KEESE FAMILY
HISTORY
AND
GENEALOGY
FROM 1690 TO 1911.
By W. T. KEESE.
*
DEDICATED TO THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHN AND
ELIZABETH TITUS KEESE
CARDINGTON, OHIO
INDEPENDENT PRINTING Co.
1911
Bowne Mansion, Flushing, Long Island, Built in 1661
To List of Photos
(no fourth son and third daughter)
Bowne Mansion
Bowne Mansion Fireplace
Lydia Cook, Stephen R. Keese, Hannah Conlon
Richard Keese
John Keese
Quaker Meeting House
Old Arch Bridge, Keeseville
Stephen and Sarah Keese
Jonathon Keese
Phebe Keese
Hannah and Daniel Haines
William and Rebecca Keese
Laomi and Elizabeth Sibray
Jason and Lovina Keese
Willis and Eunice Keese
Nathan and Almira Keese
Isaac and Maggie Keese
Sarah R. Keese
John E. Keese
Matilda and Mahlon Paxon
Edwin and Loretta Smith
PREFACE
Brothers and Sisters, children of one family:
John and Elizabeth Titus Reese, our ancestors, were noble people, not
warriors, not religious zealots nor enthusiasts, but Friends, a
peaceable people, bred and brought up in the society where it was
taught that “It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.”
To you this volume is dedicated. Accept it in love. I believe that it
is correct, but not as full as I desired to have it, but is the best
that I could do, and I sincerely thank all who have helped to make it
what it is.
WILLIS T. KEESE,
Cardington, Ohio.
Death comes, life goes; the asking eye
And ear are answerless;
The grave is dumb, the hollow sky
Is sad with silentness.
Fireplace in Bowne House; Largest on Long Island
To List of Photos
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Introduction.
IN the early settlements of New York
there were many Friends who came into Long Island and made settlements
at Westbury, Jerico, Flushing and other places. Among those who came
was a young man named John Keese. He came to Flushing some 200 years
ago. There he made the acquaintance of a young woman (Friend) by the
name of Mary Bowne. They were married about 1722. She was born in 1698,
was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Bowne and granddaughter of John and
Hannah Bowne, who built the house known as the Mansion house in those
days, a picture of which graces the front page of this book: It was
built in 1661 and is still standing, and is owned by lineal descendants
of the Bowne family, I am told.
This historic building, with its quaint garb and furnishings, is shown
to the public for the benefit of the Flushing Hospital. The cane is
also shown here with which our venerable ancestor Thomas Bowne once
killed a bear that attacked him in the woods.
In this house John and Mary Keese lived and here a son was born and
named John Keese, who in this book will be designated as John Keese II.
When he was grown to manhood he went to Jerusalem, another settlement
of Friends. There he married Elizabeth Titus in the year 1749 and they
settled at Ninepartners, Dutchess county, New York.
There were eleven children born to this union, ten of whom grew to
manhood and womanhood and married, and a number of them raised large
families. There was no “race suicide” with them, but some of their
descendants have failed in this respect in later years.
About 1790 this family migrated northward and settled in Clinton and
Essex counties near Lake Champlain not far from where Keeseville now
stands. A graphic description of this settlement, written by S. K.
Smith, is given in full and will be of interest to many, I trust.
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Thomas Bowne.
Thomas Bowne was born and baptized in
England in 1595. His son John Bowne was born and baptized at Matlock in
Derbyshire, England, 3rd month, 1627.
Thomas Bowne came to America in 1649 with his son and family except one
daughter. He died in Flushing, Long Island, in 1650. John Bowne
returned to England but came back in 1651, landing at Boston. The
family soon after removed to Flushing and settled there. On the 7th of
5th month, 1656, John Bowne and Hannah Feke were married at Flushing.
They were among the first who embraced the principle of Friends in this
country, for which they suffered much under the Dutch government. He
having been sent a prisoner to Holland, was released after a time with
an order to the provincial government not to molest peaceable citizens.
He built a house at Flushing in 1661 in which they gave room to Friends
to hold their monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings for many years.
These peaceable meetings being held in his house incensed the populace
against him, but his quiet perseverance and peaceful submission won the
victory after much suffering. In 1676 he joined his wife in England,
accompanied her in her religious service until 12th month, 1677, when
she died in London.
His testimony concerning her given at her funeral at the Peel Meeting
was remarkable for its tenderness and beauty. This was her second
religious visit to England; she had made one to Holland also. In the
Flushing Records are found the following minutes:
“John Bowne died at Flushing, Long Island, the 20th of 10th month,
1695, and was buried the 23rd, being about 68 years of age. He did
freely expose himself, his house and his estate to the service of
truth, and had a constant meeting at his house near about 40 years.”
The house is still standing, an historic monument of Flushing, and has
been owned to the present time by his lineal descendants. It is now
shown by permit to those wishing to see it in its old garb and with its
old furniture.
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Keese Family History.
The following record of the family was copied
from a writing on the fly-leaf of Aunt Hannah's Bible, written there by
my grandfather, John Keese III. I have learned that the Bible has since
been destroyed by fire near Bryant, Indiana:
“John Keese (I) married Mary Bowne of Flushing, Long Island, New York.
“John Keese (II) married Elizabeth Titus, of Westberry, L. I.
“John Keese (III), born 6th month, 27th, 1773, at Ninepartners,
Dutchess county, New York. In 1790 I went with my parents to the north
part of the state, Clinton county. The first part of the year 1800 was
married to Hannah Rogers, daughter of Stephen and Lydia Rogers, of
Vermont.”
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CHILDREN OF JOHN KEESE (III).
“Stephen R. Keese, born 8th month, 30th,
1801; married Sarah Gove and had thirteen children, eleven of whom
lived to manhood and womanhood.
“Lydia R. Keese, born 8th month, 12th, 1803; married Lumas Cook, had two children, Samuel and Mary J.
“Titus Keese, born 10th month, 18th, 1805; married Martha Mitchner and had four daughters.
“Silva Keese, born 5th month, 20th, 1808, died 11th month, 23rd, 1808.
“Elizabeth Keese, born 9th month, 26th, 1810; married Otis Dillingham; had four children; resided in Washington Co., N. Y.
“Hannah Keese, born 9th month, 26th, 1812; married Chas. Conlin; had one child, died in infancy.”
Note by the author—The mother of these children, Hannah (Rogers) Keese,
died near the first of the third month, 1813, about 30 or 31 years old.
Soon after this John Keese moved to central Ohio, and by untiring
industry he soon secured a home. In 1815 he married a second wife,
Sarah Benedict; of this marriage there were six children, all of them
passing to spirit life while their father still lived except Richard,
who married and had five children, four of whom are still living.
Richard Keese died 8th month, 11th, 1874, and their father, John Keese,
died 2nd month, 12th, 1860, aged 87 years, 7 months and 16 days. An
account of his death is given on another page.
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AN ACCOUNT OF MY ANCESTORS FARTHER BACK
The following was written in the Bible previously mentioned by John
Keese in the year 1851, and copied from that book by his grandson, W.
T. Keese, in the year 1881:
“My grandmother, Mary Keese, was the daughter of Samuel Bowne. The
Mansion House (as it is now called and it is a good house) stands at
the east end of Flushing, Long Island, and has stood about 190 years.
(It was erected in 1661.) It was the place of their residence,
inherited from his parents, John and Hannah Bowne. They built the house
in part for a meeting house, also for the convenience of the family in
entertaining Friends that came from a distance to meeting, and meetings
were held in it for 40 years, and I think it has ever been a house of
entertainment for Friends in the honor of the same name.
“But he, John Bowne, was persecuted by the Dutch, fined, imprisoned,
and finally banished, sent to Holland for allowing Friends to hold
meetings in his house. There his sentence was reversed and he was set
at liberty. Hannah, his wife, became a minister and traveled much in
America and twice crossed the ocean to Europe, where she labored
extensively in England, Ireland and other parts of the Continent, and
when all was accomplished that seemed to be required of her, she
returned to London in peace and quietly resigned her breath, there
among her friends who much lamented her loss, particularly her husband,
who had accompanied her and took part in her labors in the latter part
of her journey.
“Their son, Samuel Bowne, was also a minister and by some it seemed to
be thought that his wife, Mary's equal was not to be found in America.
I think she came over with William Penn.
“It appears from different accounts that many of my ancestors for four
or five generations back were accounted of as among the worthys of that
day in our society, but how is it now with us their descendants, how
does the word or cause fare with us or many of us? As with the seed
that fell by the wayside or on stony ground or among thorns.”
JOHN KEESE,
Cardington, Ohio, 1851
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Family of John (II) and Elizabeth (Titus) Keese.
(THE SECOND JOHN KEESE.)
The second John Keese was born in 1729 and was married 1749 to
Elizabeth Titus of Westberry, L. I. They subsequently removed to
Ninepartners, Dutchess Co., N. Y.
Elizabeth Titus was born in 1729, 8th month, 16th day.
CHILDREN.
Sarah Keese, born 11th month, 21st day, 1750, married Joseph Thorn.
Phebe Keese, born 11th month, 11th day, 1753, married to James Titus.
Samuel Keese, born 7th month, 4th day, 1756, married Sarah Franklin.
Stephen Keese, born 3rd month, 28th day, 1759, married Ruth Hall.
Richard Keese, born 7th month, 7th day, 1761, married Anna Hallock.
William Keese, born 9th month, 13th day, 1763, married Paumilia Allen and Jemima Bunker.
John Keese, born 5th month, 22nd day, 1765, died while young.
Elizabeth Keese, born 10th month, 16th day, 1768, married Henry Green.
Mary Keese, born 12th month, 27th day, 1770, married Peter Hallock.
John Keese (III), born 6th month, 27th day, 1773, married Hannah Rogers and Sarah Benedict.
Oliver Keese, born 9th month, 21st day, 1775, married Paulina Lapham.
Sarah, Stephen, John and Oliver were living in 1844. John only in 1851 (Signed) John Keese, Cardington, Ohio, 1851.
Note – This record was furnished by Lenore Keese Bannister, 400 Douglass St., Pasadena, California.
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Titus Family.
An extract of an account of the family of Titus, in the possession of Thomas Willis of Jerico, Long Island, N. Y.:
Edmond and Martha Titus are the parents of all of that name who are
settled at or about Westberry, L. I. Their descendants are now much
scattered. Edmond Titus was born in England about the year 1630; he
came with his brothers when young into New England, and when grown to
the state of manhood came to Long Island, and after a few years settled
at
Westberry. Both were convinced of the principles of the people called
Quakers, in the fore part of their time, and living in a strict and
circumspect manner, were pious examples to their children and others.
They lived to an advanced age and their close appears to have been
peaceful and happy. Ten of their children grew up, were married and all
lived within twenty miles of one another and were all living when the
youngest was sixty years old. Several of them became far advanced in
age, and all lived and died in the faith their Godly parents had
instructed them in.
The oldest son, Samuel, married Elizabeth Powel of Bethpage and had
three children, Pheba, Martha and Samuel. Samuel married Mary Jackson
of Jerusalem, had seven children, all lived and married and had several
children. Five of Samuel's and Mary's children lived to advanced age.
James was near 100 years old. Elizabeth, their eldest daughter, married
John Keese, son of John and Mary Keese, of Flushing, L. I.
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FIRST CHILD.
SARAH KEESE, who was born 11th month, 21st,
1750, married Joseph Thorn of Dutchess Co., N. Y. A list of their
descendants follows:
The first son, Stephen Thorn, had one son - Joseph, who died leaving
one daughter-—and also three daughters—Ann K. Thorn, Cynthia Denier,
who had five children, and Elizabeth Smith, who had three daughters.
The first daughter, Martha Wheeler, died leaving six living children
and had one son dead who left three children. The six children were:
Phebe Jerome, seven children; Alonzo Wheeler, three children; Pomelia
Murphy; one child; Mary Handell, two children; William Wheeler;
Alexander Wheeler, Stephen, Thorn, and Thomas.
The second son, Joseph Thorn, had three children: Edgar Thorn, six children; Sydmon Thorn, one child; Mary Knapp, four children.
The second daughter, Phebe Allen, died leaving four children: Mary
Howland, one child; Salley Ann Allen; Joseph T. Allen, one child;
Richard Allen, three children.
The third son, John Thorn, died leaving six children: Alanson Thorn,
five children; Marie Northup, nine children; Catherine Sockett, eight
children; Susan Gurnsey, four children; Sarah Hawkins, one child; Mary
E. Thorn.
Third daughter, Ann Barnes, four children: Catherine Sleight, four
children; Elizabeth Wheeler; Josephine Barnes; David Barnes, Jr.
Fourth daughter, Mary Angell, eight children: Augustus Angell, two children;
Sarah, Emma, Martha, Stephen, William, Henry, and Ephrain Jun Angell.
