Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine

The Francis Keyes mentioned in this family history was a 1st cousin of Francis Keyes (my 3rd Great Grandfather).  His parents were Jonathan Keyes and Sarah Taylor.  Jonathan was Thomas Nicholas Keyes’ (my 4th Great Grandfather) brother.

GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MAINE VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK
1909

C0MPILED UNDER THE EDIT0RIAL SUPERVISI0N 0F
GEORGE THOMAS LITTLE, A. M., Litt. D.
Librarian of Bowdoin College Vice-President Maine Genealogical Society
Member Maine Historical Society Honorary Member Minnesota Historical Society
Member American Historical Association Member of Council, American Library Association

KEYES   The Keyes family of this sketch is descended from the earliest settler of the name known in New England. The men of this lineage have possessed the military spirit and won honor in various wars from early times. The name is spelled in many ways on the Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, where about fifty enlistments under the name Keyes and about the same number under Keys are recorded.

(I) Robert Keyes settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in the year 1633, or before. There is no record of him before that time. The earliest written mention of him is in the record of the birth of his eldest daughter. He appears from the records to have been in Watertown in 1633, if not earlier ; to have removed to Newbury between 1643 and 1645, and to Sudbury during the latter year, and died in 1647. His death is recorded in Water town, Newbury, Plymouth and Sudbury. The Watertown record recites : "Robert removed to Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 16, 1645, where he died 1647." Another record makes his death occur July 16. 1647. His widow, Sarah, was married to John Gage in 1658, or, according to the Plymouth record, November, 1664. The children of Robert and Sarah Keyes were : Sarah, Peter, Rebecca, Phebe, Mary, Elias and Mary.

(II) Elias, sixth child and second son of Robert and Sarah Keyes, was born May 20, 1643, and resided in Sudbury. He married, September u, 1665, Sarah, daughter of John Blanford, or Blanchard. Their children, all born in Sudbury, were : Elias, John, James, Sarah and Thomas, the subject of the next paragraph.

(III) Deacon Thomas, fifth and youngest child of Elias and Sarah (Blanford, or Blanchard) Keyes, born Sudbury, February 8, 1674, died Marlboro, August 25, 1742, aged sixty-eight. After his marriage he settled on a new farm in the eastern part of Marlboro, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. He was a man of influence in public affairs and a deacon in the church. He married, in 1695, Elizabeth, daughter of John Howe and granddaughter of John and Mary Howe, the first white settlers of the town of Marlboro. She was the sister of Mrs. Peter Josslyn, of Lancaster, and in 1692, when a young girl, while visiting her sister, was taken captive by Indians and carried to Canada. She remained there four years, when she was redeemed by government, returned home, and married Thomas Keyes, to whom she was engaged before her captivity. It was sixteen years earlier that the town was attacked by fifteen hundred Indians and destroyed, and numbers carried into captivity. But Lancaster was for many years a frontier town, and it was probably during some raid of less historical moment that her capture occurred. She died August 18, 1764. Their children were : David, Jonathan, Cypron, Dinah and Thomas.

(IV) Deacon Jonathan, second son and child of Deacon Thomas and Elizabeth (Howe) Keyes, was born in Marlboro, November 19, 1702. He settled in Shrewsbury, and was a prominent citizen and deacon in the North parish. He died suddenly at Shrewsbury of apoplexy. June 25, 1778, aged seventy- six. He married, in 1727, Patience Morse, of Marlboro, and they had eleven children : Jonathan, Miriam (died young), Dinah (died young), Timothy, Miriam, Thomas, Benjamin, Asa, Catherine (died young) and Dinah (twins), and Catherine.

