ago my mother-in-law gave me her high school yearbook for her senior year in 1966. She attended Hibbing High School in Hibbing, Minnesota so I decided to include it here too.
Sharon – 1966
Sharon and Bill at the Honor Flight reception dinner 2019
If anyone reading this has family in the 1966 Hematite yearbook, feel free to send me a message. I have the whole book, complete with photos and messages from several of Sharon’s classmates.
I also have a copy of the 20-year reunion booklet for the 1966 graduating class, that has a wealth of genealogical information included for some of the people included.
The topic for this week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks post is Comedy. I decided to write about my husband’s Paternal grandmother, Helen Sadie Legare Keetley.
One day while I was researching Helen in the newspapers, I came across the following article.
PRESS, Binghamton, N.Y., 27 July 1961
Her “exploits” were in several newspapers across the country from Florida to New York. I just thought it was the cutest article, and it made me chuckle.
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.
Jack Keetley Death Certificate
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.
Jack Keetley 1910 Federal Census
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.
Jack Keetley 1880 Federal 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!
This week I started a blog post for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for the prompt – Challenge. I laid out all the research I had on Sarah Brinson Keetley (you can read her story here) and this week I will see what I have for her husband, Jesse Edward Keetley Sr and their children.
To give some clarity, by 1930, we know that Jesse Sr. had passed away and Jesse Jr. was living with his sister Lillie and her husband, Charles Sutler.
Starting with Jesse’s headstone in Wrens Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Charleston County, South Carolina, we can see that he lived about 13 years longer than his wife. He died 18 March 1928. I am not sure who placed the headstones for this family, or when, but I believe the dates on both Sarah and Jesse’s are wrong.
The following death certificate is the only one I have found in any county surrounding the Charleston County area that is even remotely similar in detail to be Jesse. The certificate is filled out by Sexton Guerry so I’m not sure how knowledgeable he was on Jesse’s life. The record is still for St James Santee but in different county seat. It says he was buried March 5 somewhere in Charleston County, and his date of death is 4 March 1928.
Jessie Ketty Death Certificate
There is no date of birth but it does say he was born in Georgetown County. It also says that he is married, although there is no evidence that he was at the time of his death. It says he was about 64 years of age (born @1864) and died of Heart Dropsy. His parents are listed as _____ Kettly and _____ Hartly. (not very helpful at all).
Alma Keetley death certificate
When looking for Jesse’s certificate I came across one for his daughter Alma/Essie. She was only 16 years old, dying on 11 November 1923. This places her birth date at about 1907. Her parents are listed as Jessie Keetley and Florence Brinson. (Jesse did not fill out the certificate so I think the informant was confused as to the mother’s name). She is also buried in Wren’s Chapel cemetery with her parents. The date of death is correct on her headstone, although it says her middle initial is A. It lists her birth date as 15 September 1906. Her parents names are Jesse E. and Sarah A. Keetley.
From here I decided to go back to the 1920 census to see what that could tell me. I found 2 census’ for this family taken 1 week apart. Both census’ were for St James Santee, Charleston County, South Carolina.
Jesse Keetley 1920 ED95 census #1
The first census was taken 24 January 1920. Jesse was head of household, aged 55 and widowed. His daughter Lilla aged 16, Elma aged 14, Jesse Jr aged 8. All born in South Carolina, as were both their parents. Jesse was a farmer and all 3 children were in school. He was renting the farm they lived on.
Jesse Keetley 1920 ED94 census #2
The second was taken 31 January 1920. Jesse was head of household, aged 55 and widowed. His daughter Lilla aged 14, Essie aged 13, Jesse Jr aged 9. All born in South Carolina, as were both their parents. Jesse was a laborer on a farm and all 3 children were in school. He was renting the property they lived on although it doesn’t say if it was a farm.
Well, again differing information. Jesse is 55 on both census’ placing his birth at about 1865 which is consistent with his death record. Although if you look at the 1910 from my last post, it says he was 35 which places his birth about 10 years later in 1875.
Lilla is aged 16 and 14, and in 1910 she was 5. This places her birth at about 1905. Essie or Elma, depending on the day I guess, was aged 14 and 13. She was 3 in 1910 so her birth is consistent with 1906-07. Jesse Jr. was 8 and 9, so his birth year is about 1911-12.
We already know Jesse was married to someone before he married Sarah (@1902) thanks to the 1910 census but when and who remains a mystery. What happened to his first wife? Did they have children?Were they together in 1900?
Going backwards in time, there are only 3 Keetley families that appear in 1900 in South Carolina and only one of those is for a “J”. He is listed as J. A. Keetley in James Island, Charleston County, South Carolina. He was living in the J.T. Cadden household and working as a farm laborer. He is single and born in 1876. I am not sure if this our Jesse.
I found Jesse in the 1898 Charleston Directory, but again it doesn’t tell me very much other than he was working in a Cotton Mill. There are other people with similar spellings on the page too, like Mrs Laura Keightley and Theodore Keathley. Could there be a connection?
1898 Charleston City Directory, South Carolina
Looking at the 1880 census there are 2 Keetly families living next door to each other, James aged 51 and Harrison aged 24. Both men have families and are living in St James Santee, Charleston County, South Carolina. There is also a Harrison in the following family. They may be the same person!
Sarah Keatly
F
45
South Carolina
William J Keatly
M
20
South Carolina
Harrison Keatly
M
18
South Carolina
Jessie Keatly
M
16
South Carolina
Rachel Keatly
F
13
South Carolina
Thomas Keatly
M
8
South Carolina
Orianna Keatly
F
4
South Carolina
In 1870 there is only 1 Keatly family that I found in South Carolina and they were living in Georgetown County. This Jessie would have been born @1854, a little older than I would expect but not out of the realm of possibilities!
Are any of these people related to Jesse? I may never know! Are you related to any of these people?
If anyone would like to adopt our Jesse and Sarah, and find all of their relatives I’m willing to send on all information I have, including my suspicions. Then I will gladly take them off your hands again!!!! 😀
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.
Sarah A. Brinson Death Certificate
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.
Lulu Kentley Death Certificate
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”.
Lula Keiter Birth Certificate
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.
1910 Federal Census for Jesse Keethley household
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!!