Fifth daughter, Elizabeth Ham, four children: Conrad Ham, Joseph Ham,
Elizabeth and Sarah Ham. Five children living. Forty grandchildren.
Seventy-four great grandchildren.
(An old record copied by, Lenore Keese Bannester.)
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SECOND CHILD.
PHEBE KEESE, born 11th month, 11th, 1753,
married James Titus. They had four children, Elizabeth, Samuel, John
and Stephen Titus. Their families are as follows:
Elizabeth Titus married James Borland. Their children: Andrew Borland,
Phebe Keese Borland, James Titus Borland, John, Walter, and Elizabeth
Borland.
Samuel Titus married Charlotte Briggs. Their children: Delano B.,
James, Ruth, Walter, Phebe Celma, Martha, Elizabeth, Mary Ann,
Charlotte Jane, and Samuel Titus.
John Titus married Phebe Sweet. Their children: Eliza Delia, Amanda, John Augustus, James Mott, and Phebe Ann Titus.
Stephen Titus, born 5th month, 29th, 1778, married Phebe Hare Marsh in
the year 1813, died 2nd month, 23rd, 1846. Their children: Catherine
Jane Titus, Mary Ann Titus, James Hamilton Titus, born 10th, 29, 1815,
died 9th, 15, 1841, married Maria Carpenter. Their son, E. S. G. Titus,
Bur. Ent., Dept. Ag., Washington, D. C. Phebe Marsh Titus.
James Barland's child, Phebe K. Barland, married Benjamin Holmes. Their children: Eliza R., Charlotte A. Holmes.
James Titus Barland married Cordelia Waggoner.
John Barland married Maria Lee.
Walter Barland married Chloe Snow.
Elizabeth Barland married John Jones. Their children:
Maria Jones, John B. Jones, Elizabeth B. Jones.
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THIRD CHILD.
SAMUEL KEESE, born 7th month, 4th day, 1756. Married Sarah Franklin, a relative of Benjamin Franklin. Had two children.
Posterity of Stephen and Ruth Keese to 1844.
FOURTH CHILD.
STEPHEN KEESE, born 3rd month, 28th, 1759
married Ruth Hull, born 1763, died 1813. Their children: John H. Keese,
born 1782, died 1841; Elizabeth Keese, born 1783; Sarah Keese, born
1785; Tidsmon Keese, died when nine months old; Ruth Keese, born 1789;
Samuel Keese, born 1793; Phebe Keese, born 1796; Mary Keese, born 1798;
Anna Keese, born 1801; Pamelia Keese, born 1805.
John H. Keese married Mary Smith in 1805. Their children: Franklin
Keese; Deborah S. Keese, born 1812; Hull Keese, born 1814, died at two
months; Stephen S. Keese, born 1818; Ruth H. Keese, born 1820; Charles
W. H. Keese, born in 1822.
Elizabeth Keese married Benjamin Smith in 1803. Their children: Mary
Smith, born 1804; Stephen K. Smith, born 1806, died 1894; Ruth Smith,
born 1808; Abigail Smith, born 1810, died when 18 years old; Phebe
Smith, born 1811; Sarah H. Smith, born 1812, died 1820; Samuel P.
Smith, born 1814, died 1824; Thomas Smith, born 1819; Eliza P. Smith,
born 1820; Hannah Smith, born 1822; Benjamin Franklin Smith, born 1824,
died 1894.
Ruth Keese married Arden Barker in 1810. Their children: Sarah and
Eliza Barker both died in infancy; John H. was born in 1814; Hannah P.,
born 1817, died 1825; Phebe Barker died at 2 years of age; Stephen
Barker; Pamelia, who died in infancy, and Jane Barker, born in 1822.
Sarah Keese, born in 1785, married James Rogers in 1814. Their children
and the dates of their birth are as follows: Deborah, 1815; Henry H.,
1817; Mary, 1819; Samuel K., 1821; James W., 1823; and Sarah Ann
Rogers, 1829.
Samuel Keese was married in 1815 to Hannah Rogers of Marshfield, Mass.,
who was born in 1794. They had two children, Stephen, who died at the
age of 2, and John Keese, born in 1819.
Phebe Keese was married in 1824 to Char1es Cromwell and they were the
parents of Samuel, William, Phebe Ann, John, and Charles C. Cromwell.
Mary Keese married Danie Merrit in 1824 and became the mother of Titus
Merrit, born in 1827, Anna Marea Merrit, Henry Merrit, Franklin Merrit,
Phebe F. Merrit, born 5th month, 15th, 1834; Elizabeth and Nehemiah
Merrit.
Anna Keese was united in marriage in 1824 with James Brown, and to this
union five children were born: Mary, Stephen, Isaac, James, and Abigail
Brown.
Pamelia Keese was married in 1824 to Sylvenus Brown and gave birth to
Sylvenus Brown, who had five children, Edwin, Samuel, Hannah, and Sarah
Ann Brown, the latter having four children.
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Grandchildren of Stephen and Ruth Keese.
Deborah S. Keese married Abraham Orvis, and they
were the parents of Emma Ruth Orvis, born 1840, Franklin K., born 1942,
and Edwin Howe Orvis, born 1844.
(note: the following paragraph has several typographical errors in the
original that have not been corrected; e.g. probably should read “Henry
Wing”; Tim Strand, 2/2000)
Stephen Wing married Rute Wing, John Wing,. Samuel, ry Wing, Charles
Wing, Georgh Smith. Their children: Hen- who died at 2 years, and Phebe
Elizabeth Wing.
Stephen K. Smith married Jane Keese in 1839. Their children: Juliet
Smith, born 1844: Samuel Smith, born 1846; Oliver Smith, born 1849;
Pauline Elizabeth Smith, born 1850, and Burret Smith, born 1852.
Thomas I. Townsend married Eliza P. Smith in 1842. Their children:
Eugene Townsend, Helen Mary Townsend, Thomas Townsend, Martha Louise
Townsend and Marshall Townsend, who was born in 1852.
John I. Puller married Deborah Rogers and they had one child, Sarah Abby Puller.
Zaccheus Wing married Mary Rogers. They had two children, James Henry and Esther Wing.
John H. Barker married Eliza D. Barker. Their children: Hannah P., Caleb, Margaret Jane, and Ruth Barker.
Nathan Lapham married Jane Barker. Their children: Arden B. Lapham,
Ruth, Edwin, Joseph, and Catherine Lapham, who was born in 1855.
John Keese married Jemima Harght, who died after becoming the mother of
Jacob W. Keese, who died. in infancy, and Eliza Hannah Keese.
Stephen Keese married Harriet ------ in 1844, and they were the parents of Charles Edwin, born 1846, died 1850; Mary H.,
born 1849; Louise Ruth, born 1850; Augusta, born 1851; Clark, born
1854; Ruth N., born 1858; and William Keese, who was born in 1861.
Wilson Brown married Ruth H. Keese. Died in 1855. Their children: Charles Brown, William Brown.
Charles Keese died in Maine unmarried.
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FIFTH CHILD.
RICHARD KEESE, who was born 7th month, 7th,
1761 and who died 6th month, 27th, 1821, married Anna Hallock - who was
born 8th month, 11th, 1768 - in the year 1784. Their children: Ruth
Keese was born 3rd month, 21st, 1785; William, born 9th, 25th, 1786;
Mary, born 9th, 13th, 1788, died 1810; Anna, born 11th, 1st, 1790, died
1833; Elizabeth, born 12th, 29th, 1792; Richard, born 11th, 23rd, 1794;
Oliver, born 8th, 27th 1796: Peter, born 5th, 22nd, 1798, died 1875;
Hannah, born 8th, 1st, 1800; Guli Elma, born 7th, 1st, 1802; Persis,
born 9th, 1st, 1804, died 5th, 21st, 1825.
Ruth Keese married Timothy Earl of Massachusetts in the year 1806, 1st
month. Their children: Anna K. Earl, born in 1806; Richard K., born
1809; Edward, born 1811; Perses, born 1813, died 1820; Sarah, born
1816, died 1831; and Mary B., born in 1819. Timothy Earl died 3rd
month, 23rd, 1819.
Ruth Earl, his widow married his brother, Henry Earl, in the year 1821.
Their children: Lydia Earl, born 1822; Timothy and Thomas, born in
1823; and Oliver K., born in 1824.
William Keese married Lydia Hoag 1st, 2nd, 1812. Their children: Robert
E. Keese, born 9th month, 13th, 1812; Anderson, born 2nd, 11th, 1815;
Mary B., born 9th, 19th, 1817; Anna G., born 10th, 26th, 1821;
Elizabeth E., born 3rd, 30th, 1823; Lydia, born 1st, 11th, 1827, died
5th month, 1830; Persis, born 6th month, 18th, 1829, died 11th, 21st,
1830; William R., born 10th, 5th,
1831, died 6th, 11th. 1832. Lydia, wife of William Keese, died 12th
month, 7th, 1831. He married Hannah Earl of Leicester, Mass., 6th
month, 13th, 1833.
Mary Keese married William Bowron 1st month, 1st, 1807. Their child,
Joseph Bowron, was born 4th month, 1st, 1810. Mary, wife of William
Bowron, died 6th month, 12th, 1810.
Anna Keese married Joseph Lopham of Danby, Vermont, 8th month, 3rd,
1806. Their children: Eliza Lopham, born 3rd month, 29th, 1810; Richard
A., born 11th month, 22nd, 1815; Cynthia A., born 7th, 28th, 1818;
George, the date of whose birth is unnoted; Nathan, born 10th month,
24th, 1820; Oliver K., born 4th month, 1st, 1823. Anna, wife of Joseph
Lopham, died 10th month, 24th, 1833.
Elizabeth Keese married George Irish 10th month, 4th, 1821. Their
children: Abigail Irish, born 5th month, 18th, 1822; Hannah, born 12th,
7th, 1823; Presis K., born 5th, 11th, 1825; George, born 8th, 30th,
1827; Richard K., born 5th, 3rd, 1829; Guli Elma, born 12th, 16th,
1830; Henry, born 8th, 29th, 1832; Oliver, born 5th, 20th, 1835.
Richard Keese married Lydia Hurlbut of Vermont, 9th mo., 17th, 1817.
Their children: Gulia A. Keese, born 1st mo., 13th, 1820; Phebe H.,
born 2nd, 21st, 1823; Richard, born 11th, 18th, 1825, died 10th, 25th,
1826; Richard Henry, born 7th, 12th, 1827; James born 6th, 10th, 1829;
Lydia, born 10th, 8th, 1832, died 10th, 29th, 1836; Hurlbut born 8th,
27th, 1835; Ellen Mary, born 11th, 20th, 1838, died 7th, 23rd, 1841.
Oliver Keese married Mary S. Fisk of Keeseville 7th month, 10th, 1823.
Their children: Mary P. Keese, born 11th month, 11th, 1825, died 1898;
Oliver, born 7th, 9th, 1830, died 1888; Anna, born 2nd, 28th. 1832,
died 8th, 27th, 1832; Josiah Fisk, born 11th 8th, 1836; Phebe L., born
3rd, 29th. 1839; Elizabeth F., born 9th, 14th, 1841, died 1st, 17th,
1843.
Peter Keese married Mary D. Thorn of Dutchess county in the year 1826.
Their children: Samuel P. Keese, born 12th, 23rd, 1827, died 1890;
Phebe Ann, born 12th, 30th, 1830, died 8th mo. 27th, 1831; Richard,
born 7th, 14th, 1833; Mary D., born 7th, 23rd, 1835, died 1861.
Mary D., wife of Peter Keese, died 8th month, 10th, 1835. He afterwards
married Melinda A. Ferris in 1838. Their children: Julia Anna, born
1847, and Sidmon, born 1848.
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Descendants of Peter Keese.
Born 5th month, 22nd, 1798.
Samuel T. Keese, born 12th month, 23rd, 1827, married Caroline Merrit
of Poughkeepsie. Their children, Mary T. and William Keese, died.
Caroline Keese, wife of Samuel Keese, died in 1865, he married Phebe
Merrit of Brooklyn. Their children were born as follows: Zayde B.
Keese, 1866; Herman, 1867; Grace W., 1869; Louise W., 1870; George M.,
1872.
Richard P. Keese married Anna Hawxhurst of Rahway, N. J., in 1867.
Their children: Percy Keese, born 1868; Pauline S., born 1870; Frank
H., born 1874.
Sidmon T. Keese, son of Peter and Malinda Ferris (his second wife) was
born 10th month, 18th, 1880, married Mary Anderson in 1865. They had a
son, Sidmon T. Keese, born 1866.
Julia S. Keese married William Roden Duff of Costa Rica, in 1874. Their
child, Agnes Duff, was born in 1875. William Roden Duff died in 1875
and Julia, his wife, married William Lamatum Duff of Memphis, Tenn., in
1880. Their child, Lee Calhoun Duff, was born in 1881.
Hannah Keese married Elias A. Huelburt of Vermont 11th month, 28th,
1822. Their children: Mary, born 5th, 10th, 1825; Nathan, born 5th,
12th, 1827; Richard K., born 7th, 5th 1829, died 9th, 13th, 1832; Helen
K., born 9th, 4th, 1831; Elias Neilson, born 6th, 7th, 1834, died 8th,
1st, 1835; Elias A., born 2nd, 24th, 1837; Anna K., born 4th, 12th, 1840; Cynthia, born 6th, 2nd, 1843.
Guli Elma Keese married Silas Arnold of Peru in the year 1823. Their
children: Elisha Arnold, born 9th, 15th, 1825, married Charlotte
McLean; Mary Ann Arnold, born 12th, 24th, 1832, married Winston Watson.
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Marriages of the Grandchildren.
Anna K. Earl married Samuel H. Colton of
Worchester Mass., in 1830 and died in the spring of 1842, leaving no
children, having buried one aged 7 days.
Edward Earl married Ann Buffum of Rhode Island 1st mo., 10th, 1835. Their child, Ann B. Earl, was born in 1837.
Mary B. Earl married Jonathan L. Slocum of Providence, R. I., 9th month, 1840. Their child, Edward E. Slocum, was born in 1841.
Robert E. Keese married Sarah H. Burton of Dutchess county, 4th month,
27th, 1836. Their children: Lydia P. Keese, born 3rd, 21st, 1837; Caleb
B., born 9th, 8th, 1839, died 3rd, 5th, 1840 Emma, born, in 1847.
Anderson Keese married Alma E. Hallock of Erie, Pa., 11th month, 5th, 1843.
Mary B. Keese married Jonathan Battey of Starksboro, Vt., 1st month, 1st, 1839.
Eliza Lapham married Caleb D. Burton 1830, died 1840.
Richard A. Lapham married Margaret Hoyle in 1843. Their child, Anna Elizabeth Lapham, was born 4th, 1st, 1844.
Cynthia A. Lapham married Horatio Nelson Peabody. They had a son, George James Peabody.
Nathan Lapham married Jane R. Barker.
Julia A. Keese married John P. Nelson of New Orleans, La., 9th month,
5th, 1839, died 5th month, 23rd, 1841. Their child, Julia K. Nelson,
was born 7th month, 10th, 1840.
Phebe H. Keese married Joseph R. Barnum 5th, 18th. 1845.
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Descendants of Oliver Keese.
Born 8th month, 27th, 1796.
Mary P. Keese, born 11th month, 11th, 1825, married Walter Doty of
Northumberland, N. Y. Their children: Mary Sophia, T. K., Lorraine K.,
and John Doty.
Oliver Keese, born 7th month, 9th, 1830, married Jane Field of
Keeseville in 1853. Their children: Oliver Keese, born in 1854, died
1878; Jennie, born in 1855, died in 1864; Susan, born in 1858, died in
1860, William K, born in 1861, died in 1864; George P. Keese, born in
1867, married and had one son, Oliver, who lives in California; Louise
M. Keese, born in 1872, married William Barker and had one daughter,
Dorothy, 1904.
Phebe Lorraine Keese married Robert Trivett of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Their children Myra J. Trivett, born 1st month, 23rd, 1865, married
Robert Barley, had one child; Mary L. Trivett, born 4th month, 1866,
died 7th month, 11th, 1866; Isabel Trivett, born 5th month, 1867, died
8th month, 11th, 1867.
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Descendants of Hannah Keese,
Who Married Elias Hurlbert.
Mary Hurlbert married L. M. Ames Aug. 27th, 1845. Their children:
Charles Frederick Ames, born 1846, died 1852; Harriet Ames, born 1849;
Elias Hurlbert, born 1851; Samuel, born 1854.
Nathan Hurlbert married Annie Reichum in 1859, had one child who died in infancy.
Helen Hurlbert married Henry E. Smith in 1856. Their children: Gertrude
Mauneng, born 1858, Alice Earl born 1860, Anita Brewster 1862, Hattie
born 1862, Howard born 1867, Frederick born 1870.
Elias Hurlbert married Mary L. Smith. Their two children, Florence Hurlbert and Baby Hurlbert, died in infancy.
Anna Hurlbert married Howard Brewster in February, 1876. Their child, Henry, died young.
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Marriages of the Grandchildren
Of Silas and Hannah Hurlbert.
Hattie Ames married R. D. Boughton, Jr., in 1876. Their child, Helen Mary, was born in 1881.
Elias D. Ames married Eleanor Bushnell in 1876. Their children: Joseph
Bushnell, 1878; Frederick W., born 1880, died 1887; Samuel, born 1882.
SIXTH CHILD.
WILLIAM KEESE, born 9th month, 13th, 1763,
died 11th month, 23rd, 1836. Married Pamelia Allen, born 2nd month,
23rd, 1769. Their children:
Eunice Keese, born 2nd month, 9th, 1797, married Jonathan Macomber in
the year 1822. Their children: Richard Macomber, born 10th, 2nd, 1824;
William, born 2nd, 26th, 1826; Willits, born 8th, 13th, 1827; Pamelia,
Hannah, Matilda, John, and Margaret Macomber.
Kesiah Keese, born 5th month, 5th, 1800, died 11th month, 10th, 1864,
married Nathaniel Hanson in the year 1840. Their child, Caroline
Hanson, was born 4th month, 8th, 1843.
The wife of William Keese died and in the year 1810 he married Jemima
Bunker, born 11th month, 22nd, 1778, died 4th month, 16, 1844. Their
children:
Gulia Keese, born 4th month, 25th, 1810, died 11 month, 7th, 1830. Married Henry Rogers.
Elizabeth Ann Keese, born 3rd month, 26th, 1812, married William
Shepherd of Saratoga in 1838. Their child, Caleb William Shepherd was
born in 1841.
Willits Keese, born 11th month, 26th, 1813, died 2nd month, 1st, 1888,
married Caroline Barker in 1835. Their children: Gulielma Keese, born
1836; Caroline, born 1838; Rebecca B., born in 1840; William B. Keese,
born 1845.
Pamelia Keese, born 9th month, 6th, 1817, died 3rd month, 18th, 1898, not married.
Catherine Keese died in eleven months.
William Keese, born 12th month, 18th, 1819.
Jemima Keese, born 12th, month, 30th, 1823, not married.
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SEVENTH CHILD.
JOHN KEESE, died while young.
EIGHTH CHILD.
ELIZABETH KEESE,
born 9th month, 16th, 1768, daughter of John and Elizabeth Keese of
Long Island, married Henry Green of Peru in 1788, died 12th month, 2nd,
1801. Their children:
Mary Green, born 2nd, 1st, 1789, died 1801.
Phebe Green, born 6th, 1st, 1791.
Jane Green, born 3rd, 27th, 1792.
John Green, born 1st, 18th, 1798.
Stephen Green, born 1st, 14th, 1797, died 9th, 27th, 1822.
Sarah Green, born 1st, 5th, 1799, died 2nd, 2nd, 1819.
Calif Green, born 12th month, 11th, 1800.
Jane Green married Samuel Peasley in the year 1813. Their children:
Henry Peasley, born 7th, 7th, 1814; Jane M. Peasley, born 12th, 15th,
1816, died 3rd, 24th, 1824; John Peasley, born 12th month, 13th, 1816,
died 7th, 8th, 1820; Enoch Peasley, born 3rd, 15th, 1821. Jane Peasley,
wife of Samuel Peasley, died 6th month, 26th, 1822.
John Green married Sarah Hayworth in 1821. Their children: George
Green, born 6th month, 10th, 1819; Jane Green, born 9th month, 30th.
1822; Elizabeth Green, born 1st month, 25th, 1825; Henry Green, born
2nd month, 8th, 1827, died 12th month, 29th, 1827; Richard Green, born
12th, 3rd, 1828; Mary Green, born 3rd, 12th, 1833; Margaret Green, born
2nd, 22nd, 1834; John Green, Jr., born 3rd, 17th, 1837; Sarah Ellen
Green, born 1st month, 2nd, 1839.
Phebe Green married Jacob Bowron and was the mother of ten children:
Elizabeth, Caleb Fletcher, Henry, Joseph, Jacob W., Stephen, Mary,
Sarah, Mary F., and Phebe J. Bowron.
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Marriages of the Grandchildren
OF ELIZABETH AND HENRY GREEN.
Elizabeth Bowron, daughter of Jacob and
Phebe Bowron, married James Nichols in the year 1827. They had a
daughter and son, Lydia Nichols, born in 1828, and James Nichols in
1831. Elizabeth, wife of James Nichols, died in the year 1832.
Henry Bowron, son of Jacob and Phebe Bowron, married and had one daughter, Phebe Bowron.
Jane Green, daughter of John and Sarah Green, married Geo. Parks of Keeseville.
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NINTH CHILD..
MARY KEESE married Peter Hallock in the year 1792; she died. 8th month, 31st, 1831. Their children:
Elizabeth Hallock, born 10th, 7th, 1793.
Joshua Hallock, born 12th, 12th, 1795.
John Hallock, born 2nd, 2nd, 1798.
Jeremiah Hallock, born 2nd, 10th, 1800.
Isaac Hallock, born 8th, 17th, 1802.
Phebe Hallock, born 10th, 31st, 1803.
George Hallock, born 5th, 15th, 1804.
Sarah Hallock, born 4th, 30th, 1808, died 1831.
Addison Hallock, born 6th, 8th, 1811.
Mary Ann Hallock, born 6th, 18th, 1814, died 9th, 8th, 1831.
Elizabeth Hallock married James Jackson in the year 1811. Their
children: Peter Hallock Jackson, born 5th, 25th, 1812, died 3rd, 18th,
1813; Richard Titus, born 9th, 10th, 1813; George H., born 8th, 14th,
1815; Daniel, born in 1817. Elizabeth Jackson, wife of James Jackson,
died in the year 1819.
Joshua Hallock married Elizabeth Stafford in the year 1819. Their
children: Alma E. Hallock, born 2nd, 17th, 1820; Mary K., born 12th,
10th, 1821; Peter, born 9th, 28th, 1823; Sarah Ann, born 2nd, 8th,
1826; Emily K., born 2nd, 14th, 1829; Delia T., born 2nd, 18th, 1833;
John Keese, born 3rd, 21st, 1835; Fritz Green, born 8th, 10th, 1840;
William Henry Hallock, born 1st, 31st, 1843.
John Hallock married Melissa Griffith in the year 1818. The names of
their children are as follows: Sylvia Hallock, born 9th month, 6th,
1819; Thursia, Jemima K., Nancy, Mary Ann, Elisha Arnold, Jane Ann,
Isaac, Melissa, and they lost two that died young.
Jemima Hallock married James Ricketson in the year 1822. Their
children: Caroline E. Ricketson, born 11th, 29th, 1828; Melissa, born
3rd, 3rd, 1831; Mary, born 6th, 10th, 1833; Lydia, born 8th, 30th,
1835; Phebe Ann, born 11th, 7th, 1837; Peter K., born 12th, 1st, 1840,
and Jemima K. Ricketson, born 11, 18, 1842.
Isaac Hallock married Abigail Smith, of Peru. Their children: Mary Elizabeth, Julia Ann, Richard, Phebe, Sarah, Melissa, Addison, and Isaac Hallock.
Phebe Hallock married Stephen Ricketson in the year 1826. Their
children: Ann P. Ricketson, born 3rd, 10th, 1827; Marietta, born 4th,
29th, 1829; Sarah H., born 9th, 13th, 1833.
George Hallock married Polly Calkins and had one daughter, Lydia Ann
Hallock. Polly Hallock died and he married Mary Gilford, who bore him
one son who died young. After Mary's death he married Amanda Sheldon of
Willbourough, and they had two sons, George P., and Charles Hallock.
Addison Hallock married Maria Brockway of Peru in 1838. They had a child, Minerva Hallock.
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MARRIAGES OF THE GRANDCHILDREN.
Alma E. Hallock married Andrew Keese 11th month, 11th,
1843. They had three
children.
Sylvia Hallock married ----- Paine in the year 1835. They had two sons.
Thursa Hallock married ----- Wright. Had a son and a daughter.
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TENTH CHILD.
JOHN KEESE (III), born 6th month, 27th, 1773, married Hannah Rogers in 1800. Their children:
Stephen H. Keese, who married Sarah Gove. Their children: Jonathan G.,
Hannah H., Elizabeth D., Jason E., Willis T., Nathan R., Isaac H., John
E., Matilda E., Loretta M.
Lydia R. Keese, who married Leumas Cook. Their children: Samuel and Mary Jane Cook.
Titus Keese, married Martha Mitchner. Their children: Sarah Aim, Lydia, Mary, and Gulia Keese.