(V) Jonathan (2), eldest child of Deacon Jonathan (1) and Patience (Morse) Keyes, born Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, January 21, 1728, died Rumford, Maine, November 9, 1786. That Jonathan Keyes was the first white man to make his home in Rumford and move his family there has never been disputed. Hunters may have camped there previously, but they came not to make them a home. He purchased land in Sudbury, Canada, now Bethel, Maine, in 1772, and again in 1774. He spent some years in Bethel before he settled in Rumford, but just how many the records do not show. A deed recorded in the Cumberland records recites that March 14, 1777, Jonathan Keyes, of Sudbury-Canada, sold to Samuel Ingalls, of Fryeburg, four hundred acres, or four lots of land, situated and being on the south side of Androscoggin river, in a place called Sudbury-Canada. The deed further states that upon one of the lots Mr. Keyes had made considerable improvement, had built a house, a barn for grain, and another for English hay. January 3 preceding, Mr. Keyes had purchased of Dr. Ebenezer Harnden Goss two full rights in the township of New Pennacook. That Mr. Keyes removed his family to Bethel is not probable. Two of his sons, Ebenezer and Francis, were there with him, and it is stated on good authority that Mr. Keyes returned to Shrewsbury one fall and left his two sons in care of his camp, and that, for some reason not mentioned, he did not return until spring. Ebenezer was about fourteen years old and Francis nine, and they remained in this then remote region all through the long and inclement winter with no companionship save that of the Indians. A paper in the handwriting of the late Francis Keyes, of Rumford, states, among other things: "In 1777 my father, Jonathan Keyes, of Shrewsbury, purchased four rights of land in this town, and on the tenth of March, 1777, set out with myself and my mother and came to New Gloucester. From there my father and I came to this town in the August following, and began a settlement where I now live, the first settlement made in this town. After bringing the farm forward so far as to support a small family, my father moved my mother, the 29th day of October, 1779. In 1781 three other persons began making settlements in this town, and on the third of August of that year a small scouting-party of Indians from Canada, with one who before that time lived in these parts, commenced plundering on Sunday River Plantation and Sudbury-Canada, and took some prisoners and killed two men in Peabody’s Patent. Not considering it safe to continue here, we moved off on the sixth of the same month, and did not return until the spring of 1783, and began our settlement anew." While the family was left in the border settlement, Mr. Keyes was preparing a home for them in the wilderness, and in 1783 he returned to his clearing, and his was doubtless the only family that up to that time had ever lived within the limits of the town. In the "History of Rumford," by William B. Lapham, is found the following: "When Jonathan Keyes first came to Rumford the place was sometimes visited by roving Indians, and as they came from Canada and the war for independence was in progress, they sometimes appeared in war-paint, though they never made any very hostile demonstrations towards his family. One time, when Jonathan Keyes was absent from home, his son Francis saw several painted Indians approaching the house, and ran and told his mother. Mrs. Keyes was a very large woman, and as fearless as she was large. She told Francis to step into the house and stay there. She then went out and confronted the head Indian, one Tomhegan, with whom she was acquainted, and asked him whether they were for peace. ‘Then,’ said she, ‘hand me your guns.’ They obeyed ; and, having received them, she gave them bread and maple-sugar to eat. After they had eaten they took their guns and passed along. Keyes came home at night, and, not liking the aspect of things, took his family and started for New Gloucester, where they arrived in safety. This was about the time of the Indian raid into Bethel. These Indians had been to Livermore to attack the settlement there, but finding it too strong, they left without making any demonstration." Jonathan Keyes’s farm was the best in the town, was situated below Rumford Corner, and is now known as the Timothy Walker farm. Jonathan Keyes died in Rum- ford, November 9, 1786; his death was perhaps the first in the plantation. There is no record of a previous one. He and his wife were buried on his farm, where no monument marks his last resting-place. He married, January 23, 1752, Sarah Taylor, daughter of Ebenezcr Taylor. Their children were : Solomon, Dinah, Sarah, Thomas, Ebenezer, Salma and Francis, whose sketch follows.

