There is a recent theory, anticipated above, that both Frederick Keck and Conrad Keck mentioned in North Carolina records and later in Claiborne Co. TN records were the same person as Frederick Keck of Northampton PA, son of Henrich Geck. Cheryl Tarbet was the first to suggest the connection, but Hilary Rauch pursued it and first put it into print.1
Conrad Keck begins to appear in the Orange Co. NC documents about 1782. By 1785 a Henry Keck appears in Orange Co. and is often mentioned together with Conrad in land, tax, and church records, suggesting some kind of relationship. Keck researchers generally believe that this Henry is the third son of Henrich Geck and thus is Frederick's brother, although there is no direct proof for that relationship. Henry also disappears from Northampton records after the Revolutionary War.
The argument that Conrad of Orange Co. and Claiborne Co. is the same person as Frederick Keck of Northampton Co. rests on two major foundations: the Revolutionary War service of both and the chronology of the land, tax, and church records of Orange and Claiborne counties. Concerning the war service, it has already been seen that Frederick Keck of Northampton Co. PA enlisted in Capt. Corin's Company, which was part of Col. Proctor's Artillery Regiment of the Philadelphia Line. From Revolutionary War records, we know that Proctor's Regiment (and therefore Corin's Company) saw action at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown.2
In the Claiborne Co. records is a very interesting document dated 15 August, 1821 which I will present here in full:
Personally appeared in open court (the court of pleas and quarter sessions for said county in said state) the same being a court of record made by the statutes of said state, CONRAD KEGG, a citizen of said county and in due form of law, made oath that he enlisted as a private soldier in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven in the service of the United States engaged in the Revolutionary War, for three years from the term of his enlistment. That he enlisted in Northampton County in the State of Pennsylvania, was in Captain ISAAC KOREN'S (CORINS) Company in Colonel JAMES PROCTOR'S Regiment of Artillery in the Pennsylvania Line. That he was in the Battle of Brandywine and Germantown, served his full term of enlistment and was honorably discharged about the fifteenth day of June in the year one thousand and seven hundred and eighty by his said Captain KOREN or (CORIN), that he has long since lost his original discharge.
And I do solemnly swear that I was a resident citizen of the United States on the eighteenth of March 1818 and that I have not since that time, by gift, sale or in any manner, disposed of my property or any part thereof with intent being so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions of an Act of Congress, entitled an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval services of the United States in the Revolutionary War, passed on the nineteenth of March 1818. And that I have not, nor has any person in trust for me, any properties or securities, contracts, or any debts due me; nor have I any income other than what is contained in the schedule hereunto assessed and by me subscribed. Viz:Mare and colt, the mare sixteen years old $30 Another mare and colt, mare younger $40 Ten small hogs $5 Four old chairs $1 Ten pewter plates $2 Two pots and an oven $4 Three pails (old) $1 Total Value: $123That I am justly indebted to different persons in the aggregate sum of one hundred and seventy dollars. That I am by occupation a common laborer and am sixty-six years old and am unable to obtain a subsistence by my daily labor; am frequently afflicted with the rheumatism, that my family consists of my wife, aged about fifty-six years, tolerably healthy, and a son which is of age and doing for himself. I have reared fourteen children but they have all left me and are doing for themselves (those that survive).
Wednesday, August 15, 1821 signed: (his mark)
Sworn to in Open Court
B. CLOUD, clerk
The court having seen and inspected the above schedule and of the opinion that the property therein set forth and ascribed is worth not more than one hundred and twenty-three dollars, and the clerk is ordered to certify the same accordingly.3
We do not know if Frederick ever received his pension; he died two years after the application and the above statement. This document, however, is consistent with what we know of the military service of Frederick of Northampton Co. from the muster rolls and certainly suggests that they were the same person.
Rather than go through the numerous land, tax and church records of Orange and Claiborne counties, I shall refer the reader to the excellent works of Rauch who collected all of the relevant material. Here I will simply present Rauch's summary of his research on the Orange Couty records:
So, records of Conrad Keck (17 records) appear in Orange County, NC beginning in 1782 and ending in 1807; records of Frederick Keck (6 records) appear in Orange County beginning in 1787 and ending in 1797; and records of Conrad Frederick (or Frederick Conrad) Keck (4 records) appear in Orange County in 1800 and 1801. records of Henry Keck (26 records) appear in Orange County beginning in 1784 and ending in 1820. Both Conrad and Henry appear on a number of records in Orange county at the same time, notably on several tax, court and land records; in no case do both Conrad and Frederick, or either of them with Conrad Frederick (or Frederick Conrad), appear at the same time on any of the Keck records found in Orange County. Thus, the possibility that Conrad and Frederick are different persons cannot be reasoned on that basis. Similarly, an analysis of the substance of these records does not suggest that Conrad and Frederick must be different persons. However, it does appear from these records that Conrad and Henry could well be related. Additionally, in at least three instances Frederick and Henry, and in two instances Conrad F. and Henry, may logically be assumed to be related. In no case is a connection between Conrad and Frederick suggested except where their names (or initials) appear as one name. And, of course, there is evidence (4 records) that there is a person named Conrad Frederick Keck in Orange County in this time period. This latter evidence, plus the presumed link between Conrod Kegg of Claiborne County, TN and Frederick Caick of Capt. Isaac Koren's Company of Artillery from Northampton County, PA, is the strongest support to the theory that Conrad Keck = Frederick Keck, son of Henrich Keck, the 1732 immigrant. The absence of overlapping records between Northampton county and Orange County...at least does not refute the theory.4