Silvia Keese, who died 11th month, 28th, 1803.
Elizabeth Keese married Otis Dillingham. Their children are: John, Hannah and Deborah Keese.
Hannah Keese, who married Chas. Conlin. They had one child, Jane Lydia Conlin.
Lydia R. Keese, a daughter of John Keese by his first wife, was born
8th month, 12th, 1803. She married Leumas Cook; she died 5th month, 2,
1891, and he 4th month, 30, 1893. They had two children: Samuel Cook,
born in 1831, and Mary Jane Cook, born in 1833.
Samuel Cook married Fidelia Norris 1st, 5th, 1854. Their children: Ella
F., born 10th, 28th, 1854; Alice, born 10th, 30th, 1856; Harry, born
6th, 22nd, 1860; and Seldon, 1st, 31, 1873.
Mary Jane Cook married Richard J. House. Their children: Emalyne L.,
born 4th, 7th, 1852; Edward L., born 12th, 27th, 1853; Nathan Willis,
born 1st, 14th, 1856, died 11th, 26th, 1857; Caroline, born 8th month,
1858, died 8th month, 1858; Catherine Sophia, born 9th, 8th, 1860, died
8th 10th, 1863; Mary Josephine, born 4th month, l3th, 1864, died 1st,
14th, 1905; Andrew Foye, born 12th, 8th, 1867; George Herbert, born
9th, 3rd, 1870.
Emmalyne L. House married Isaac Struble. Their children are Frances, Charles, and Robert.
Mary Josephine House married Major B. W. Leavelle and they had two daughters, Mary and Marjorie.
Andrew Foye House married Gertrude Barto.
George Herbert House married Susan Cora Adair. Their children, Robert Adair, Forest Cook, and Jack, all died young.
Lydia Cook, Stephen R. Keese, Hannah Conlon
To List of Photos
Richard Keese
To List of Photos
JOHN KEESE married a second time in 1815, his wife being Sarah Benedict
of Alum Creek settlement, Morrow county, Ohio. They had six children,
all of whom passed to spirit life while their father yet lived except
Richard, who married and had five children. John Keese died 2nd month,
12th, 1860, aged 87 years, 7 months and 16 days.
Following is a record of the children of John Keese by his second wife, Sarah Benedict, who died 6th month, 5th, 1841;
Esther, born 5th, 4th, 1816, died 5th, 7th, 1833.
Ann, born 9th, 25th, 1817, died 3rd, 8th, 1818.
Oliver, born 8th, 15th, 1819, died 6th, 5th, 1841.
Richard, born 9th, 21st, 1821, died 8th month, 11th, 1874.
Ann Eliza, born 7th, 12th, 1824, died 7th, 9th, 1859.
Samuel T., born 6th, 2nd, 1827, died 11th, 22nd, 1851.
Ann Eliza Keese married William Fisher in 1342.
Richard Keese married Gulielma M. Tabor, 12th, 25th, 1847. Their
children: Sarah Evelyn, born 10th, 16th, 1848; Isaac Wilfred, born 8th,
24th, 1850; Samuel John, born 11th, 26th, 1852; Willits Hanson, born
6th, .14th, 1855, died 4th, 19th, 1870; Cynthia Eliza Lenore, born 7th,
14th, 1857.
Sarah Evelyn Keese married 5th month, 15th, 1901, Dr. L. L. Benson.
Isaac Wilfred Keese married 8th month, 6th, 1871, Katie Hance. Their
children: Eva Lilore, born 9th, 22, 1872; Sada Lenore, born 7th, 14th,
1874; Winifred, born 4th, 7th, 1881.
E. Lilore Keese married William H. O'Bryan, 9th, 22, 1895. Their
children: William Cedric, born 4th, 26, 1897; Lyndall, born 2nd, 13,
1901; Elizabeth, born 8th, 13, 1903; Elise, born 2nd, 18th, 1906.
Sada L. Keese married Leon N. O'Bryan, 7th month, 22, 1898. Their
children: Lowell Putman, born 9th, 7th, 1899; Douglas, born 5th, 7th,
1902.
Winifred Keese married Norman Samuel Abbott, 7th month, 26th, 1908.
Samuel J. Keese married Everetta Abbott 9th, 11th, 1889. Their
children: Richard Abbott, born 10th, 5th, 1890; Marjorie June, born
6th, 21st, 1892; Harriet Elma, born 2nd, 12th, 1899; Annette, born
11th, 14th, 1905.
Cynthia Eliza Lenore Keese married Louis H. Bannister, 7th month, 10th, 1907.
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ADDRESSES.
Lenore Keese Bannister, 400 Douglas St., Pasadena, Cal.
Eva Keese Benson, 363 Ashtabula St., Pasadena, Cal.
W. L. Keese, Los Angeles, Cal.
S. J. Keese, Los Angeles, Cal.
Leon N. O'Bryan, Sampont, South Dakota.
William H. O'Bryan, Los Angeles, Cal.
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John Keese
To List of Photos
ELEVENTH CHILD.
OLIVER KEESE Was born 9th month, 21st, 1775, died 1st month, 6th, 1850;
married Paulina Lapham 2nd month, 11th, 1803. Their children:
Nathan L. Keese, born 10th, 1st, 1803.
Eliza Keese, born 8th, 18th, 1806.
Anna Keese, born 9th, 27th, 1808.
Cynthia Keese, born 11th, 28th, 1811, died 5th, 14th, 1858.
Maria Keese, born 12th, 3rd, 1813, died 5th, 2nd, 1881.
Jane Keese, born 1st, 3rd, 1816, died 7th, 16th. 1853.
Phebe Keese, born 2nd, 21st, 1819, died 1st, 20th, 1841.
John T. Keese, born 4th, 18th, 1824.
Gulielma Keese, born 2nd, 24th, 1828, died 1st, 9th, 1835.
Nathan L. Keese married Ruth Rogers, 3rd, 27th, 1825. Their children:
Anson Keese, born 1827; Phebe, born 1829, and Henry, born 1833.
Benjamin Lose, Charles Keese, Alice Keese and Winifred are also
descendants of this family.
Eliza Keese's descendants are Oliver K. White, who has six children who
live in Michigan, one named Oliver K. White; Eliza J. Moss and Maria H.
Taft, who has two boys.
Anna Keese married Hosea White and had three children -- Phebe
Southwick, Silas White and Cynthia Kimble. Cynthia Kimble's daughter,
Elizabeth has three boys.
Cynthia Keese married Elisha Arnold, 4th, 16th, 1835, by which union
two children were born, Oliver K. Arnold and Eliza J. Arnold. Oliver K.
Arnold has a daughter, Mary E. Ballenger. Cynthia was married the
second time to John J. Gurnsey, 12th, 9th, 1852. By this union she had
two daughters, Susan K. Gurnsey and Pauline Lapham Gurnsey. The last
named daughter had four children, Gurnsey Ellis, Pauline E. Ellis,
Arthur H. Ellis, and Florence E., who died.
Maria Keese married Jonathan Hill, 4th, 24th, 1856. She died in 1881
and is buried in Buffalo. They had no children but took Pauline
Guernsey when two years old and brought her up as their own child.
Jane Keese married Stephen Smith, 9th, 5th, 1839. They had five
children: Samuel K. Smith, Juliett, Oliver K., Burrett, and Elizabeth.
Samuel K. Smith's children, Agnes, Roland, Pauline and Katherine, all
live in Peru. Oliver K. Smith had two children, Edward and Jane.
Phebe Keese married Lorenzo Orvis, 2nd, 25th, 1840, and died in 1841,
having given birth to one daughter, Phebe H. Orvis, who lived in
Flushing and died about 1898.
John T. Keese married Lucinda Kelly and begot one son before his
death—Philip Keese, who had two daughters, Bessie and Alice Keese.
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Obituary of John Keese III.
John Keese was born in Dutchess county,
New York, the 27th of the 6th month, 1773. In 1790 be removed with his
parents to Clinton county, New York, where he married and settled upon
a farm, and became prosperous in business and about the year 1810
engaged in the lumber trade, which at that time was very remunerative.
Having been very successful in this business the two previous years, he
embarked largely in it in 1812, and had just entered Quebec with a
large raft of ship timber when war was declared between the United
States and Great Britain. A proclamation was issued for all American
citizens to leave the province within ten days. Here he was placed in a
critical situation. It was impossible for him to make immediate
disposition of his lumber, and to leave it would result in the loss of
his whole estate; to stay would subject him to a heavy penalty and
imprisonment. He chose to risk the latter. After the time had expired
he applied to the provost and succeeded in getting an extension of
time, but when this term had expired he had accomplished but little in
the settlement of his business. He then applied to Parliament and to
the Governor, who promised him protection, and gave him permission to
stay and attend to his business, and promised him a passport when ready
to return to the States. But the man to whom he had contracted his
lumber took advantage of the times, refused to abide the contract, and
would only buy at reduced rates and on a credit. When his bonds became
due he repudiated them, on the ground that the transactions were
contraband. His loss by this fraud was not less than $16,000; thus,
after having encountered great hardships and many perils in this
enterprise, he was made penniless in a moment. While passing down Lake
Champlain with his raft, a violent storm arose and broke his raft, and
he and his men narrowly escaped with their lives. Several weeks elapsed
before the timbers could be collected together although a hundred men
were in his employ. Had it not been for this accident the lumber would
have been delivered and pay received before the declaration of war. He
returned home and gave up his whole estate to his creditors - he
reserved nothing, not even his pocketknife.
Soon after this event - as one calamity often succeeds another - his
wife suddenly died. Thus, stripped of worldly goods and his bosom
companion, he resolved to seek a home in the Western world. Assisted by
his friends, he procured a horse and saddle, and with a few shillings
in his pocket; set off for Delaware county, Ohio, where he arrived in
the autumn of 1814. Here by untiring industry he secured in a short
time a home. In 1815 he married his second wife, and in their rude
forest cot., constructed without boards or nails, many happy days were
spent
In 1821 the lands around Cardington, the site of which place was then a
wilderness, were thrown into market, by purchase from the Wyandotte
Indians. By the munificence of his friends at the East, and the sale of
his lot in Peru township, be was enabled to purchase 160 acres of this
land, which he selected on account of its superior quality of soil and
timber, about three miles west of Cardington, and which, by labor and
frugality, soon became to himself and family a comfortable home.
In 1832 his daughter Esther, aged 16 years, died while at school, near
Wilmington, Ohio. She was amiable and talented, and he keenly felt the
loss. In 1841 his son Oliver died. In 1843 he buried his beloved wife.
This stroke was severely felt by him; being more than twenty years her
senior, he had arrived at an age when the companionship of a bosom
friend is of inestimable worth. In 1849 his son Titus died. In 1852 his
youngest son, Samuel T., died, on his passage home from California, and
his remains were buried beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean. In 1844
his daughter Elizabeth died in New York. In 1859 his youngest daughter,
Ann Eliza Fisher, died under very distressing circumstances, which are
well known to the public. This trying event he bore with Christian
fortitude and resignation.
Three children by his first wife, viz., Stephen R. Keese of Indiana,
Lydia Cook and Hannah Conlon, of Cardington, and one by his second
wife, Richard Keese, with whom he lived, survive him.
As he declined he became more and more childlike - and may we not say
Christlike, being happy, cheerful, and contented, social, pleasant and
courteous, free from the petulance and childishness so often the
attendant of old age. He set low value upon his own virtues and
attainments; he was kind and submissive, always contented with his lot
He was deprived of privileges of a literary education when young, and
greatly felt his loss in this respect. He seemed an astronomer by
nature, and without the aid of any works on astronomy he acquired a
correct knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies; and when
about sixty years of age, he invented an apparatus for taking a correct
map of the heavenly bodies, and also calculating longitude by the fixed
stars. He found afterward that he was anticipated in this last
invention by a German astronomer, although he had previously no
knowledge that such a method had ever been suggested. While In these
investigations he frequently became so much absorbed as to be
apparently unconscious of anything passing around him. He constructed
several models for improvement in machinery, which evinced great
ingenuity. One for planting corn, two rows at a time, and in check
hills, and several for windmills, on different plans, and continued
these efforts up to the week of his death.
When young he acquired the art of surveying, and was much engaged in
its practice in the early settlements of northern York. He surveyed
large portions of Essex county, including the region of the Adirondack
mountains, the place made memorable as the residence of “Old John
Bowne.” In these surveys he encountered great hardships, privations and
personal danger. He was often away for months beyond the limits of
civilization and the abodes of men.
We have now only to speak of the last moments of our venerable Friend.
On the 9th inst., he left his home with his little granddaughter to
make a social visit to some of his relatives and friends in Peru
township, near South Woodbury, a distance of about twelve miles. The
night of the 10th, and the greater part of the day of the 11th he spent
at the home of a brother-in-law, A. L. Benedict, and seemed very
cheerful, reciting many of the scenes and adventures of his early life.
