BRETHREN-L Archives
Archiver > BRETHREN > 2007-12 > 1197088955
From: Jane Davis <>
Subject: Re: [BRE] Deeds don't always exist either so can'tbe countedon inplace of wills
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 21:42:35 -0700
References: <mailman.24275.1196985906.18604.brethren@rootsweb.com><8CA0706D6D508C2-7F4-3B27@WEBMAIL-MA14.sysops.aol.com><020101c838f2$851f20f0$6401a8c0@IBM63A03770CC6><BAY113-W8ECD4F3FA8979646D2570DE680@phx.gbl> <023f01c83949$ad9491d0$6401a8c0@IBM63A03770CC6>
In-Reply-To: <023f01c83949$ad9491d0$6401a8c0@IBM63A03770CC6>
CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS POST--The military records for Missourians in the war of 1861-1865 are with the State Archives at Jefferson City along with their unit and company history--on microfilm. The Missouri Historical Society at Columbia, only about 30 miles distant does not contain these records. I have researched at both facilitites--it is easy to get them confused as the MHS records are housed on the University of Missouri campus. Please pardon my error. Jane Davis.
> From: > To: > Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 22:23:13 -0500> Subject: Re: [BRE] Deeds don't always exist either so can't be countedon inplace of wills> > Hello Jane,> Laclede county has a beautiful research facility and the hsitorical society > is active and has done some impressive work. That is where I found my MO > records.> John Keedy was my great-great grandfather. He was born in MD about 1784-85. > His family left MD about 1798 and went up to Fayette County, PA where I > presume they met up with members of the Welty family and other Brethren who > were heading down to Ohio and KY. For a period of years this family lived in > KY. John Keedy left KY before 1807 since his daughter son Lewis was born in > TN in that year. I am guessing 1805 because in 1805 the man I believe to > have been John's father, Ludwig, sold the last of his MD land. John also had > a daughter named Nancy born about 1808 or 1809 and a son named Elgin born > 1812 in TN. Sometime after 1812 but before 1820 John heads up to southern > IN. He settles in Orange County and purchases land there when the land > offices open. In 1822 his son John is born. At some point the mother of > these children die. I am still trying to learn her identity. His son Lewis > marries Polly Boone, the daughter of Solomon Boone and John marries Jane > Whitely. Jane and John have 5 children together. They were Henrietta, > Daniel, David, Joseph and William. In 1851 John Keedy sells his land, house > and furnishings for $825.> In 1841 Lewis and Polly are recognized as heirs to Solomon Boone in the sale > of 160 acres of land. It appears from several land transactions that Lewis > sells more of his property. I find him next in Laclede County, MO when he > purchases land in 1849. Between 1849 and 1869 I found recorded 14 land > transactions involving Lewis. I also found that Lewis was a Justice of the > Peace in Laclede County. John purchased land from Lewis in 1851 for the full > amount of money he received for the sale of his Indiana home and farm. John > Keedy sells some of his land to David in 1858. In 1860 he deeds more land to > Jane, his wife. In 1867 David Keedy collects signatures on quitclaim deeds > from his 1/2 brothers John Keedy in Indiana and Elgin Keedy in Illinois, and > his brother William Keedy in Indiana. Unfortunately I was not able to get > copies of the QC deeds because they are in a volume which can no longer be > opened and which apparently was not filmed. The pages are too fragile.> Perhaps the saddest part of this story is the fate of John and Jane's sons. > Joseph and Daniel died within months of one another in 1863 as soldiers in > the Union Army in St. Louis. David returned to his farm disabled. He died > about before 1880. William, my grandfather, died in 1900 working as a > farmhand in Orange Coiunty Indiana. He never returned to MO. Henrietta Keedy > inherited John and Jane's land and married Charley Waggoner in 1870. John > apparently died before the 1870 census and Jane appears to have died before > the 1880 census. There is a Keedy graveyard on private pastureland but there > are no markers for these early deaths. Joseph is buried in the Natuional > Cemetery in St.Louis.> Finally, I should add that sadly my mother never knew anyone in her father's > family. She was born in Boston and her father died before her birth leaving > my grandmother with 6 children under the age of 12. It's been a journey > uncovering this part of my unknown family's history.> Alice> > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jane Davis" <>> To: <>> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 5:25 PM> Subject: Re: [BRE] Deeds don't always exist either so can't be countedon > inplace of wills> > > Alice--Could you share more about your John Keedy who lived in Missouri? In > what part of the state did he live? When did he arrive? Did he stay during > the war years?> > At the end of the Civil War in Missouri, many of the deeds, etc. were > destroyed during the Border Warfare and the Civil War when many court houses > and court records were burned by opposing forces, or hidden until after the > war. A quick review of newspapers following the war in Johnson County (MO) > alone reveals the loss of lands by many because of forced abandonment during > the war, death, destruction of property by fire or robbery, taxes not paid, > land claims by squatters, etc. In other words, the records were in a mess > from every angle. Column and column after page after page were devoted to > publications of notices about land transactions. Just straightening out > these land ownerships took a period of years of legal haranguing, etc. Jane > Davis.