Rauch goes on to present a land scenario based on the Orange county land and tax documents:
The 288 acres for which Conrad is taxed in 1785 could well be the 288 acres for which Henry is taxed in 1787; the 120 acres claimed by Frederick in 1787 is the 120 acres for which Coonrod (Coonrod = Frederick) is taxed in 1787 and 1788. This 120 acres is not accounted for in the records found after 1788 and may be presumed to have been sold. The 144 acres which Frederick acquires from Henry in 1790 is the 144 acres for which he (Frederick) is taxed in 1792 and for wich Conrad is taxed in 1794. Between 1794 and 1796, assume Conrad acquires additional land, and in 1796 he is taxed for 379 acres, a portion of which may be accounted for in Henry's taxed 253 acres in 1797 and the balance of which (294) is accounted for in Frederick's taxed 294 acres in 1797. Frederick disposes of a portion (144 acres) of this land in 1797 and essentiall y the balance is accounted for in Conrad F.'s taxed 144 acres in 1801. Conrad F. disposes of most of this 144 acres in 1801 (125 acres) and the balance (22 1/2) is sold to Henry in 1803, leaving Conrad Frederick with no remaining land after 1803. Thus, the records also support the probability that, having disposed of all of his land, Conrad Frederick left Orange County sometime after 1803 and, as will be seen below, purchased land in Claiborne County, Tennessee in 1814.5
The case for Conrad, Frederick, Conrad Frederick, and Frederick Conrad of North Carolina and Tennessee being the same person as Frederick of Pennsylvania is based on circumstantial evidence but is compelling and logical and I accept it until more evidence becomes available. We can thus reconstruct the following scenario. After the War both Henry and Frederick Keck leave Pennsylvania. We do not know where Frederick is during this five year period, but in 1782 he and his wife appear in St. Asaph's District in Orange Co. NC.
Henry may have lived in Maryland for a few years, because we have a marriage record of a Henry Kegg and Catherine Miller dated 24 May 1783 in the records of the Lutheran Church in Hagerstown, Washington County, MD.6 Henry appears in Orange Co. records in 1786, when he buys 288 acres from a Samuel Sather. Frederick sells off all of his land by 1803, appears in a Guilford County Church communion service in 1807, and disappears from Orange Co. records. Henry continues to be found in Orange County records, until his death in 1820.
Frederick reappears in Claiborne Co. TN in 1814 (under his middle name Conrad) when he purchased 100 acres of land from a James Roberts. He appears intermittently in the Claiborne Co. court records until his death in 1823.
Frederick Conrad Keck is said to have married either Mary Ann Butcher or Mary Ann Moser. Their marriage date is unknown, but since their first child was born in 1782, it obviously must have been before then. If Mary Ann were born in 1765 (see below), then she would have been 17 in 1782; she would not have married much earlier than that. The given name of Frederick's wife is suggested by the record of the settlement of Frederick's land by his heirs dated 7 February 1836, which lists Mary Ann Keck as one of the heirs. Also, A Mary Ann Keck is mentioned in the 1850 Claiborne County census as living with Elizabeth and William Sharp. This is no doubt Frederick's wife, Elizabeth Sharp was their daughter. The census gives Mary Ann's age as 85, thus providing a birthdate of 1765, which coincides with Frederick's own statement on his pension application, when he gives the age of his wife as 56 in 1821.
Mary Ann's maiden name is a bit more problematic. A common tradition is that Mary Ann was a Butcher. the Butcher family was present at the time in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but there is no evidence the Mary Ann belonged to that family. A slightly better alternative is Moser, which is based on meager evidence, but meager evidence is sometimes better than no evidence. Frederick Moser, the son of Martin Moser, the German emigrant who arrived in Philadelphia on the James Goodwill in 1728, made a will in 1796 which was proved in May 1800 in Orange Co. In it he mentions a daughter named Mary Kek. A copy of the will was made in 1799 in which the name Mary was erroneously omitted, causing confusion among modern researchers. The line in the copy reads: "Barbara Huffman Kek...," whereas in the original it reads "Barbara Huffman Mary Kek...." Barbara was Mary Ann's younger sister who married Samuel Huffman.
Moser Researchers say Frederick was in Orange Co. in 1762, so Mary Ann would have been born in North Carolina, but in the 1850 census it lists her birthplace as Maryland. Censuses have been known to be wrong, or any number of things could explain the discrepancy. The date of 1762 for Frederick's presence in Orange Co. could be wrong, Many Mosers settled in Maryland, perhaps Mary Ann's mother was staying with relatives while Frederick scouted out and set up a homestead in North Carolina. The worst case scenario is simply that Mary Ann Moser is not the Mary Ann who married Frederick at all. Obviously more work is needed here.
Most, if not all of Frederick and Mary Ann's children were born in Orange County. The only record of a birth of one of his children was his first born daughter, Maria Catherina whose birth date is recorded in the records of the Brick Reformed Lutheran Church in Guilford County. She was born on 1 March 1782.7 The other children are assumed to have been born in Orange Co. because Frederick and Mary Ann lived there until at least 1807. Moreover, John D. Keck, Frederick's son, born ca. 1795, lists his place of birth in the 1850 census of Claiborne Co. as North Carolina (where his age is given as 55), and Andrew, another son and our ancestor, is listed in the same census as being born in North Carolina. Andrew is also listed in the 1870 census of Union Co. as being born in North Carolina. There are obvious gaps in our knowledge concerning the later children of Frederick and Mary Ann.
The children of Frederick Conrad and Mary Ann are as follows: