Jackson Keeney
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Andrew Jackson Keeney (1819 - 1898)

Andrew Jackson (Jackson) "Black Jack, Jack" Keeney
Born in Fayette County, Indiana, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 18 Nov 1841 in Henry County, Missouri, United Statesmap
Husband of — married 3 Jun 1849 in Atchison County, Missouri, United Statesmap
Husband of — married 22 Dec 1861 in Lane County, Oregon, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 78 in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions
Profile last modified | Created 5 Feb 2014
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Contents

Biography

Birth and Childhood

Andrew Jackson Keeney, also known as Black Jack, Jack, and Jackson, was born on 7 October 1819 to John Keeney, Jr. (1772-1845) and Mary Ramsey Burkhalter (1783-1872). [1]

Siblings

All children were born in Fayette County, Indiana, United States with the exceptions of the the last three who are the twins Elias & Eli and Sarah.
  1. Mary Eleanor Keeney was born on 6 April 1806. She married Alexander Bogart (c. 1784-1873) on 22 December 1822 in Ray County, Missouri. Mary died on 26 February 1874 in Ray County, Missouri, United States.
  2. Thomas Keeney was born in September 1808. He married Psyche Allen (c. 1814-c. 1844) on 22 June 1829 in Ray County, Missouri. Thomas died of tuberculosis on 5 December 1842 Holt, Clay, Missouri, United States. His wife died soon after that and their orphaned children were taken to Oregon with the rest of the family on the Keeney Wagon Train in 1851.
  3. Isley Keeney was born on 15 May 1811. Isley married Elizabeth Keeney (c. 1815- ), his cousin, and had two children before he died. His brothers Jonathan and Elias took them as part of the Keeney Wagon Train to Oregon with the family. He died of tuberculosis on 6 December 1842 in Holt, Clay, Missouri, United States.
  4. Capt. Jonathan Keeney was born on 27 April 1813. He married Mary Catherine Shoemaker (1820-1896) in July 1837 Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Indiana. They had 10 children. Jonathan died when he was traveling to the high desert and fell from his horse on 15 August 1878 Willow Creek, Baker, Oregon, United States. The fall caused his pistol to go off and shoot him in the thigh.
  5. James Mordecai Keeney was born on 20 August 1816. He married 1) Catherine Stewart (1824-1845) on 17 March 1840 in Ray County, Missouri and 2) Nancy Keeney (1809-1862), daughter of his paternal uncle, Thomas Keeney (1780-1846). She was his first cousin. He married 3) Miranda Ruth Michael (1839-1919), widow of John Alexander Pearl (1833-1864) on 10 January 1878 in Linn County, Oregon. He had children with all three of his wives. James died on 27 April 1885 Brownsville, Linn, Oregon, United States.
  6. Daughter Keeney was born and died in 1817 in Fayette County, Indiana, United States.
  7. Abraham Keeney was born on 11 December 1818. He married Elvira A. Chesney (c. 1820- ) in 1839. His children went to Oregon with the rest of the family on the Keeney Wagon Train. Abraham died of tuberculosis before 25 May 1843 in Holt County, Indiana, United States.
  8. Rebecca Katherine Keeney was born on 4 July 1821. She married 1) William Landingham (1814-1850) on 24 November 1838 in Ray County, Missouri and 2) Daniel Bennett Putman (1810-1887) in 1851. Rebecca died on 23 September 1895 in Amity, Yamhill, Oregon, United States.
  9. Elias Keeney, twin of Eli, was born on 18 December 1828 in Ray County, Missouri, United States. He married 1) Margaret Jane Hyatt (1835-1859) on 26 November 1850 in Holt County, Missouri and 2) Lucinda Catherine VanWinkle (1840-1887) in 1860 in Linn County, Oregon and 3) Matilda Lee (1839-1907), the widow of Samuel Noffsinger (1822-1870), in 1887. He had children with his first two wives. Elias died on 20 December 1910 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States. He arrived in Oregon in September 1846.
  10. Eli Keeney, twin of Elias, was born on 18 December 1828 in Ray County, Missouri, United States. He married Elizabeth G. Pierce (1832-1904) on 24 February 1848 in Holt County, Missouri. They had eight children. Eli died on 10 November 1878 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States. He arrived in Oregon on 10 September 1851 along with Elizabeth. Their small daughter Frances Ann Keeney was the only casualty on the 2000 mile trip. She almost made it, but died in Oregon just before their final destination.
  11. Sarah Elizabeth Keeney was born in 1830 in Ray County, Missouri, United States. She married John Franklin Williams (1822-1896) on 1 December 1844 in Holt County, Missouri. Sarah died on 6 December 1847 in Holt County, Missouri, United States.

Tuberculosis Epidemic among family and neighbors

The family was struck with Tuberculosis in the early 1840's. The 3 sons who died from it were Abraham, Thomas and Isley. Their father also died.

Marriage and Family

He married three times to:

  1. Elizabeth Mulholland (1825-1843) on 18 November 1841 at Henry County, Missouri. She and her daughter drowned in the River on the same day.
  2. Hannah Daniels Walden widow of John Wesley Cooper (1822-1848) on 3 June 1849 Holt County, Missouri. She had a daughter by Cooper Anna Isabella Cooper (1847-1919). Isabella married James Woodrow Matlock (1842-1903) on 22 February 1863 in Lane County, Oregon.
  3. Amanda Jane Morse (1827-1892), on 22 December 1861 in Lane County, Oregon. She was previously married on 19 February 1852 in St. Joseph County, Indiana to Alfred W. Arrington Matthews (1831-1909). They must have divorced because Matthews was married again by 1855. [2] She was the daughter of Benjamin Morse (1808-1892) and Sophronia Mead (1808-1878). She came to the marriage with a daughter Rebecca Ann Mathews (1852-1880).

Children of the Keeney-Mulholland Marriage

  1. Frances Ann Keeney was born on 31 October 1842 Holt County, Missouri, United States. She died 3 February 1843 in Holt County, Missouri, United States. She and her mother drowned on the same day.

Children of the Keeney-Walden Marriage

  1. Elias P. Keeney was born on 27 June 1852 in Holt County, Missouri, United States. He died on 31 July 1857 in Oregon, United States on the trail for resettlement.
  2. James Madison Keeney was born on 15 December 1853 in Holt County, Missouri, United States. He married Mary Susanna Handsaker (1861-1936) on 2 February 1879 in Lane, Lane, Oregon. James died on 8 February 1912 in Eugene, Lane, Oregon, United States.
  3. George R. Keeney was born on 22 January 1856 in Holt, Clay, Missouri, United States. He died on 18 June 1859 Lane County, Oregon, USA.
  4. William Daniels Keeney born on 27 February 1857 in Holt, Clay, Missouri, USA. He died on 11 April 1930 Dexter, Lane County, Oregon, USA. His birth date is problematic because he couldn't have been born a month after his brother George (which is what it would be if the obit and headstone were correct).
  5. John Blanden Keeney born 20 October 1859 in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, USA. He married Ella Leora Hurt (1865-1929) in about 1882. John died on 1 September 1942 in Condon, Gilliam, Oregon, USA.

Children of the Keeney-Morse Marriage

  1. Martha Ellen Keeney, called Mattie, was born on 1 December 1862 in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, United States. She married Nelson Erastus Handsaker (1860-1920) on 19 September 1886 in Lane County, Oregon. Mattie died on 6 December 1911 in Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, United States.
  2. Benjamin Franklin Keeney was born on 14 October 1865 in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, United States. He married 1) Martha Alice Cummings (1870-?) on 23 October 1886 in Eugene, Lane, Oregon. They divorced c. 1899 and he married 2) Charity Alice Taliaferro (1877-1943) in 1902. He had children with both wives. Benjamin died on 14 August 1935 in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, United States.
  3. Andrew Alva Keeney, called Al, was born on 14 December 1866 Lane County, Oregon, United States. He married 1) Naomi V. Wallis (1875-1903) on 18 October 1899 in Lane County, Oregon and 2) Alice Nelson Robinson (1877-1957) on 27 December 1905 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Andrew died on 4 February 1954 in Seattle, King, Washington, United States.
  4. Thomas Paine Keeney was born on 19 December 1869 in Lane County, Oregon, United States. He married Elizabeth Ann Williams, called Lillian, (1876-1942) on 19 December 1898 in Pierce County, Washington. Thomas died on 28 June 1947 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States.

Military Service

When his first wife died, he enlisted in the Missouri Mounted Volunteers to fight in the Mexican War as a Private. He served 16 months patrolling the northern border which extended then from the Oregon coast to what is now Wyoming. National Archives has his pension application.

Later Life

After he returned from his service, he purchased 40 acres of land in Holt County, Missouri for cash. He married the widow of John Wesley Cooper (1822-1848), Hannah Daniels Walden and almost immediately went off to California by way of Nicaragua on a small river steamer going from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Isthmus of Nicaragua up the coast to San Francisco. Gold had struck in California. In 1850 he returned by way of oxen team and wagon in 1850 and farmed for a few years on his land in Holt, Missouri. His father and three brothers had died of tuberculosis in 1844-1845 and his widowed mother and all of those widows and orphans left behind decided to go to Oregon in a huge wagon train led by his brothers Captain Jonathan and Elias in the spring of 1851. It was the largest wagon train of its time and called the "Keeney Train". It consisted of his widowed mother, brother James and family, sister Rebecca and husband, Eli, Elias's twin brother and family, the widows and children of brothers Isley and Abraham, the orphans of brother Thomas and his wife and various cousins and neighbors.

Journey to Oregon on the Oregon Trail

Andrew Jackson stayed behind until 1857 when he joined them with his family. They arrived in Oregon in October 1857. He purchased the Milton Riggs Donation Land Claim of 640 acres which was 7 miles south of Eugene, Oregon near Goshen. In June of 1859 their three year old son George died and another son, John was born that October. They lived in a little log cabin which was near a spring. Just a few months after his son John Blanden was born, his second wife Hannah died of heart disease. John was only five months old. His stepmother, Jackson's third wife, Amanda, raised him and his siblings and added four more children.

Profile and photos of Andrew Jackson Keeney in Wagon Ruts West can be found here [1]

Death and Burial

Jack died on 4 March 1898 of Bright's Disease in his home in Goshen, Lane, Oregon, United States at the age of 78. His sons John, Ben and Tom were with him at the time of his death. Al was on his way and Martha and Nelson were stepping off the train in Goshen as he died. He was buried in the Keeney Cemetery, Pleasant Hill, Lane, Oregon.Find A Grave: Memorial #34976908

Sources

  • Keeney, Ralph Ray. Wagon Ruts West. Unknown: Keeney, R.R., 1983. It is out of print, but the author had granted pieces of it for educational purposes. The entire article is available here. [3]
  • 1850 United States Federal Census on 12 September in Atchison, Clinton, Missouri. [4]
  • 1860 United States Federal Census on 16 July in Coast Fork, Lane, Oregon, post office was Cottage Grove. [5]
  • 1870 United States Federal Census on 16 June in Eugene, Lane, Oregon. [6]
  • 1880 United States Federal Census on 8 June in South Eugene, Lane, Oregon, USA. [7]
  • 18 November 1841 Missouri Marriages to 1850 about Andrew J. Keeney and Elizabeth Mulholland in Henry County.
  • 1860 Oregon Compiled Census Index, 1841-1890. A.J. Keeney, Coast Fork Precinct, Lane County, Oregon.
  • U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 about Andrew J. Keeney. 1 June 1848, 40 acres in Holt County, Missouri from the Plattsburg land office for cash. Document Number 4896, Accession Number: MO4480__.204.
  • Washington Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960.
  • Oregon, Early Oregonians Index.
  • Find A Grave Index. A photo of Jack and his headstone are available.

Footnotes

  1. There is no record of birth found for Andrew Jackson Keeney. Every record has a different year except the Early Oregonians listing which gives 7 October 1819.
  2. Indiana Marriages, 1810-2001 page 301 for Alfred W.A. Matthews and Amanda Jane Morse marriage.
  3. Keeney, R.R.: For Andrew Jackson family also see article available here.
  4. 1850: Walden, Robert 47, head; Hannah 54, wife; Eleanor 15, daughter; Keeney, A.J. 27, Hannah 20, wife of A.J.; Anna I (should be Cooper).
  5. 1860: Keeney, A.J. 38, head; Cooper, Anna J. 12, stepdaughter; Keeney, James M. 7, son; William D., 4, son; John B. 6 months, son.
  6. 1870: Keeney, A.J. 49, farmer, head; Amanda J. 43, wife; James 16, son; William 13, son; John 10, son; Martha 8, daughter; Benjamin 6, son; Alva A. 3, son; Thomas P. 5 months, son.
  7. 1880: Keeney, A.J. 58, farmer, head; Amanda 53, wife; Martha 17, daughter; Benjamin F. 14, son; Andrew 13, son; Thomas P. 10, son.




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PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE the placement of the reference and footnote notations. 1/2 of the census data and other is lost if you do. No rule that I know of that says you have to have no space between "Sources" and References or can't have footnotes. And yes, I have read the "Help" page. Thank you.
posted by Darlene (Scott) Kerr