The night of the 11th he spent with a sister-in-law, Esther Levering,
and from there on the 12th, it being Sabbath, he went to the Friends
meeting at Alum Creek, where he sat in great apparent devotion till its
close. After meeting he went home with a friend, Daniel Osborn, to
dine. In the afternoon he complained of pain in the region of the
heart; a cordial was administered and he felt relief, and took a light
dinner. Toward evening, the pain returning, his friends thought it best
to remove him to A. L. Benedict's. He said, smiling, it made but little
difference where he was. While putting on some over-clothes a tremor
came over him, and his sister-in-law said that he was too ill to go. He
replied that his head felt so badly that he did not think he knew
anything. He seemed to be sinking down, and was helped on a lounge,
where he soon ceased to breathe, having attained the patriarchal age of
nearly eighty-seven years. His remains were numerously attended to
their final resting place in the family burying ground, on the 14th, by
his friends and neighbors.
(This article was published in the Cardington Independent at the time of his death, which was 2nd month, 12th, 1860.)
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The Old Quaker Meeting House, Erected 1695, Flushing, N.Y.
To List of Photos
Bi-centennial Held May 29, 1895.
ONE of the oldest places of worship in
the United States is the ancient Quaker meeting house in Flushing,
built in the days of Fox and Penn, it is all gray and lichen grown.
Erected in 1695, it has withstood the vicissitudes of time, the
desecration of the British soldiers—who used it for a stable— and the
unceasing stress of wind and weather. It is a simple wooden structure
and in an excellent state of preservation. It is square, with a quaint
pyramidal roof, both roof and sides being covered with shingles. Heavy
wooden shutters are fastened with heavy iron bars. The building is put
together in the most primitive manner with large hand made iron nails
and spikes. The beams and timbers of the framework were hewn from solid
logs with an ax. It is marvelous that after two centuries the wood is
still in such a perfect state of preservation. It probably was well
seasoned at the time the meeting house was erected.
The upper part of the building was used as a schoolroom in bygone days.
With the exception of a new roof, put on a hundred years ago, and an
occasional coat of paint since, the ancient landmark is exactly the
same as it was two centuries ago.
The first meetings of the Society of Friends in Flushing were held in
private houses at as early a date as 1648 though no regular body
existed until 1660. From the erection of the old Bowne house in 1661
until 1695, the meetings were held there and in the adjoining grounds,
when the crowds were too great to gain admittance in the house. Immense
oak tables still stand in the Bowne house kitchen that were used by the
Quakers in their weekly meetings in that house. John Bowne also opened
the doors of his home to the outlawed Quakers, leading them from their
secret hiding places of worship in the woods to the shelter of his
house. He was banished from the colony for his rash act and went to
Holland. He pleaded the cause of Quakers so well that he soon returned
with an order for the tolerance of the despised and persecuted
people—an order based upon the enlightened principles which had been
applied previously in the controversy with the New Amsterdam Lutherans
and Jews. The word he brought was: “The conscience of men ought ever to
remain free and unshackled.”
One of the most important events connected with the meeting was the
visit of George Fox in 1672. So great was the crowd that flocked to
hear him that the meeting was held near the Bowne house under the shade
of two large oak trees. These trees lived until 1841. Samuel Bowne
Parsons, the celebrated horticulturist of Flushing, estimated their age
at five centuries. Fox's visit to Flushing strengthened the society and
led to some important accessions. One of the most noted gatherings in
the ancient meeting house was on the occasion of the visit of the
English Quaker, Samuel Bownas. He spoke to two thousand people. The
Dutch, who were then settlers of New Amsterdam, or New York, and
surrounding country, were bitterly opposed to the Quakers and when the
Dutch sheriff heard that Bownas was at the Flushing meeting house he
procured a warrant to arrest him. Upon entering the building the
sheriff walked up to the gallery where Bownas was preaching, read aloud
the warrant, and declared the Quaker under arrest. The members present
appealed to him to allow Bownas to remain until the meeting was over.
The sheriff and his posse took seats in the back of the house to wait.
Being unaccustomed to
the silent meetings of the Quakers, they said to each other in audible
whispers, “Why does he not preach?” Another said, “He is a prisoner and
he does not dare.” Bownas heard the remark and rose to his feet and
delivered an extempore sermon of such rare eloquence and feeling that
the officers were touched. After the meeting they left the building
without attempting to place their prisoner in custody.
After bearing all kinds of persecution for their religious belief, the
Quakers lived in peace and harmony among themselves for over one
hundred years, but the spirit of truth and progress became rampant in
this peaceful organization and the liberal party, headed by the noted
Quaker, Elias Hicks, of Jerico, Long Island, split from the main body
of the Quakers in the year 1828. This was a severe and heart-breaking
rupture. Families and friends were separated, husbands against wives,
parents against children.
When the final separation came the orthodox or conservative side of the
split left their seats in the meeting house and walked out of it, never
to return, leaving relations and friends. Touching scenes were enacted
on all sides—parents, trying to keep their children, wives their
husbands. As one elderly woman left the meeting house with her husband
and children, she passed her eldest and dearest daughter, who remained
seated with her husband, a radical in the house. Agonized at parting
with parents, brothers and sisters, the younger woman rose to join
them, but her mother firmly held her hack, saying, “No, Mary, stay; thy
place is with thy husband.”
Among the many stormy events of Quaker life there is none that so
nearly touches the heart as this episode. After sixty-seven years of
separation the opposing factions joined together in celebrating the
bi-centennial of the building of the meeting house, on May 29, 1895,
the two factions—Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers, as they call
themselves—met together in the quaint old building, the sorrow of the
old tragedy of separation grown dim with years, and almost forgotten by
the younger generation. The scene of so many historic events is still
the same and the staunch old house gives promise of another century,
when it may see old feuds and strifes wiped away forever, and the
universal peace, for which Quakers had long preached and worked,
established among the nations of the earth.
Back to Table of Contents
The Old Arch Bridge, Keeseville, N.Y.
To List of Photos
THE UNION.
Early Settlement by the Friends in Peru.
Other historic sketches have appeared
from far more able and scholarly pens than I have any pretensions,
setting forth the unsurpassed scenery, beauty and fertility of this
highly favored valley of the lake. It is surrounded by mountains,
except on the northeast, which precludes all chance for destruction by
cyclones and tornadoes. Out of the hillsides are gushing the purest of
waters, which, finding their level in Lakes George and Champlain, move
on to the great northeastern watery thoroughfare by the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, to be lost in the sea. The purity of the atmosphere, fanned
by the fresh breath of verdant and lofty hilltops, the sparkling
waters, clear as crystal, are a mighty safeguard against a multitude of
diseases prevalent in other places. Under these favorable influences
the fruit of the valley is higher colored and better flavored, and
commands better prices in city markets than fruit from any other
quarter. It embraces all the varieties of apples, pears, plums and
grapes, with thousands of bushels annually of small fruit, which are
shipped to city markets.
The first settlement of Peru by Friends was on Zephaniah Platt's 17,983
acre location, situated on the west side of Lake Champlain, 44˝ degrees
north latitude, surveyed by Josiah Thorp, and completed Aug. 6th, 1787,
comprising lots of 412 acres each, the south line commencing near the
terminus of the Little Ausable, at the lake shore, running due west to
Elkanah Watson's Patent. Zephaniah Platt's second location of 12,000
acres was bounded, north by the south line of the first location, the
south line, running through Keeseville westward, it was surveyed by
William and John Keese, of Dutchess county, New York, in 1788, who also
later made subdivisions in the great location. Said Keeses selected
each a lot of 412 acres, and returned to Dutchess county.
The March following (1789), William returned upon the ice from
Whitehall to what is since called Peru Landing, with axe, gun, and some
provisions, and built a log house on his chosen spot, still known as
the old William Keese farm. He cleared a piece, put in some wheat, and
girdled more for Indian corn planting. He said he had no occasion to
speak a loud word during the entire season, as his companions were
those named in the sheet let down by the forecorners to Peter, and
their “tameness was shocking to see.” He returned in the fall to
Dutchess county and married a wife in March 1790. William and wife
returned accompanied by his father and mother, John and Elizabeth
Keese, and three other brothers, Richard and family, Oliver and John.
Stephen and family came soon after their father. Oliver and John
settled on adjoining lots west of William, running to the river, and
built east of the road, by Richard Lapham's. Richard Keese dropped down
by a spring contiguous to the mammoth pine grove, securing most of it,
leaving a will that it should not be cut sooner than ten years after
his demise, which became of inestimable value. Richard was a man of
perseverance and forecast, assisting many settlers by letting cows to
double at four years, and later, with one John Andersen, built up
Keeseville.
Captain Edward Everitt, and Abednago Ricketson, with their families,
settled at the foot of what is since called Hallock Hill, and here in
the unbroken, howling wilderness the smoke of the campfires was
heralded aloft to greet the passing clouds with the announcement of
civilization. Henry Green and wife, daughter of John Keese, settled at
the Union, near where the horse shed now stands. Peter Hallock and
wife, daughter of John Keese, settled over the river west of the Union.
Thus tent after tent was pitched, accessible only by a line of marked
trees. Here the reverberation of the woodsman's axe, and the terrific
howls of savage beasts of prey filled the chapter of joy and grief.
Their younglings and small stock were a constant prey unless securely
fastened by night, and were then often taken. Wild game, maple sugar,
wild fruit, nuts, roots, fish and greens of the forest were in great
requisition for subsistence, and gathered by the children.
A great snow storm late in the spring caused straw beds to be emptied
to save the cattle's lives. Captain Everitt said he worked a whole day
for one-half bushel of corn. Taking it on his shoulder he went to Peru
Landing by marked trees. There he found John Cochran and Jack Hayes had
landed, and a son born to Cochran. Everitt resumed his journey by
marked trees to Plattsburgh mill, and returned next day by the same
route. He was obliged to dig up a portion of his seed potatoes to eat.
Major Southmaid, of Jay, left a record that once a month he shouldered
a bushel of corn, went by said line of marked trees to Plattsburgh
mill, and returned next day, a distance of twenty-five miles. John Haff
and family came in 1793, took an entire lot, 412 acres, and settled
where Schuyler Haff, a grandson, now lives. As late as 1794, there was
no road except a winding track bushed out to the lakeshore, by which,
with sledge and oxen they hauled in their goods to their settlement,
the Union.
A piece of worship for these isolated Quakers was part and parcel of
their very being. A site around which they had clustered and lived in
such unity and dependence upon each other and upon the God of all
nations and races of men was the one thing needful. A rude structure
was built opposite Geo. P. Beadleston's, of split logs for floor, roof
and benches. Here in simplicity and in truth were offered up oblations,
thanksgiving and prayer to the All Father and Mother God, in the love
and spiritual union.
There is a secret tie that binds
Congenial minds together,
A silent mingling heart, with heart
In part unknown to either.
And this sweet influence may be felt
When not a word is spoken,
And to the outward sense there seems
To be no sign or token.
And those who never met before
May meet and then be parted,
Although no word may pass between
Feel they are kindred hearted.
And such spirits meet and join,
In converse with each other;
How free the interchange of thought—
No feelings there to smother.
In removing the enormous growth of timber, huge piles were set on fire,
which by night lighted up the ethereal regions with transports of joy,
inspiration and surprise to groups of beholders. The ashes were applied
to crops, and later sold for potash. Roads began to be opened, one to
the lake shore and one through where Peru now stands, where one John
Cochran subsequently built a saw and grist mill. The road was continued
on by Salmon river to Plattsburgh. Some time later, there was a lumber
road opened by one Rogers from Schroon through Pokamoonshine to the
Union settlement, where there was a small store, a blacksmith and shoe
shop. The old, rude meeting house in which one Benjamin Earle taught
school, being burned, and other families arriving, another larger one
was built of much the same material, on the William Keese farm, and was
used for dwelling, church and school house. The school was taught by
Benjamin Sherman, of Rhode Island, who was the clerk of the meeting.
Although mostly descendants of the Puritan stock, the Friends did not
imitate the example of their predecessors by placing a cannon on the
roof of their sanctuary, by which to demolish their red brethren of the
primeval forest. But they gave them freely, both hand and heart, as
brethren of the same common Father, reciprocating hospitalities. A
semi-monthly mail was had by an equestrian.
Yearly the society increased by the arrival of Bucks, Benedicks, Thews,
Southwicks, Davises, Barkers, Earls, Bakers, Smiths, Bankers, Jacksons,
Arnolds, Shermans, Woods, Fishers, Osborns, Nicholses, Hallocks and
Hoags. These, mostly Quakers, with four or five families at the lake
shore, composed the settlement of Peru in 1799, whose central point was
the Union. Judge DeLord, a French nobleman of great talent and ability,
a refugee from the horrors of St. Domingo, built the old mansion and
settled in the Union and made potash. Afterwards he sold to James
Rogers, who moved with a large family from Marshfield, Mass. On meeting
days were seen short breeches, silver knee and shoe buckles. Stephen
Keese settled on a large farm, where Solomon Clark now lives, and built
grist and saw mill and called the place Goshen.