(VI) Francis, seventh and youngest child of Jonathan (2) and Sarah (Taylor) Keyes, born Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, October 13, 1765, died Rumford, Maine, August 16, 1832. He went with his father to Sudbury-Canada, now Bethel, when he was nine years old. As stated above, he and his brother Ebenezer spent one winter in Bethel alone among the Indians. He lived on the homestead of his father in Rumford, whither they removed when Francis was twelve years old. His means of education were limited, but he improved them to the best advantage, and when the town was incorporated he was chosen to be clerk, as he had been of the plantation. He was surveyor, a justice of the peace and conveyancer. Many of the early deeds of Rumford lands were written by him. He also held the minor office of fence-viewer, field- driver, surveyor of highways, member of the school committee, and "In 1806," says the record, "Francis Keyes was again elected chairman of the board of selectmen, but declined to serve. He was reelected clerk." "At the meeting in 1807 Francis Keyes was again elected clerk and chairman of the selectmen." In 18n he was again chosen clerk. In 1798 Francis Keyes paid a direct tax to the general government on thirteen hundred acres of land, valued at $1,450. He married Dolly Bean, born Bethel, May 14, 1773, died February, 1834. She was the eldest child of Josiah and Molly (Crocker) Bean. Their children were: Sally, Polly, Jonathan, Josiah, Lydia, Win- throp S., Dolly B., Francis and Hannah.

(VII) Dolly B., seventh child and fourth daughter of Francis and Dolly (Bean) Keyes, born November 10, 1806, died August 15, 1840. She married Otis C. Bolster (See Bolster IV).

Herrick Biography

Herrick Biography found in:

HISTORY OF UTAH

by Orson F. Whitney

Published by George Q. Cannon & Sons Co. Publishers

 

     The Herricks trace their ancestry back to the tenth century, locating them in Leicestershire, England. It is believed that the name Lester, a popular one in the family, was adopted by them from the love they bore the land of their
progenitors. Two brothers of this lineage emigrated to America in the seventeenth century. Such is the statement made by a very elaborate genealogical work published by Lucius C. Herrick, M. D., of Columbus, Ohio. Lester J. Herrick, the fourth son of Lemuel and Sally Herrick, was born at Nelson Park, Portage county, in that State, December 14, 1827.
     Some time in 1830—the year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized—his parents became members of this religious body. They were among the Mormon colonists who settled in Jackson county, Missouri, in 1831, and were driven thence by mob violence in 1833. They afterwards settled with the Saints at Far West, and were again driven by mobs, this time beyond the borders of the State. They next resided at Commerce, subsequently known as Nauvoo, where the mother died in 1841, worn out by the hardships, privations and sufferings of the preceding years of persecution.  In 1842 the family took up their abode at Morley’s settlement, where, two years later, they again experienced the wrath of the lawless marauder in the destruction of home and property. Returning to Nauvoo, they remained there until the exodus of 1840. During the life-time of the Prophet and the Patriarch, the Herricks were often visited by them, and their kindly ministrations left a lasting impression upon the mind of young Lester, who was in his seventeenth year at the time of the martyrdom.
     The next resting place for the family was Mount Pisgah, from which place they went into Missouri, sojourning there for several years. While dwelling in that State Lester paid a visit to his brother Alonzo, who was living in Ohio. In going up the river he contracted a severe cold, terminating in an attack of bronchitis, which affliction he never entirely overcame, his otherwise strong constitution being unable to resist the subtle encroachment of the disease. As a result consumption developed in after years. From Missouri the family, excepting the two elder brothers, Alonzo T. and Clinton, the former still in Ohio, the latter in Indiana, crossed the plains to Utah, arriving at Salt Lake City on the 22nd of September, 1850. Lester’s sister Amanda died on the journey from cholera.
     After a short rest at the pioneer city, the family proceeded to Weber county, where they settled permanently. Father Herrick carried the chain for Jesse W. Fox in the first survey of the city of Ogden. The new-comers built a house in "Brown’s Fort," and there spent their first winter in Utah. In the spring they erected a more commodious building. The members of the family now separated through marriage. Diana Herrick married Bishop Isaac Clark, and in July of that year (1851) Lester J. Herrick married Sarah A. Garner. His twin sister, Lucy Jane, was married the same day to Barnabus Lake. A few months later his brother Nelson wedded a daughter of R. D. Sprague. The eldest sister, Eliza Herrick Keyes, who had largely filled the place of mother to the rest, removed with her husband, Harrison Keyes, and her sisters Lucinda and Mary, with their husbands, to Oregon. The Keyes family returned to Ogden in 1866. Father Herrick died five years earlier.

Locations described in Alma’s biography

Bingham’s Fort BINGHAM’S FORT In 1851, Bishop Erastus Bingham, Utah pioneer of 1847, supervised the erection of a fort three blocks west of this marker for protection from hostile Indians. Each family was assigned a section to build the walls, which enclosed an area 120×60 rods, were 12 ft. high by 8 ft. wide at the bottom tapering to 3 ft. at the top, and were made of mud and rock supported by poles and woven willows. Within the fort, houses were erected 66 ft. from the walls to provide space for livestock. The gate of heavy timber was large enough to drive a team through. Water was obtained from the Lynn irrigation ditch. By 1854 there were 732 inhabitants in the fort. Site Information Location: 20 Harrisville Road OGDEN WEBER County   Fort Buena Ventura FORT BUENA VENTURA Soon after arrival of the ’47 Pioneers, Capt. James Brown, who was on his way to California, visited Fort Buena Ventura, located 1290 feet S.E. of this site belonging to Miles Goodyear, whom the original pioneers had met near Bear Lake. The area consisted of a stockade enclosing a few log houses and sheds, a herd of cattle, horses, goats and a garden. Upon his return Capt. Brown purchased Goodyear’s holdings with money received as wages for the Mormon Battalion. The name was changed to Brown’s Fort, Brownville, and later "Ogden".
Site Information
Location:	775 W 24th Street OGDEN WEBER County Between G & F Streets, at West Ogden Park

Lane County, Oregon

Lane County was established on January 29, 1851. It was created from the southern part of Linn Countyand the portion of Benton County east of Umpqua County. Originally it covered all of southern Oregon east to the Rock Mountains and south to the California border. When the Territorial Legislature created Lane County, it did not designate a county seat. In the 1853 election four sites competed for the designation, of which the "Mulligan donation" received a majority vote; however, since it was contiguous to the "Skinner claim" both became part of the new county seat known as Eugene.

It has been vastly reduced from its original size by several boundary changes. One of the first changes gave it access to the Pacific Ocean when it acquired the northern part of Umpqua County in 1853. With the creation of Wasco County in 1854, it lost all of its territory east of the Cascade Mountains. Minor boundary changes occurred with Douglas County in 1852, 1885, 1903, 1915, and 1917; with Linn County in 1907; and with Benton County in 1923.

Alma Keyes Biography

Tonight I found the following biography of my Great Grandfather that was published 16 years before his death in 1918.

 

Portrait, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the State of Utah

Published 1902 by the National Historical Record Co.

BISHOP ALMA KEYES, of Uintah Ward, Weber County, came to Utah in 1850 as a lad of eleven years, and has taken a prominent part in the work of upbuilding this Western country. It fell to his lot to go farther into the Western desert than did most of the early settlers, and he has thus become a pioneer in two of the Western States, spending his early manhood in Oregon, where his father was one of the leading men of his time, and then returning to Utah, his home having since been in Weber County, where he is well known and has had many honors conferred upon him by his fellow-men.

