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.