As the settlement increased a place of worship for the whole people
became apparent and an organization under the auspices of the New York
yearly meeting was formed, which furnished means to pay for a site, and
helped to build a large and commodious house in 1802. It had galleries
to seat its hundreds, and folding partitions. They recognized the right
of women to an independent public character officially transacting
business, monthly and quarterly, relative to their own sex. Cases of
delinquency were judged by their peers holding sisterly correspondence
with other bodies, reporting by representatives yearly to New York
yearly meeting of women all matters relative to their own sex,
instituting inspection as to the moral status of its members, namely:
Are Friends careful to attend all our meetings for worship and
discipline? Do they perform their promises and pay their just debts?
Are they clear of tale bearing and detraction and of all other
unbecoming behavior? Are Friends' children, and all others under their
care, instructed in school learning to fit them for business? Do they
discard the use of wine at marriages and funerals? Are those in
indigent circumstances amply provided for?
The disciplinary interrogatories for the male members were in
accordance with the above, excepting, “Are any in the habit of
frequenting taverns, attending immoral places of diversion, holding a
wager, and dealing in prize goods?” Friends were earnestly advised to
discourage the system of war, and in no case to appeal to civil
authorities for the redress of grievances. Differences must be referred
to members chosen from the body. If any member should extend his
business beyond his ability to manage, he is advised early to lay the
subject before competent Friends for advice, assistance and recovery.
All matters interesting both sexes were considered by a joint
committee. No decision reached by vote, but referred for consideration.
Both sets of representatives, with credentials to New York yearly
meeting, were alternately aided by William and Stephen Keese, with some
Friends in Vermont; each had a large thorough brace carriage, no nut or
screw, with bolts. It took from four to five weeks to make the round
trip. They were gladly received everywhere by Friends on the route. It
afforded them an opportunity to receive and communicate news, get
acquainted, and frequently to select wives and husbands. Friends were
bound by no creed or set belief, but left the aspiring of
intellect—logically and scientifically—to investigate every shade and
idea to its reasonable result. They recognized the scriptural
declaration that there are a diversity of gifts bestowed upon the
children of men to profit withal, amongst which are those of seer, the
spiritual vision of knowledge, of prophecy, and of healing by the
laying on of hands, diversity of tongues, and withal charity to covet
spiritual gifts. These are the safeguards and mighty pillars of the
great temple of civil and religious liberty.
Time having arrived for payment for lands, it was made by hauling wheat
to Albany and selling it at forty cents per bushel. Companies of men
went together, carrying their daily supplies.
Friends were alive to the education of their children. Many were placed
at the academy in Dutchess county, New York. Later a large academy was
built opposite John Green's, where boys, on the first floor, were
taught by C. Stoddard, Elihu Marshall, Samuel Rogers, and others; and
on the second floor girls were taught by Mary Rogers, Phoebe Keese, and
others. On mid-week meeting days teachers walked abreast -- the school
by twos marching behind their representative teachers in and out of the
church. In 1874 there were numbered, of children and youths, seventy
first cousins of the Keese stock. As Friends do not believe in original
sin, that where there is no infraction of a known law there is no
transgression, hence they accord to their children a birthright
membership and religious training, to whom the blessed Jesus likened
the supernal heavens.
An article appeared in the Plattsburgh Republican over the signature of
“W,” of such artistic beauty, graphically depicting the scenery of our
Union valley, that we make an extract, namely:
“Whenever Archbishop Hughes, whose graceful taste, poetic fancy and
elegant culture enabled him to enjoy such a scene, visited the little
church perched on the acclivity of the western mountain, he habitually
sought a particular rock from which he could best contemplate the
magnificent spectacle, and as he gazed on it in rapture he would
exclaim that in splendor and loveliness it surpassed all the views he
had beheld in his varied wanderings.”
John Haight and other travelers, in crossing Hallock Hill, when first
enraptured by the sight, have exclaimed “Behold Elysium! Glory to
nature's God in the highest."
Said paper also contained a eulogy upon the character and superior
ability of Edward Hallock, which, with the single exception of his
mammoth house, literally belonged to Richard Keese. Said Hallock was an
extremist, and failed in every undertaking excepting breeding
disturbances in society, and died in an insane asylum, the result of a
mischievous life. Furthermore, Fitzgreen Hallock, the exquisite poet
and author of the immortal ode to Bozzaris, was brother of Peter and
Anna Hallock— wife of Richard Keese—and no kin to said Edward.
In 1828-9 several English Friends of orthodox proclivities came to New
York, namely: Annah Braithwait, Joseph John Gurney, Robert Lyndsley,
Benjamin Scabao and Anna Robinson. They drew from the treasury of the
Friends in New York by the thousands, paid an enormous sum for a span
of horses, carriage and harness in proportion, and sent out
advertisements for a series of meetings, sowing dissension broadcast.
On being admonished by Elias Hicks and other plain Friends, they said
they did not come to learn the gospel of them. With their ecclesiastic
shears they severed the society from top to bottom in 1832, fulminating
disownments, claiming all the property and all religion, instituting
suits for property on the ground of membership that they failed to take
by storm, joining and mingling freely with any society that would
reiterate the foul charges of “Infidel and No Devil Quaker!” At length
the decisions were reversed by the court of chancery, “that membership
had nothing to do with the right of property—that the prior right
belonged to the creators of the fund and should go to their posterity
to the latest generation.” All offers were rejected by the orthodox for
equitable adjustment of property until after the chancery decision.
Among those Friends that ministered at the altar, were Anna White,
David Harkness, Jemima Keese, Elizabeth Irish, Samuel Keese, Catharine
R. Keese (whose graceful endowments fitted her for any sphere) and Ruth
Hoag. The existing members of the Friends are Seth Hoag and wife,
Ephraim Hoag, George Hallock, Elwood Sherman and wife, Nathan Lapham
and family, Richard Keese and family, Mary Brown, the Greens, Mary S.
Doty and S. K. Smith and family, whose membership has been transferred
to Saratoga Quarterly meeting. Orthodox members are, Jemima Ricketson,
Platt Arthur and wife, Cynthia Keese, David Hallock, Elihu Hoag and
family, whose membership is transferred to Vermont Friends. Meetings
are still held, when ministers of Friends come among us.
In industrial matters, particular attention was paid to best
breeds of neat stock. Peter Keese bred the Durham; W. A. Keese, the
Herefords; Arnold, the Devons; Smith and G. Hallock bred a cross
between Durham and Herefords, of which were some of the best animals of
that day. A pair of twins, broke by Sherbenaw, took the first ($100)
premium at the United States Fair at Boston, in 1856. They were taken
through England, Ireland and Scotland for a show. The last accounts of
them they were on their way to France and Germany. They would obey
every word of command. Their difference could not be detected by
strangers. For years the Smiths raised and broke matched oxen that took
the first premium. Among them were a number of twins, and one yoke, six
years old, is now on the stock farm in Vermont, perhaps the best in the
state.
S. K. SMITH.
Note—The above article was published in the Keeseville paper in the year 1879.
William Keese married Mary Bowne of Flushing, Long Island. Their
children: William Bowne Keese, born at Fishkill, 12th month, 7th, 1780;
John Dobson Keese, born at Fishkill, 9th month, 20th, 1782; Charles
Tillingfast Keese, born in New York, 3rd month, 25th, 1789; George,
died at 26 years of age; Theodore Keese, born in New York, 11th month,
24th, 1800.
William Bowne Keese had six children. He was an Episcopal clergyman.
One John Keese in this line was on General Washington's staff.
Note—The above was procured by Mrs. L. H. Bannister of Mrs. John Keese,
who lives in Pasadena, Cal. I insert it, hoping that some one can
explain it. It seems a little odd that William and John Keese should
have both married Mary Bowne. It is left for future biographers to
answer.
W. T. Keese.
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WHILE I WAIT, NEED I BE IDLE?
The following poem was sent to the Independent by Joshua Morris, of
Thonotosassa, Florida, and was written by one of his old schoolmates of
the Weston district, west of Cardington. The poem was composed in
November 1884, by Mrs. S. A. Worth, of Hesper, Iowa. Mrs. Worth, fifty
years ago, was a Miss Sarah Ann Keese, and lived with a widowed mother
on the farm now owned by Geo. S. Coomer.
I am waiting for thy coming—
Waiting, watching day by day;
Listening to thy every message,
Thankful for thy long delay.
Yet I know that thou art coming,
Slowly, surely, hour by hour;
Oft thy wings seem hovering o'er me,
Kind, but fearful in thy power.
While I wait must I be idle?
Need I lie with folded hands,
Only sighing, feebly, sadly,
As I wait thy dread commands?
Waiting, must I needs be idle?
Using not my one lone gift
To while away the painful moments
And my drooping soul uplift.
Not myself alone I think of,
Cheerful do I try to be;
Moments thus may sweetly pass with
Those who kindly care for me.
Those who watch me while I'm waiting
Needs must feel the time seems long,
Weary, sad—but it must seem brighter
When my heart is filled with song.
Song that seeketh not expression
Through the medium of sound,
But through tender tints and shadows,
Soft as those in nature found.
Busy were our mothers always,
Working on from morn till night;
Always had their knitting ready
For the quiet, warm twilight.
Thus they waited for the lighting
Of the cheerful evening lamp;
Thus they waited for thy coming
Till Life's night grew dark and damp.
Thus I'm waiting for thy coming,
Busy almost every hour;
Though the body's well nigh helpless,
Hands and mind retain their power.
Oft my soul is filled with visions
Soft as palpitating light;
Hushed my very breath to catch them,
As they float before my sight.
Tender lights, mysterious shadows,
Real and ideal form;
Softly breathing, full of sweetness,
Brilliant, yet subdued and warm.
Real and ideal blended,
Harmonized with beauty rife;
Tints of color born of heaven,
Glowing with the warmth of life.
Nay, I'll not ignore this power;
Thus the only gift I have
Held in trust, this heavenly blessing,
I would use it while I live.
I would work with patient pleasure
To the last - beyond earth's strife;
Thus I'd wait for thee to waft me
Gently to the higher life.
“Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.”
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Stephen R. Keese and Sarah H. Keese
To List of Photos
Stephen R. Keese.
Stephen R. Keese, born 8th month, 30th, 1801, in
Clinton county, New York. His mother died ere he reached his twelfth
year and Stephen went to live with his uncle, William Keese, where he
remained until his father married again, then he came on to Ohio and
helped to clear up two farms in what is now Morrow county, one located
on the east bank of Alum Creek, some ten or twelve miles southeast of
Cardington, the other three miles northwest, near Weston meeting house.
He labored hard and diligently until he was twenty-four years old.
Then he took a trip in the fall of 1825 back to the scene of his
childhood, and to see his girl that he had left behind him, Sarah H.
Gove, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah Gould Gove, of Lincoln, Vermont.
She was a blithe lassie five years his junior, well formed and
intelligent, with auburn hair. Stephen had made this journey mostly on
foot and as the journey was a long one he got work during the winter
and spring, and they were married 5th month, 14th, 1826. There is a
little incident connected with their wedding which I will relate as
told to me by my mother.
They were both members with Friends, but Father's membership was in
Ohio, a long way off, and no very good way of traveling, and it cost
fifty cents to send a letter if it weighed over one-half ounce. Friends
did not approve of a marriage by a priest or a civil officer, but only
in the regular way in meeting and parents were liable to be dealt with
if they allowed a marriage to be consummated in their presence, so to
get around bringing her mother and father into trouble they arranged to
have the Justice of the Peace to come to the house while her parents
were gone to midweek meeting, and in the presence of her younger
sisters and an aunt the knot was tied and all trouble was avoided, and
the young couple soon set out on their wedding trip to Ohio.
I do not know how they got from Vermont to the lakes, but they arrived
in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, early in June. There he left his wife with
friends and walked home, a distance of some fifty miles. I will let
Richard Wood, an old friend of the family, tell this part of the story
in his own way. In writing a paper for a pioneer meeting he makes
mention of this wedding trip, as follows: “Stephen Keese left his bride
at Upper Sandusky and walked to his father's house and procured a horse
and saddle to bring his wife home, but, neglecting to let down the
upper bar, the horn of the saddle caught on the bar and broke the
girth, and Stephen broke down and cried, but the repairs were soon made
and he returned for his bride. Then after seeing her safely mounted, he
took the rein and led the horse proudly home.”
