Anderson Simon Keeth​

​(printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', Nov. 8, 2012)

 

 

ANDERSON SIMON KEETH (pictured on the left) was born in Miller County 10 July 1848, a son of John Keeth, Jr. (b. 1827) and Catherine (Whittle) Keeth (b. 1827). His parents were natives of Edmonson County, Kentucky and had moved to Miller County in the early 1840s. They had stopped off in Indiana for awhile before moving on west to Missouri…… 

​​John Keeth, son of John Keeth, Sr. and Ruhama (Allen), married Catherine Whittle, daughter of Joseph and Susannah (Kinser) Whittle, who also had come from Edmonson County. 

​​I suspect the Whittle and Keeth families knew one another back in Kentucky and perhaps came to Miller County about the same time. During the Civil War John Keeth, Jr. served in the Missouri Home Guards and the State Militia…….The children born to John and Catherine (Whittle) Keeth included:

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1. Anderson Simon Keeth 1848-1921 m. [1] Martha E. Smith; [2] Sarah Long
2. Mary Ann/Polly Keeth b. 1850 m. [1] Willliam/Billy Smith; [2] Willis Long
3. Paradine Keeth b. 1852 m. Fred Virnett
4. James Keeth b. 1854 m. Mary Jane Wall
5. Martha Keeth b. 1856 m. [1] John A. Whittle; [2] William Wiseman
6. Henry Keeth b. 1859 m. Rebecca Tabor
7. Johnathan Keeth b. 1861 m. Louisa Ellen Stone
8. William R. Keeth b.1865 m. Mary Ellen Thomas
9. Lucinda Frances Keeth b. 1863 m. Robert D. Whittle
10. Simon Peter Keeth b. m. [1] Nancy Ellen Whittle [2] Dora Adams
11. Elizabeth Keeth 1850-1855

Catherine Whittle-Keeth died in 1872 and John married his second wife, Susan Dean/Deen, in Miller County and they became parents of 5 more children:
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12 .George F. b. 1875 m.___________
13. Sarah/Sally Keeth b. 1878 m. __________
14. John Melvin Keeth b. 1880 m.___________
15. Cordelia R. Keeth b. 1882 m. George Karr
16. Mary Keeth b.

Anderson Simon Keeth, oldest child of John and Catherine (Whittle) Keeth married Martha E. Smith (1849-1917) who was born in Illinois, daughter of Thomas L. and Mary J. (Gaston) Smith, who also were natives of the state of Illinois. They settled in southern Richwoods township near the Pulaski County boundary line when they came to central Missouri. Thomas L. Smith died and was buried at what is sometimes called ‘Smith Cemetery’,  located on the land owned today by the Bruce Moore family. I’m not sure when Mary Jane Gaston-Smith died because according to a record I found, she was still alive in 1921 when Anderson Keeth died.

The children born to Anderson Simon Keeth and Martha E. (Smith), whom I found record of, were:
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1. William T. Keeth m. Ida Wall
2. Albert Newton Keeth m. Effie Arizona Barnhart
3. Arthur L. Keeth m. ????
4. Mary C. Keeth m. ????? -- she was deceased in 1921
5. Lou Addie E. Keeth m. Lewis Clyde Bilyeu

​There may have been other children but I did not find any more listed in an obituary or on the internet.

In 1876, Anderson and his family left Miller County and went a few miles south to Pulaski County near the little village called Hawkeye. He bought a 100 acre farm there with 60 acres under cultivation where he farmed for awhile. He decided to go into the mercantile business and helped to establish a post office at Hawkeye in 1881 where he became the postmaster. As was customary in those days, the post office was probably located in his general store in Hawkeye………he and Martha were members of the Christian Church and voted Republican in their politics.

In 1917, Martha Smith-Keeth died at the age of 68 years. It wasn’t long after her death that Anderson married his second wife, Sarah J. Long, in 1917. He was much older than Sarah/Sally (34 years difference in ages) and if they had any children, I did not find a record. He lived for 4 years after his marriage to Sarah and died in 1921 (probably at his farm near Hawkeye).