Sunday, June 18, 2006

Terrell Family History (Daddy's side)

My great grandmother was Nellie Leora Terrill.

Her father was John W. "Boyd" Terrill (1863-1913). He was married to Mary Mays.

His father was William H. "Bill" Terrell (1826-1904), born in Gibson, TN, Married in Madison, TN to Sarach E. Scott (her father was John W. Scott), born in Jackson, Madison County, TN(1837-1910), died in St. Joe, Searcy County, AR. William Terrell died in St. Joe, Searcy County, AR and is buried there at the Osborne Cemetery. He was a farmer. They had 10 children.

His father was Achilles C. Terrill of Madison, KY (born about 1798) and married to Elizabeth Osborn (1806-1886). He faught in the Indian Wars and was a farmer. Elizabeth died in Hubbard Hill, TX. They had 12 children.

Achilles C. Terrill's father may have been George Terrill and his mother was probably Martha Patsy "Polly" Stinson/Stevenson?...

More Keeling Family History

The following is an excerpt from the book entitled History and Families, Wright County, Missouri Published in 1993 by Turner Publishing Company. You can find this information on page 393.

Keeling- The Keeling family came to Wright County from Fancy Farm, Graves County, Kentucky about 1869 in a wagon train bound for Oregon. They crossed the Mississipi River on a raft at Cape Girardeau and as they moved on into Missouri, they were caught up in post-Civil War activities, so decided not to go on to Oregon. They settled in Hart Township near Wolf Creek, one mile southeast of the Fagan School.

The family included Abram Keeling, his wife Angeline Gibson and four children: Thomas (1860), Elizabeth (1865), Reuben Warren (1868) and Abraham Seemore "Sieb" (1868)*. Abram's brothers, Joab and John, his mother, Rachel (a widow) and sister Orlena settled just north of them. Later John moved to his own homestead a short distance to the east.

Abram and Angeline raised horses and tobacco and also had three more children: Amanda (1871), James "Elmar" (1874), and John Tildon (1876). Elmar died of pneumonia at age 16.

In 1897 Abram and Angeline and sons John and Sieb and their families moved to Freeman Springs, AR (present day Pope County). In 1910 Angeline died and was buried there. Abram and Sieb moved back to Missouri where Abram died of pneumonia in 1916 after chasing a cow in the rain.

The passage goes on to talk about Abram's son, Reuben and his descendents.


* Abraham Seemore "Seib" is my great, great grandfather.

Keelings (Daddy's Side)

  • My grandmother's maiden name was Keeling.
  • Her father was William Ernest Keeling (1895-1980 in Yell County, AR). He married Nellie Leora Terrill of Searcy County, AR (b. 1903).
  • His father was Abraham "Seib" Keeling (b. 1871 at Fancy Farm, Graves County, KY, died in Pope or Yell County, AR). He married Willie Bell Ivy, born in Purda, TN (1874-1934). I suspect they met and married somewhere around Mansfield, Wright County, Missouri.
  • His father was Abraham F. Keeling (1836-1916) born in Fancy Farm, Graves County, KY and died in Mansfield, Wright County, MO. In Kentucky, he married Sarah Angeline Gibson.
  • His father was Rueben Keeling (b. about 1803) from VA. He was married to Rachel Catherine Dowdy (b. 1816) from TN.

A couple of weeks ago, Memaw, Daddy and I went to Marshall, AR (Searcy County) to an Ancestor Fair. We learned a lot about how to go about doing genealogy research and met many interesting people. Lots of them turned out to be related to us! I could type for days and not pass on all of the information I got that weekend, but I'll do my best to highlight some of the more important discoveries.

We were introduced to Betty Harris. Her maiden name is Keeling. There are many Keelings in the Arkansas Ozarks, so I assumed we must be related. Betty invited us to a family reunion and cemetery decoration that they were having that weekend. You couldn't find a nicer bunch of people. They were very welcoming to us and shared their genealogy research with me. Unfortunately, I don't think we're very closely related. If we are related at all (and surely we must be), it probably goes back to Virginia around Rueben Keeling's time. We suspect that my Rueben Keeling might be their Levi Keeling's brother or cousin. Time will tell. I'm working on making the connection.

Friday, June 02, 2006

St. Joe....Oh, My!

This post is regarding Memaw's family (Sallie Keeling's mother, Nell Terrill's familiy...) The Terrills, Mays, and Coopers...

Let me just say that I have found out A BUNCH of info on Memaw's family from St. Joe and Gilbert, AR. I will have to sit and type it all up, but it's a colorful history to say the least. ;)

Yesterday, I woke up at 5am and drove to Marshall, AR, which is about 5 1/2 hrs away from KC. Memaw and Daddy met me here and we spent about 3 hours in the courthouse (handling OLD documents...) and in the local library digging up the past. Then, we went to talk with Janis White, who owns and runs the St. Joe Mercantile and it turns out she's Daddy's 4th cousin! It's a small town, that's for sure. She has the most amazing memory and ability to tell stories that I've ever heard. She spouts out dates and locations and tells you how everyone's related and connected and it was all I could do to scribble down notes as she talked to us for about 4 hours... So much information... I am going to start typing it up, though and we'll see if I can't make it into a nice narrative story that will leave you (kind readers) spellbound and enthralled...

Today, we got up and went to the Searcy County Library to listen to some lectures on genealogy from a man who runs the AR State Archives. His name was Baker. He was very interesting and gave me MANY ideas on how to go about my research and even offered to help if I send him emails asking for direction and help. Very nice. :)

More info to come... I need to get busy typing it all up...