Keziah (Chambers) Thompson (abt. 1764 - 1846)

Born about 4 May 1764 in Middle Spring, Cumberland Co, Pennsylvania [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of John Thompson — married 4 Feb 1797 in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died Dec 1846 at about age 82 in Ohio, United States [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: David Pierce [send private message]

Biography

Hugh Brady, grandson of Hugh Sr., married Keziah Chambers who, after the death of her young husband, remarried and moved to Tennessee.

After Hugh Brady (1760-1794) husband of Keziah Chambers, died, Keziah and her brother-in-law, Joseph Brady (another son of Joseph Brady and Mary Carnahan) sold the land on which they lived and registered the birth of a slave. In part of the settlement of Hugh Brady's (1760-1794) estate, Keziah signed one of the documents as well as the slave registration.

Keziah was the daughter of Captain Robert Chambers and Mary Caldwell Chambers. Her father recorded her birth in the family bible as follows: "Keziah, March 4, 1764, on Sunday, 11 minutes after 10 o'clock in the morning on the 2nd day of the moon's age."

Keziah married twice: in 1784 to Hugh Brady (1755-1794); and in 1797 to John Thompson in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. With Hugh, she had five children: John, Joseph, Robert, Rebecca Chambers, and Eliza R. With John she had five children, all daughters: Hadassah, Rhuhama, Mary McKibbin, Nancy, and Keziah.

Hugh Brady resided near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and was a first cousin of Captain Sam Brady the famous Indian fighter.

Keziah, along with her husband, Hugh, at one point owned slaves. In 1794, Keziah Brady recorded the birth of a mulatto slave named Dick, as follows: "I, Keziah Brady of Hopewell Township witness that a Certain male Mullatto child named Dick was born of my negro wench on or about the twentieth day of September one thousand & seven hundred and ninety-four. And Request the said Dick may be entered on Records. Keziah Brady."

Edward N. Clopper, in his book "An American Family," provides further insight into the life of Keziah, her husbands and children. According to Edward, Rebecca (Keziah's sister) and Rebecca's husband, Nicholas Clopper, helped Keziah establish a new home in Western Pennsylvania. "In August 1794 a Philadelphia merchant named Gratz had agreed to give Hugh Brady, yeoman of Hopewell Township in Cumberland County and Keziah's husband, for 1.052/3/9 a deed to two tracts on Sewickly Creek in Westmoreland County. However, Hugh died within a few weeks and in the following March a merchant name Simon of Lancaster, Penna., who seems to have been the owner then, agreed to give Nicholas a deed to No. 31 for $250 paid down and $285 later with interest. One month afterwards, Keziah and her children moved to western Pennsylvania, as shown by the report of Keziah and her son Joseph, administrators of Hugh's estate, which includes among the items of expense an unspecified sum paid in April of 1795 'for moving out the family to ye Western County.'"

"Keziah married again, her second husband being James [incorrect: should be JOHN] Thompson. Robert Brady, her son, writing at Greensburg in September of 1809 to Nicholas, said that he had arranged with a local man to have country linen and twilled bags delivered for him at John Madeira's in Chambersburg and that his brother Joseph wished to have the place sol; he hopes his mother may have her share, the girls are grown up and Mr. Thompson cannot afford to give them what they think they ought to have, so it would be well to sell; he intends to leave Greensburg in six weeks and go into partnership with a a man at Indiana, Pennsylvania."

"Next month, at Robbstown, Pennsylvania, James [incorrect; should be JOHN] Thomson wrote to Nicholas saying that he had an opportunity to sell the land at $11 an acre and asks Nicholas to send the deed to him at Greensburg; his stepson, Joseph, is urging the sale and wishes to enter suit against the administrator here, "which of course must be myself."

On a visit with his Aunt Sally (wife of Benjamin Chambers) in October 1855, Joseph C. Clopper wrote an account of Keziah's family, as follows: "Keziah married Hugh Brady and afterward a Mr. Thompson and left children by both husbands, some of whom and their offspring are living in Nashville and vicinity, Tennessee. She died in December 1846."

MARRIAGE corrected detail: 4 Feb 1797. Kezia Brady marriage to John Thompson at Mt Pleasant Twp, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Marriage performed by James Power, D.D.

Sources

• Marriage: Pub Genealogical Soc of Penn, Vol X, No 3, page 293.

• Birth, Marriage, Death: "A Brief Record of the Descendents of Robert Chambers," by James B. Chambers, 1928.
• Robert Chambers Family Bible Records, as transcribed by Joseph Chamber Clopper: "A true copy from Grandfather Robert Chambers's Bible, taken when on a visit to Buffalo Valley and at the Old Mansion of my Uncle Benjamin Chambers near Mifflinburg, Union County, Pennsylvania in the month of October 1855.
• Find A Grave Memorial for Keziah Thompson.

• Birth, Marriage, Death, Land holdings, residences: "Brady Annals, Vol 1" by William Y Brady, 1923.

Link to Brady Annals, Vol 1: https://ia903100.us.archive.org/2/items/bradyannalsstori00unse/bradyannalsstori00unse.pdf

Additional link for Slave Holder records, see Image 113: https://records.ccpa.net/WebLink/DocView.aspx?dbid=7&id=319839&page=1&cr=1

See also, "Brady Family Reunion and fragments of Brady History and Biography" by William G Murdock, 1909. LINK: https://archive.org/details/bradyfamilyreuni00murd/page/55/mode/1up

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Claudia x for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Claudia and others.