> > > > > From: > To: > Date: Fri, 7 Dec > > 2007 11:59:21 -0500> Subject: Re: [BRE] Deeds don't always exist either so > > can't be counted on inplace of wills> > I had this experience with my > > Keedy clan. I believe I rounded them all up > when finally, in I found a > > cluster of 1868 quitclaim deeds signed by > everyone except those who were > > living on John Keedy's land in MO. It was a > wonderful find because it > > also brought another child into the picture who > had never shown up in > > the census. This find also narrowed down to a small > period of time the > > years when the family moved from TN to Indiana. It also > confirmed the > > minimum length of time in which the family lived in TN-in a > county with > > no records to speak of before 1912. Needless to say that was one > road > > trip that was worth every cent I spent and every one of the 1520 miles > I > > drove.> Alice> ----- Original Message ----- > From: <>> > > To: <>> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 11:39 AM> > > Subject: [BRE] Deeds don't always exist either so can't be counted on > > > inplace of wills> > > >> > In many cases it seems that only one child took > > over the house or sold the > > house?and later (on his own, > > undocumented)?distributed the proceeds to the > > heirs.?> >> > In one > > case with my Revolutionary war era ancestor he left the home to his > > > > very youngest son, sired when he was a senior citizen, or about 65.? No > > > > deed was ever recorded.? His great granddaughters even grew up in that > > > > home, and both died in the last couple of years and were about 100 > > years.? > > But during their lives they claimed their grandfather was a > > grandson of > > the Rev. war man, not a son. That seemed strange to me, > > because that would > > have meant at the death of the Revolutionary war > > era ancestor his home > > should have been sold to a grandson then, which > > would have been a younger > > son of a middle son of the Revolutionary war > > era ancestor.? I later found > > out that the man they claimed descent > > from moved out west and died out > > there and was a different person, a > > nephew to their grandfather, so then > > deduced that the home had been > > left to the very youngest son.?Which was > > common, as was mentioned on > > this list. ?I doubt the chain of title if it > > could be found today > > would list any of th!> > e other numerous children if the deed had been > > drawn up during my > > Revolutionary war era ancestor's life, else these > > sisters would have known > > their real descent.? These deeds you mention > > as sometimes having much > > information are where the deceased dies > > possessed of real estate, and then > > the heirs dispose of the property.? > > But often the executor/administrator, > > often the oldest son, would sell > > the property in his own name and then > > probably distribute the proceeds > > later to all his siblings or their > > heirs.?> >> > I know there are some > > estates that will list all the heirs, and a few land > > documents with > > names of all the heirs, but this seems to have been the > > exception in > > PA.? So I don't think anyone should count on going to any > > courthouse > > to have all their questions answered.?Or if you go then go with > > low > > expectations, and with a skeptic eye. ?Even some people who live right > > > > in PA where their ancestors lived have their lines all messed up! These > > > > late elderly sisters' incorrect?family connections have been posted by > > > > their county's "historian", perpetuated now through numerous Rootsweb > > > > postings.? Its not the fault of anyone here, as no one would have > > thought > > of trying to extend their focus way out west to extended > > family who left > > PA. So I still think "irrefutable circumstantial > > evidence" is often the > > route most will have to take in documenting > > their PA Dutch families.> >> >> > Richard> >> > > > ________________________________________________________________________> > > > More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - > > > > http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003>; > > >> > ------------------------> > Search the Archives at > > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN>; > > > ------------------------> > Support Our Sponsoring Agency> > The > > Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG)> > For further information > > contact Ron McAdams mailto:> > > > ------------------------> >> > -------------------------------> > To > > unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > > > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > ------------------------> Search the Archives at > > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN>; ------------------------> > > Support Our Sponsoring Agency> The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists > > (FOBG)> For further information contact Ron McAdams > > mailto:> ------------------------> > > > -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please > > send an email to with the word 'unsubscribe' > > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message> _________________________________________________________________> Your smile counts. The more smiles you share, the more we donate. Join in.> www.windowslive.com/smile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_oprsmilewlhmtagline> > ------------------------> Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN>; ------------------------> Support Our Sponsoring Agency> The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG)> For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:> ------------------------> > -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------> Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN>; ------------------------> Support Our Sponsoring Agency> The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG)> For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:> ------------------------> > -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
_________________________________________________________________
You keep typing, we keep giving. Download Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now.
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGLM
This thread: