Friday, February 9, 2018

52 Ancestors - Week 213: #292 Joseph Keyes (1698-1744) of Chelmsford and Westford, Massachusetts

Joseph Keyes (1698-1744 is #292 on my Ahnentafel List, my 6th great-grandfather, who married #293  Elizabeth Fletcher (1698-1775) in 1720 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

I am descended through:

*  their son #146 Jonathan Keyes (1722-1781) who married #147 Elizabeth Fletcher (1720-1761) in 1746.
*  their daughter #73 Elizabeth Keyes (1759-1793) who married  #72 Zachariah Hildreth (1754-1829) in 1777.
*  their son, #36 Zachariah Hildreth (1783-1857) who married #37 Hannah Sawtell (1789-1857) in 1810.
*  their son, #18 Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) who married #19 Sophia Newton (1834-1923) in 1852.
*  their daughter #9 Hattie Louisa Hildreth (1857-1920)  who married #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922) in 1874.
*  their son #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) who married #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) in 1900.
*  their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son #1 Randall Jeffrey Seaver (1943-living)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                            Joseph Keyes Jr.[1–9[
*  Sex:                               Male

*   Father:                          Joseph Keyes (1667-1757)
*  Mother:                         Joanna Cleaveland (1670-1758)   
 
2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Birth:                           1 May 1698, Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[1–2,9]    
*  Deed:                          5 January 1728 (age 29), bought land in Chelsmford from Joseph Keyes Sr. for 100 pounds; Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[4]    

*  Deed:                          8 November 1731 (age 33), sold land in Westford to Thomas Wright for 120 pounds; Westford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[5]    

*  Deed:                          8 April 1742 (age 43), sold 50 acres of land in Westford to Ebenezer Wright and Jonathan Keyes for 240 pounds; Westford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[6]    

*  Death:                         11 July 1744 (age 46), Westford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[7–9]    

*  Burial:                       after 11 July 1744 (after age 46), Fairview Cemetery, Westford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[9]  

3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Spouse 1:                  Elizabeth Fletcher (1698-1775)
   
*  Marriage 1:               28 February 1719/20 (intentions, age 21) Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[3]    

*  Child 1:                     Elizabeth Keyes (1720-1806)
*  Child 2:                     Jonathan Keyes (1721-1781)    
*  Child 3:                     Sarah Keyes (1723-    )    
*  Child 4:                     Lydia Keyes (1724-    )    
*  Child 5:                     David Keyes (1726-    )  

4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    

Joseph Keyes was born 1 May 1698 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the third child and only son of Joseph and Joanna (Cleaveland) Keyes[1-2,9].  The birth record in the town records says:

"Josepeh the sonne of Josepeh and Johannah Keyes was born the 1 May 1698."

He was called Joseph Keyes Jr. throughout his life.

Joseph and Elizabeth Fletcher filed intentions to marry on 28 February 1719/20 in Chelmsford[3].  She was the daughter of Joshua and Sarah (Woolley) Fletcher of Chelmsford.  

Joseph and Elizabeth (Fletcher) Keyes had five children:  Elizabeth born in 1720; Jonathan born in 1722; Sarah born in 1723; Lydia born in 1724; and David born about 1726.  Three of the births were recorded in the Chelmsford town records.  Only Elizabeth and Jonathan reached adulthood and married.

On 5 January 1727/8, Joseph Keyes Sr., husbandman of Chelmsford, sold land in Chelmsford to Joseph Keyes, Jr., husbandman of Chelmsford, for 100 pounds currant money of New England.  The land included all of Joseph Keyes Sr. land on Frances Hill in Chelmsford, bounded by his own land, and also all his land and meadow lying on Keyes Creek, and one half of his town Right in Chelmsford.  The deed was recorded 15 January 1727/8[4].

The part of Chelmsford where the Keyes family resided became the town of Westford, Massachusetts in about 1730.

On 8 November 1731, Joseph Keyes, Sr. and Joseph Keyes Jr., both husbandmen of Westford, sold land in Westford to Thomas Wright, husbandman of Westford, for 120 pounds currant money of New England.  The land was a tract of upland and meadow in Westford defined by marked trees and heaps of stones and bounded by the meadow of Joseph Keyes, the meadow of William Chandler, Keyes Brook. The deed was recorded 14 November 1771[5].

On 8 April 1742, Joseph Keyes Jr., husbandman of Westford, sold land in Westford to Ebenezer Wright and Jonathan Keyes, husbandmen of Westford, for 240 pounds currant money of New England.  The land was 50 acres of meadow and upland on the north side of Frances Hill in Westford, on the north side of the highway leading from Chelmsford to Groton by Captain Thomas Reed's house.  The deed was recorded 9 November 1742[6].

Joseph Keyes Jr. died on 11 July 1744 in Westford at age 46[7-9].  The death record in the Westford town records says:

"Joseph Keyes Jr. departed this life July 11 1744."

He is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Westford[9].  

Joseph Keyes Jr. died before his parents died, so there was no real or personal estate passed directly to him.

Joseph Keyes had no probate record in the Middlesex County Probate Court records.  

5)  SOURCES

1. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Chelmsford, Proprietors Records, no page number (image 39 of 50), Joseph Keyes birth entry.

2. Town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Salem, Mass. : The Essex Institute, 1914), Births, page 86, Joseph Keyes entry.

3. Town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts to the Year 1850, Marriages, page 262, Joseph Keyes and Elizabeth Fletcher intentions record.

4. "Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org :, Middlesex County Deeds, Volume 27, Pages 119-120 (images 363-4 of 585), Joseph Keyes Sr. to Joseph Keyes Jr., recorded 15 January 1727/8.

5. "Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, FamilySearch, Middlesex County Deeds, Volume 72, Pages 247-248 (images 134-5 of 581), Joseph Keyes Sr. and Joseph Keyes Jr. to Thomas Wright, recorded 14 November 1771.

6. "Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, FamilySearch, Middlesex County Deeds, Volume 43, Pages 198-199 (images 182-3 of 835), Joseph Keyes Jr. to Ebenezer Wright and Jonathan Keyes, recorded 9  November 1742.

7. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, Westford Births, Marriages and Deaths, Page 41, on Image 27, Joseph Keyes death entry.

8. Vital Records of Westford, Massachusetts to the Year 1849 (Salem, Mass. : The Essex Institute, 1915), Deaths, page 293, Joseph Keyes Jr. death entry.

9. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), Fairview Cemetery (Westford, Mass.), Joseph Keyes Jr. memorial # 36127486.

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NOTE:  Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post 
 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I have extended this theme in 2018 to 260 Ancestors in 260 Weeks.


Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver


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