Willie Bell (Ivy) Keeling

This is one of the few pictures that I have of my great-great grandmother, Willie Bell Ivy Keeling. She was 1/2 Cherokee. I've been doing a lot of research on her lately. I'm trying to find more information about her parents. She was born in Purdy, TN and moved to Wright County, MO where she met my great-great grandfather, Abraham "Seib" Keeling. They married and settled eventually in Pope and Yell Counties in Arkansas.

Nikki's Parents

My parents divorced when I was about 6 years old. This is a picture that was taken of them before I was born. Mom was 18 or 19 and Daddy was a few years older. I think Mom looked a lot like my sister, Laura does now.

Ross Family Picture

This is a picture of a cousin of my grandfather, Harold Johnston. His mother's maiden name was Ross. This picture is of Faye Ross. My grandfather says she married a man with the last name of "Meek". Her father was Carl Ross. She had a sister named Mildred. She lived in Conway, AR and I think she died in a car wreck. I love her striped socks.

Me and Memaw

This is a picture of my grandmother, Sallie when she was a child. Here's a picture that was taken in 1993 of Grandma Nell, me and Memaw (Sallie)
And here's a picture taken about 3 years ago when Memaw (Sallie) and I went on a vacation in New England. We were on a ship that had just docked in Nantucket, Mass.

Aunt Rosie

This is a picture of Aunt Rosie (Keeling) Foster. Barbara Sue Keeling (Boog's daughter who passed away about 31 years ago) is standing next to her. Aunt Rosie is holding Leonard Carl Keeling and Judy (Johnston) Thompson. My father, Johnny Johnston is standing in front of her with a big grin.

Keeling Boys

Hollis Hayes Keeling, Ernie Keeling, Ray Keeling and Skinny Keeling

1908 Oak Grove, Freeman Springs Mountain

This school picture was found in some of my grandmother's old photos. I scanned the front and back of the picture so that you could identify everyone. Notice Clarence Keeling (Uncle Skinny), Alvie Keeling (Uncle Ab), Earnest Keeling (Grundy), and Ray Keeling (their brother).

Fate "Heavy" Keeling

Fate Keeling (or "Heavy" Keeling, as he was called) was my great-grandfather's, William Ernest Keeling "Grundy" brother. He is remembered as being a big man, hence the name "Heavy". He died in some sort of car accident in California.

Elnora Cain and Sallie Johnston

Here are a couple of pictures of (Elnora Foster) Cain. She is the daughter of Rosie (Keeling) Foster and Jesse Foster. Elnora is fondly referred to as "Cuzo" by my family. Her mother, Rosie was a sister to my great-grandfather, "Grundy" William Ernest Keeling.
Below is a picture of my grand mother, Sallie (Keeling) Johnston. She and Elnora are first cousins. Sallie's parents were Nellie Leora (Terril) Keeling and "Grundy" William Ernest Keeling.

This is a picture taken of Sallie (left) and Elnora (right) that was taken in December of 2006 at my baby shower.

Grundy and Grandma Nell Keeling

My Great Grandparents (The Keelings)

My father's mother's parents were Nellie Leora "Nell" and W. E. "Grundy" Keeling. They lived their married lives in and near Pope and Yell Counties in Arkansas. Grundy died when I was young, but I have a few memories of him. He died of Leukemia and was bedridden in all of my memories. Grandma Nell lived a good while longer than him. I was in my mid twenties when she died of natural causes. Her last few years of life were spent in the care of my grandmother. Here are some pictures of them in the later years of their lives as I remember them...

Grandma Nell and Grundy

Grundy and Grandma Nell with their friend, Louise Hicks
Grundy, Carl Bryant, Cleveland (grandsons) and Leonard (Grundy's son) Keeling


Grundy and one of his brothers (Ab Keeling)

Grandma Nell was an avid gardener

Daughters of the American Revolution

I just received word that my application for Daughters of the American Revolution has been approved. :) I am officially a member! The application process was very involved and required a good bit of research and paperwork, but thanks to Cornelia Daniels and Carol Cochran, I managed to wade through it all. I am very appreciative to both Cornelia and Carol for their patience with me and for generously giving of their time, $ for postage and copies and energy. I'm looking forward to being an active member.

True Grit- The Ross Family

I recently discovered that Mattie Ross (of the movie True Grit with John Wayne) was my grandfather's grandfather's sister. She's the young girl that went into Indian Territory to avenge her father's death. Very interesting. They're from Yell County, AR. I'm doing what I can to gather more information about this.

If there's anyone with more information and willing to share, please email me at nkiblueeyes@yahoo.com.

Thanks!
Nikki

Mary Mays

I went to visit some of my Keeling relatives in Centerville, AR and learned a bit more about my family history last night.

My great grandmother (Nell Terrell Keeling) was from Searcy County. Her mother was Mary Mays Terrell and her father was John "Boy" Terrell. I knew that both Mary and John died before my great grandmother left home. I found out more details last night.

We think that John "Boy" Terrell had TB and probably died of it. Many people who lived around the Buffalo River had short lives due to TB and other diseases. Many of the springs/wells are contaminated with toxins, I think.

After he died, I believe that my grandmother, her remaining siblings and her mother went to Pope County, AR to work in the cotton fields. On the way home, Mary Mays Terrell got sick and died. They buried her on the way. My great grandmother has since gone back to try to find the graveyard where she was buried, but was unsuccessful in finding her. She did not have a tombstone, so it's likely that we will not ever find her final resting place. Her husband is buried in the Osborne Cemetery in St. Joe, AR.

Genealogical Mysteries to Solve

The following are areas upon which I am focusing my current genealogical research:

- Keeling Family: I have things traced back to Reuben Keeling of KY around 1867. Would like to trace the Keeling family back to England (or whereever they're from)...

- Cherokee Indian: I know that there is Cherokee blood on my paternal grandmother's side of the family. My great grandfather was William Ernest Keeling. His mother was Willie Bell Ivy (1874-1934)of Purdy (?), TN. I believe her father was Richard Ivy and I believe her mother's last name was Clendennan. Either the Ivys or the Clendennans were Cherokee Indians. I'm not sure which, but I suspect it's the Clendennans. I need to track this down.

- Johnston Family: I've traced things on my father's side back to Cecil County, MD in 1814. I am trying to trace things further back.

Disorganized

I learned so much from my last couple of trips to AR to do research that I haven't taken the time to update my computer...

Once I get a little more organized, I'll post what I've got...

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.

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...