Since it helps me get caught up quicker, I am going to make this weeks post really easy on me. I am just going to list all the surnames that I have proven for my lines so far.
Absalom
Anderson
Cain
Carey
Champ
Chaney
Chislett
Clements
Collins
Driver
Edwards
Foster
Gale
Gilmour
Haynes
Howard
Hunt
Hyland
Jowles
Knight
Laird
Lawrence
Lucas
McConnell
McKenzie
Mitchell
Moore
Nelis
Newman
Oak/es
Osborne
Pekin
Reeves
Renwick
Richards
Rose
Russell
Sedgley
Semple
Stagg
Thompson
Virgin
The names below are for my husband’s lines.
Bilodeau
Blanchette
Bolduc
Born
Boutin
Brinson
Buescher
Buteau
Champagne
Dallaire
Daniel
Dore
Dupre
Elliott
Elsworth
Fortier
Gornowicz
Goulet
Grenier
Grondin
Hall
Horseman
Huge
Hughes
Jamieson
Jones
Joos
Keating
Keetley
Krager/Krieger
Legare
Lessard
Nadeau
Parry
Portwig
Quirion
Rancour
Severance/Saverence
Simons
Smith
Talbot
Toussaint
Townsend
Wilson
If you have any of these surnames, feel free to send me a message. Always looking to make new connections and meet new family members!
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!!