They rented a house and commenced the struggle of life. It appears that
these young people did not gain much wealth while living in Ohio. The
times were dull and wages low; 50 to 75 cents per day was about all a
man could command. He said that children came faster than money. I
don't believe that he wished to complain of the presence of children in
the home, but he wanted a home of their own to put them in. Father
loved his children and six were born to them in the eleven years they
lived in Ohio, one pair of twins, one of whom died in infancy.
In the year 1836 they decided to go to Indiana, where there was
government land they could enter. They borrowed $100 of a friend
(Samuel Howell, I think) with which to purchase the land. Father went
on in the spring to clear some land and build them a house to live in.
Mother remained in Ohio until autumn, then she and four of the children
came out in a covered wagon. She left my sister Elizabeth with her
grandmother in Ohio. One Thomas Edmondson furnished the conveyance. The
road was bad, through the woods, and it took four good horses to draw
the wagon, and then they stalled several times in the mud. She brought
two good cows and a pony that 'my brother Jonathan and one John Frame
rode and walked by turns, and drove the cows. And they were all glad to
join Father in their new home in the woods. It was a small cabin with a
wide porch on the north side. In this cabin I was born, and some of the
other children. There was an addition built to it later on to meet the
needs of the growing family, and school was held in it, taught by Ellis
Davis. About the year 1862 a frame house was built and the cabin
abandoned.
On this farm they lived until all their eleven children matured and
married, then the home was sold. In the spring of 1882 they went on an
extended visit to their children in Iowa and Nebraska, where Father
died at the home of their daughter, Hannah Haines, 1st month, 5th,
1883, and mother died in the year 1891, 9th month, 20th, and their
remains rest peacefully in the cemetery near Franklin, Nebraska. Some
of Father's writings are given on another page.
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Jonathan G. Keese
To List of Photos
Phebe A. Keese
To List of Photos
Hannah R. Haines and Daniel L. Haines
To List of Photos
William G. Keese and Rebecca A. Keese
To List of Photos
Laomi Sibray and Elizabeth D. K. Sibray
To List of Photos
Jason E. Keese and Lovina O. Keese
To List of Photos
Children of Stephen and Sarah Keese.
FIRST SON—
JONATHAN G. KEESE, who was born 10th month, 17th, 1827, married Phebe
A. Jones, 1st month, 2lst, 1856, who was born 1st month, 1st, 1836. He
died 9th month, 12th, 1863, site 12th month, 6th, 1892. Their children:
Sarah Annetta, born 3rd month, 15th, 1858; Celestine, born 1st, 7th,
1860, died 9th, 13th, 1862; Esther Leanna, born 2nd, 19th, 1864.
Sarah Annetta Keese married Frank Pillsbury, 4th month, 8th, 1882.
Their children: Myra May, born 12th, 23rd, 1883; Mabel Esther, born
7th, 27th, 1890; Lawrence Keese, born 8th, 10th, 1892.
Esther Leanna Keese was united in marriage with Benjamin Ferguson 11th
month, 25th, 1891. One child, Phebe Mane, was born 9th, 3rd, 1892.
Back to Table of Contents
FIRST DAUGHTER –
HANNAH R.KEESE, who was
born 8th month, 29th, 1829, married Daniel L. Haines 10th month, 17th,
1852, who was born 11th month, 1825. Their children: Rosanna T., born
11th, 20th, 1855; Alveretta, born 11th, 11th, 1857; Elwood D., born
7th, 9th, 1860; Isaac M., born 10th, 2nd, 1862; Elnora, born 8th, 21st,
1869, died 9th, 24th, 1882; Jonathan U., born 1st, 19th, 1872, died
2nd, 24th, 1879; Stephen H., born 12th, 26th, 1867, died 3rd, 24th,
1868.
Rosanna Haines married Frank Kimberling 8th month, 4th, 1878. Their
children: Arthur R., born 1st, 31st, 1880; Shirley B., born 8th, 19th,
1883; Clyde H., born 5th, 10th, 1886; Hulda M., born 6th, 9th, 1889;
Lottie F., born 1st, 26th, 1892; Altie P., born 11th, 26th, 1895.
Alveretta Haines married Charles Scott 4th month, 19, 1877. Their
children: Laura Belle, born 4th, 18th, 1879; Lily, born 11th, 6th,
1880, died 11th, 7th, —; Grace Alice, born 3rd, 18, 1883; Edna May,
born 5th, 15th, 1885; Earle Keese, born 6th, 18, 1888; Hazel 1tuthana,
born 12th, 26th, 1890; Ethel Maude, born 5th, 29th, 1893; Charles
Harold, born 11th, 29th, 1896; Ralph Luman, born 1st, 5th, 1900.
Elwood B. Haines married Myrtle M. Craig 1st month, 5th, 1893. Their
children: Edith Fern, born 9th, 27th, 1893; Gladys, born 8th, 30th,
1896; Edna May, born 6th, 4th, 1899.
Isaac M. Haines married Florence A. Craig 1st month, 27th, 1886. Their
children: Fred, born 12th, 17th, 1886; Hazel, born 6th, 2nd, 1892;
John, born 7th, 7th, 1900.
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SECOND SON—
WILLIAM G. KEESE, born 12th month, 4th, 1831, married Rebecca Ann
Harter 1st month, 21st, 1858. Their children: Nathan Orlando, born 7th,
15th, 1859; Wilburn Malchi, born 3rd, 27, 1861; Sarah Catherine, born
11th, 30th, 1862; Emma C., born 4th, 20th, 1866.
Nathan Orlando Keese married Anna Adaline Luers, 2nd
month, 14th, 1894. . Their children: Royal Raynona. born 3rd, 9th,
1895, died 3rd, 3rd, 1899; Harold Augustus. born 6th, 20th, 1896; Earl
Wm., born 3rd, 20th, 1900; Minnie Elsie, born 7th, 9th, 1902; James
Callanan, born 4th, 30, 1.904; Arthur Luers, born 9th, 24th, 1909.
Wilburn Malchi Keese married Maggie Bell McClaren, 7th month, 3rd,
1889. Their children: Burley, born 4th month, 5th, 1890, died 4th, 5th,
1890; Eva Lida, born 9th, 3rd, 1894, died 2nd, 24th, 1895; Evan
Leonard, born 3rd, 2nd, 1896; Clarice K., born 7th, 23rd, 1898, died
4th, 12th, 1909; Bernard, born 2nd, 10th, 1904.
Sarah Catherine Keese married James S. Dunning, 9th month, 18th, 1887.
Their children: Erma A., born 8th, 26th, 1888; Virgil E., born 2nd,
12th, 1891, died 9th, 23rd, 1898; Efner H., born 12th, 31st, 1892, died
11th, 24th, 1898; Ruth E., born 5th, 21st, 1894; Grace M., born 3rd,
16th, 1896, died 9th, 17th, 1898; Almon K., born 9th, 8th, 1898, died
2nd, 3rd, 1900; Frank E., born 9th, 26th, 1901; Twins, born 6th, 18th,
1905, died 6th, 23rd, 1908; Charles S. born 3rd, 17th, 1907.
Emma C. Keese married F. O. Simpson, 12th month, 14th, 1885. Their
children: Maud A., born 2nd, 27th, 1889; Lulu R., born 8th, 27th, 1890;
Pearl A., born 8th, 14th, 1892; Alta M., born 3rd, 20th, 1896; Willis
V., born 9th, 15th, 1904; Leonard O., born 12th, 23rd, 1906; Cecilia
J., born 12th, 21st, 1908.
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SECOND DAUGHTER—
ELIZABETH D. KEESE, who
was born 10th month, 4th, 1833, married 9th month, 11th, 1.853, to
Loammi Sibray, who died 3rd month, 16th, 1900. Their children: Mary F.,
born 7th, 25th, died 9th month, 8th, 1854; Elvin O., born 9th, 1st,
1856, died 10th month, 29th, 1859; Pluma E., born 11th, 1st, 1858; Eva
L., born 12th, 7th, 1861; Wm. Willis, born 12th, 19th, 1862; Lily
Belle, born 9th, 29th, 1864; Alvin Vance, born 9th, 11th, 1867.
Pluma Sibray married Charles A. Collier, 4th month, 14th, 1878. Their
children: Orville Raymond, born 2nd, 28th, 1881; Everett Roscoe, born
3rd, 12th, 1885; Mary Elizabeth, born 11th, 1st, 1891; Gladys Pearl,
born 12th, 31st, 1895.
Eva Lenore Sibray married Isaac Foss, 2nd month, 21st, 1881. Their
children: Lillie Rae, born 12th, 30th, 1881; Charles L., born 7th, 7th,
1883, died 10th, 18th, 1908; Stella Mae, born 5th, 30th, 1886, died
8th, 13th, 1886; Arthur Loammi, born 7th, 6th, 1887; Hannah Elizabeth,
born 7th, 23rd, 1889; Francis Lemuel, born 2nd, 13th, 1901; Caro
Lenore, born 3rd, 11th, 1903.
William Willis Sibray married Jessie A. Botkin, 9th month, 30th, 1891.
Their children: Lillian Agnes Constance, born 2nd, 5th, 1894; Donald
Loammi, born 2nd, 13th, 1898; Janet Elizabeth, born 12th, 19th, 1906.
Lillie Belle Sibray married Edward A. Grogg, 10th month, 4th, 1886.
Their children: Daisy May, born 5th, 11th, 1888; and Edwina June Grogg,
age not known to writer.
Alvin Vance Sibray married Vandilla Brennan, 1st month, 11th, 1890.
Their children: Therma Lee, born 1st, 22nd, 1891; Lilla V., born 11th,
17th, 1893; Thella May, born 6th, 15th, 1897; Hilma, age not known.
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THIRD SON—
JASON E. KEESE, who was
born 11th month, 6th, married Lovina Odell, 4th month, 14th, 1861. He
died 7th month, 1st, 1906. Their children: Volney A., born 1st, 21st,
1862; Lyda Ellen, born 2nd, 17th, 1864; Jonathan G., born 7th, 15th,
1866; Hannah A., born 6th, 24th, 1868; 0. Theresa, born 2nd, 18th,
1871; Ida F., born 3rd, 22, 1877; Myrtle, born 11th, 4th, 1880; Alfred
H., born 10th, 6th, 1882.
Volney A. Keese married Sarah Lutes, 2nd month, 26th, 1893. Their
children: Vessie, born 3rd, 1st, 1894; Arthur, born 1st, 9th, 1896;
Bernice, born 10th, 22nd, 1899.
Lyda Ellen Keese married S. Douglas Green, 6th month, 15th, 1887. Their
children: Charley, born 7th, 7th, 1888; Ethel, born 7th, 17th, 1890;
Myron, born 1st, 7th, 1892; Grace, born 4th, 10th, 1895; Ruth, born
7th, 24th, 1899.
Jonathan G. Keese married Bertha Dunn, 2nd month, 19th, 1896. Their
children: Ada Marne, born 1st, 7th, 1898; Carrie Lucile, born 10th,
26th, 1900, died 3rd, 20th, 1903; Raymond Alfred, born 1st, 27th, 1904;
Lester Gove, born 9th, 20th, 1905; Beulah Leanna, born 8th month, 1908.
Hannah A. Keese married Robert Mann, 3rd month, 25th, 1889. Their
children: Mayme M., born 2nd, 4th, 1890; Claude, born 9th, 4th, 1894;
Leroy, born 5th, 24th, 1896; Ida, born 8th, 14th, 1900.
O. Theresa Keese married. Charles Bill, 8th month, 28th, 1892.
Their children: Homer, born 11th, 26th, 1893; Maurice, born 7th, 28th,
1895; Mary, born 6th, 4th, 1897; Robert, born 4th, 9th, 1900; Florence
Alma, born 10th, 25th, 1909.
Ida F. Keese married Rev. Leroy Galleher, 10th month, 9th, 1907.
Myrtle Keese married Adelbert Helsebeck, 2nd month, 27th, 1907. One
child died in infancy, and Alice Fern was born 10th, 23rd, 1911.
Alfred R. Keese married Tillie Olena Tostenson, 3rd month, 8th, 1911.
(NOTE: there is no "Fourth Son" or "Third Daughter"; the following ordinals should be reduced by one)
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Willis T. Keese and Eunice M. Keese
To List of Photos
FIFTH SON—
WILLIS T. KEESE, who
was born 1st month, 15th, 1838, married Martha J. Paxton 10th month,
18th, 1864. Their children: Francis D., born 7th, 15th, 1865; Mary
Johanna; born 4th, 1st, 1867, died 6th, 11th, 1868; Philip Elmer, born
11th, 13th, 1869, died 5th, 5th, 1873.
Again married, 6th month, 26th, 1882, to Eunice M. Breese.
Francis D. Keese marries Cora Harmen, 12th month, 28th, 1892. Their child, Ada, was born 10th, 6th, 1893.