Alma Keyes was born on August 10, 1839, in Adams County, Illinois, and is the son of Harrison and Eliza (Herrick) Keyes. The father was born in Huron County, Ohio, in 1812. As a young man he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and went to Kirtland, Ohio, among the early days of the gathering there. He followed the leaders of the Saints to Missouri, and later to Nauvoo, Illinois, and when they finally had to flee for their lives in 1846, he returned to Missouri, settling on a farm in Holt County and remained there until the spring of 1850. In the early part of April of that year he started across the great plains in an ox team, accompanied by his family, and traveling in the company of President C. F. Middleton. Arriving in Utah he settled in Brown’s fort in Ogden. and when the city was laid out moved farther east, owning a lot on Twenty-seventh street, and followed farming on the place later owned by Charles Woodmansee. In 1852 he moved his family to Bingham fort, where they remained two years, and then in 1854 he moved to Lane County, Oregon, which was at that time an uninhabited country, and assisted in settling that region, taking up a farm and living there for thirteen years. He returned to Ogden in 1866 and that became his permanent home, dying there in June, 1895, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. His faithful wife survived him but a few months, dying in November, 1895, it the age of eighty-two years, and leaving a family of two daughters and three sons—Alma, our subject: Sarah, widow of D. M. Stewart; Edward, Alfaretta, wife of Muck Miller, and Francis, living in Ogden. The father had been an active Church man, and at the time of his death was a member of the Twenty-first Quorum of Seventies.

Our subject spent his boyhood days traveling about from one State to another with his parents, and as a consequence, he was able to receive but a limited scholastic education. He was thirteen years of age when he went to Oregon, and remained at home with his father until he was married in 1861, when he started out in life on his own account. He returned to Ogden in 1866 at the same time as did his parents, and that became his home until 1884, engaged in carpentering and contract work. During 1881 and 1882 he served as City Marshal of Ogden. In 1884 he decided to devote himself to farming, and accordingly came to Uintah, where he bought what was known as the Corey farm, and engaged in general farming, fruit raising and the stock business. He has devoted all his energies towards making his place one of the best in the county, and has himself made almost all his present improvements. As is bound to be the case when one starts out with the idea of reaching the goal despite all obstacles, success has crowned the efforts of the Bishop, and he is the owner of a fine farm and comfortable home.

He has not confined himself to his home affairs to the utter exclusion of all other interests, but has found the time to assist in building up his section of the county and fostering many home enterprises. When the Uintah Canning Company was formed in 1900, he was one of its most ardent supporters, being President for one year, and is now Vice-Président and a Director in the company, and also Assistant Manager. He is a firm friend of education, and has been largely instrumental in bringing about a better system of education in his district. He is at this time Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Uintah school district, and Health Officer for Riverdale, Burts Creek and Uintah.

Bishop Keyes has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mirah Eveline Tracey, to whom he was married in Oregon, in 1861. She died in this place on March 8, 1894, at the age of forty-seven years and six months, leaving a family of eight children—Willard, agent for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, at Spring Valley, Wyoming ; Henry, Rose, wife of Joseph Dye ; Lorin, Elsie, wife of Samuel Yoeman ; Lee, Alta and Goerge. Five of her children are dead. The second wife was Mrs. Jennie James. She is the mother of three children—Harry, Eveline and Theodore McKinley.

He has passed through the Aaronic Priesthood, and has been an Elder, member of the Seventy-fifth Quorum of Seventies, and for four years President of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. In 1884 he was ordained a High Priest under the hands of Franklin D. Richards, and set apart as Second Counselor to Bishop D. M. Stewart, and when the Bishop resigned in 1886, he became First Counselor to Bishop Stoddard, who succeeded Bishop Stewart. In this office our subject remained until the death of Bishop Stoddard, when he was made Presiding Elder over the Ward until 1889, when he was ordained Bishop and has been the head of the Ward since. While Presiding Elder he directed the building of the meeting house, doing nearly all the framework himself, and has assisted in building the school-houses, and in everything for the material improvement of the Ward, being a natural born leader. He had the distinction of being the chief of the first volunteer fire department of Ogden, and in fact there has scarcely been a position of trust or responsibility among the minor offices that he has not filled at some time. Throughout his life his career has been a most honorable and upright one, and he enjoys the entire confidence and respect of all who know him.