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Nathan R. Keese and Almira W. Keese
To List of Photos
SIXTH SON—
NATHAN R. KEESE, who
was born 12th month, 24th, 1839, married Almira White, 11th month,
21st, 1862. He died 4th month, 15th, 1901. Their children: Lilburn M.,
born 8th, 22nd, 1864; Leanna May, born 7th, 12th, 1866.
Lilburn M. Keese married Nancy J. Atkinson. Their child, Burton E., was born 4th, 30th, 1887.
Leanna May Keese was married to S. Maynard Ramsey, 12th month, 29th,
1885. Their children: Dullard M., born 8th, 12th, 1886; Millard .M.,
born 12th, 31st, 1888; Orlena P., born 11th, 19th, 1890; Ordena E.,
born 6th, 10th, 1893; Ertena, born 2nd, 27th, 1896; Hillard Ray, born
10th, 15th, 1898; Lovena S., born 3rd, 17th, 1902; Nathan Robert, born
9th, 26th, 1904; Chas. Everett, born 5th, 29th, 1907, died 2nd, 4th.
1908; Harold, born 9th, 20th, 1911.
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Isaac H. Keese and Maggie B. Keese
To List of Photos
SEVENTH SON—
ISAAC H. KEESE, who was
born 3rd month, 8th, 1844, married Maggie Brayton, 1st month 10th,
1878. Their children: John Earle, born 9th month, 4th, 1878, died 9th,
20th, 1887; Harry Gove, born 3rd, 25th, 1881; Walter Folsom, born 7th, 29th, 1888.
Harry Gove Keese married Myrtle May Chamberlain, 7th month, 28th, 1901.
Their children: Bonnie Beatrice, born 8th, 15th, 1902; Gladys Karral
Bernice, born 2nd, 26th, 1904.
Walter Folsom Keese married Ella O'Kane, 5th month, 5th, 1909.
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Sarah R. Keese
John E. Keese
To List of Photos
EIGHTH SON—
JOHN E. KEESE, who was
born 12th month, 11th, 1845, was married to Sarah R. Tyrrell, 12th
month, 24th, 1868. He died 3rd month, 6th, 1878, and she 4th month,
28th, 1903. Their children: Stephen Royal, born 10th, 1st, 1869, died
7th month, 1896; Eva Lucina, born 10th, 16th, 1871; Nora Jane, born
8th, 16th, 1873; Tilla Almira, born 10th, 21st, 1876.
Eva Lucina Keese married James Perrin, 3rd month, 21st, 1895. Their
children: Charles Earle, born 4th, 19th, 1896; James Eber, born 12th,
20th, 1897.
Nora Jane Keese married Grant Mason, 1st month, 5th, 1895. Their
children: Leander Tarlton, born 10th, 22nd, 1895, died 12th, 8th, 1895;
Florence L., born 2nd, 18th, 1897; Leanna Pearl, born 1st, 28th, 1899;
Irene Elizabeth, born 2nd, 7th, 1901; Katha Amy, born 7th, 7th, 1902;
John Keese, born 9th, 27th, 1909.
Tilla Almina Keese married Bert Lee, 12th month, 25th. 1902. Their child, Eunice, was born 10th month, 8th, 1903.
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Matilda E. Paxon and Mahlon I. Paxon
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FOURTH DAUGHTER –
MATILDA ELLEN KEESE,
who was born 10th month, 23rd, 1848, married Mahlon I. Paxson, 2nd
month, 22nd, 1866. She died 2nd month, 2nd, 1876. Their children:
Florence Estella, born 9th, 20th, 1867; Nathan Orlando, born 1st, 4th,
1870, died 7th, 29th, 1871; Nealy Pearl, born 10th, 5th, 1872; Addison Fremont, born 1st, 19th, 1876, died 1st, 19th, 1876.
Florence Estella Paxson married David Kelly, 1st month, 6th, 1884.
Their children: Mary Ethel, born 6th, 7th, 1885; Verna Matilda, born
3rd, 30th, 1887; Marion Francis, born 7th, 25th, 1889; William Edward,
born 8th, 2nd, 1891; Monna Juanna, born 10th, 6th, 1893; James Ulric,
born 8th, 6th, 1895.
Nealy Pearl Paxson married George Lanning, 12th month, 10th, 1890.
Their children: Esther May, born 8th, 19th, 1891; Frederick, born 3rd,
19th, 1893; Sarah Ellen, born 2nd, 8th, 1896; Anna, born 5th, 29th,
1900; Zella, born 8th, 9th, 1904; Franklin, born 4th, 11th, 1910.
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Edwin E. Smith and Loretta M. Smith
To List of Photos
FIFTH DAUGHTER—
LORETTA M. KEESE, who
was born 7th month, 28th, 1852, was married to Edwin Smith, 5th month,
28th, 1873. She died 8th month, 15th, 1881. Their children: Ora Belle,
born 5th, 28th, 1874; Esta Alice, born 4th, 20th, 1876.
Ora Bell Smith, record not known.
Esta Alice Smith married and has two boys by former husband, names not
given. For her second husband she married a Mr. Polly, date not given.
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Writings of Stephen R. Keese.
SKETCHES OF REAL LIFE. 8th month, 30th, 1881.
This is hot weather.
Seeing that this is my 80th birthday,
I would I could write a pleasing lay;
I will eighty leaves turn back of my life,
And speak of a true man and wife.
With their firstborn, a son,
Eighth month, 30th, in the year one thousand eight hundred and one;
In a log house in the woods,
And but little of this world's goods.
South, low ground, at foot of the hill a good spring,
On the wild trees wild birds did sing;
On the north rolling high ground,
Timber cleared off, soon orchard was found;
On the west dense, wild wood,
Where sugar was made pure and good;
On the east, a road on the bank of the Ausable river,
Always thankful to the great giver.
The river wound among the hills,
On it were factories and mills;
It ran northeast through a pine plain,
And emptied into Lake Champlain.
O, it lay between Vermont and York state,
Long and narrow, but the commerce on it was great.
At the tenth and eleventh years of my age,
My father was in the lumber trade engaged;
He thought, no doubt, to have made good speculation,
But it proved a source of tribulation;
For he lost a good farm,
On it a frame house and barn.
His last raft was wrecked on Lake Champlain,
But all hands the shore did gain;
As soon as possible he gathered the wreck,
And then he sailed into Quebec.
And pretty soon a war was declared,
And then hard with him it fared;
His lumber under bonds to be sold,
To be paid for in currency, silver and gold.
When the bonds were due,
They did not wish to rue;
But said the acts were contraband,
For there was to be war in the land.
He know at home there would be debts to pay,
He would do his best to pay, rather than to run away;
That sent him home a poor man,
Disappointed in every plan.
He came home, Mother died soon after,
And that was a sad disaster.
Winter came on cold, and deep the snow,
And one cold day to Quaker meeting we did go
With fine horses and fine sleigh;
In meeting a press gang took horses and sleigh,
Buffalo robes and blankets away.
After meeting, best teams gone, poor left,
Friends got home the best they could,
Some on foot and some on sleds of wood,
Some of the rich dependent on the poor,
To be taken to their own door.
Us motherless ones, five in number,
We parted there asunder, but not suffered to fall under.
Friends took us to their homes and warmed us by their fires,
And satisfied all reasonable desires.
But our home was to pass away,
For there were many debts to pay;
But he freely gave up all
Of his goods, oxen and cows in the stall.
Now my uncle William had a servant true,
He said, if our horses are gone, I go, too;
I know it's cold, but I know where they stay,
And I will be with them before another day.
So soon, dinner over, and a knapsack,
With bread and cheese on his old back,
And he was off on the war track,
His name was Slighter, but he was no fighter.
Horses and all, he truly found,
And plenty of snow was on the ground;
He drove the horses where command said go,
Over glare ice, and through deep snow.
And if anything could be had,
The horses were well fed,
And at night he was right glad,
If he could get his robe and blankets for a bed.
Other horses got sore shoulders,
And were killed to feed poor soldiers;
What did they care for the true owners,
They were conscientious, forced donors.
Time rolled on,
Mother's Hannah, father John,
Four years past, I was fifteen,
My brother and I with some movers were seen,
Going to the then far west Ohio,
Over rough and smooth, high and low.
It would be a long road,
Each of the six wagons, a heavy load.
Twenty-six persons in all,
Count great and small,
Able bodied ones, a chance for walking,
And we enjoyed social talking.
We lay one night in a forty mile woods,
Nothing disturbed us or our goods;
We had a good wood fire,
A supper of food desired.
One of those days, my birthday fifteen,
The other, Azor Oborn, he was sixteen,
And that night was the two between,
Pleasantly jargoned.
After six weeks the desired place we did gain,
And no accident whereof to complain,
My brother Tytus and I found our father,
He was burning brush in the clearing,
And did not see us till we got in hearing.
He had married a second wife,
And begun again married life.
The following was written a few days before his death.
As now on my death bed I lay,
I have something more I wish to say:
Old creeds will have to pass away
Before we'll see the millennial day.
I have labored all I could for progression
On earth for truth as well as education,
But have not always met with approbation;
Neither did Jesus in that generation.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
For I soon will bid you all adieu;
Let every one be honest, kind and true,
For I am going another world to view.
For me do not shed a tear
I feel I have nothing to fear,
For I go with conscience clear
To dwell in a brighter sphere.
Six children I have over there
Who will a place for me prepare
And with them heavenly blessings share
With many other dear ones there.
My wife and seven more are left awhile to stay,
Then they, too, must pass away,
And we hope to form a happy band
In the realms of spirit land,
And to progress forevermore
On that calm and peaceful shore.
My wife and I are old and gray
And do not know how long here we'll stay.
Bury me plainly and decently when I die
And let not a stone tell where I lie,
Plant some tree (pine or cedar) o'er my head,
My body will nourish it when I'm dead.
I do not like to see costly white stones
Watching over mouldering flesh and bones;
I like to see a thrifty tree in the stone's place.
I think it would be no disgrace,
A good tree over every grave;
For coming generations money would save.
When a tree should die or likely to;
Let it then be carefully taken away decay,
It will not be unjust or cruel
To let the poor have them for fuel.
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POSTOFFICE ADDRESSES
OF THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF STEPHEN R. AND
SARAH H. KEESE.
FIRST FAMILY—
Sarah Annetta K. Pillsbury, 4913 W. 24 Pl., Morton Park, Cicero P.
O., Illinois.
Esther Leanna K. Ferguson, Cardington, Ohio.
SECOND FAMILY—
Hannah R. K. Haines, Franklin, Nebraska.
Rosanna H. Kimberling, Franklin, Nebraska.
Alvaretta H. Scott, Aline, Oklahoma.
Elwood D. Haines, Orleans, Nebraska.
Isaac M. Haines, Franklin, Nebraska.
THIRD FAMILY—
Rebecca H. Keese, Sanders, Montana.
Nathan O. Keese, Hebron, Iowa.
Wilburn M. Keese, Audabun, Iowa.
Sarah C. K. Dunning, Sanders, Montana.
Emma C. K. Simpson, Hill City, South Dakota.
FOURTH FAMILY—
Elizabeth D. K. Sibray, Orosa, California.
Pluma E. S. Collier, Orosa, California.
Eva L. S. Foss, Danville, Arkansas.
William W. Sibray, 7937 Tioga St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Alvin V. Sibray, Manton, Michigan.
Lilly B. S. Grogg, Fellows, California.
FIFTH FAMILY—
Lovina O. Keese, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Volney A. Keese, Gilman, Iowa.
Lydia E. K. Green, Gilman, Iowa.
Jonathan G. Keese, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Hannah A. K. Mann, Laurel Iowa.
Olive Thresa K. Bill, Sheffield, Illinois.
Ida F. K. Gallaher, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Myrtle K. Helsebeck, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Alfred R. Keese, Green Mountain, Iowa.
SIXTH FAMILY—
Willis T. Keese, Cardington, Ohio.
Francis D. Keese, McGrew, Nebraska.
SEVENTH FAMILY—
Almira W. Keese, Cardington, Ohio.
Lilburn M. Keese, Marion, Indiana.
Leanna May K. Ramsey, Cardington, Ohio.
EIGHTH FAMILY—
Isaac H. Keese, Visalia, California.
Harry G. Keese, Visalia, California.
Walter F. Keese, Berkley, California.
NINTH FAMILY—
Eva L. K. Perrin, 222 John St., Marion, Ohio.
Nora J. K. Mason, Cardington, Ohio.
Myra A. K. Lee, 314 Patterson St., Marion, Ohio.
TENTH FAMILY—
Mahlon Paxson, Bluffton, Indiana.
Florence P. Kelly, Pennville, Indiana.
Nealy P. Lanning, Partridge, Kansas.
ELEVENTH FAMILY—
Edwin E. Smith, Springfield, Oregon.
Ora B. S. Grant,
Esta A. Polley, Walterville, Oregon.
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