Chapter Six: The Move to Madison County

Background Information

The area later known as Madison County was first visited in the summer and fall of 1827 by Thomas Cunningham, John Coulter, and Henry King. They were from Lauderdale, AL and were prospecting in the King's River valley. Henry King died and was buried on the riverbank, giving his name to the river. The others returned to Alabama shortly thereafter.

The first actual settler in the area was George Tucker in the fall of 1828 who settled on the Sheridan Bottom near Richland Creek. In 1829, William King, Charles Burney, Turner Hamblet, Thomas Rogers, William Adair, Lemuel Rogers and Benjamin G. King came from Alabama and set up a colony in the King's River valley. the first land grant recorded was to John Austin, dated 8 November, 1834. His land was in section 31, twp. 16 N, Range 27 West, east of Drake's Creek. Other early land entries (from Goodspeed's History) are: John Gage, Joseph Doak, john Stover, and Aaron Parker in 1844. In 1853 William Driver, Nathaniel Driver, and David Ogden all bought land.

Madison Co. was formed on 30 September, 1836. It was created out of 7 other counties. There are two main migration routes to Madison Co.: one was to take the Arkansas River NW to Ft. Smith and from there to travel by land to Fayetteville. The other way was to come down from Missouri--from St. Louis through Springfield into Madison Co. from the north.

Tonnie Ann (Keen) Keck remembers a family tradition that states that the Kecks, enroute from Tennessee to Arkansas, stopped off for a while in Missouri. She wrote: "My ancestors came from Germany Via north carolina and Tennessee in the 1800s and settled in north-west Ark. First they came into Missouri, then some of them came on into Ark. They settled in Madison county (see Appendix C)." This suggests that John and his brothers may have traveled the northern route into Madison Co. from Missouri. but on the other hand Corbett Keck,1 in his short Keck History, very clearly states that the Kecks came the other way. He wrote: "My Grandfather John Keck had a little money and he bought a Boat Ticket. (I have seen it.) back up stream to the mouth of the Arkansas river and up the Arkansas river to a boat stop. At this time is the city of Ozark. John Keck got off the boat...and went north for about forty miles.... (see Appendix A)."

According to Corbett, John did not go all the way to Ft. Smith, but got off at Ozark, which was about 30 miles east of Ft. Smith. As we'll see in more detail later, Ozark makes sense because it would have been straight north from there to where his relatives had settled. For John to go all of the way to Ft. Smith would have been out of his way. In this particular case Corbett was probably correct in his description of how John and his brothers made there way to Madison Co. Tonnie Keen was probably actually referring to the emigration pattern of the Keens, who lived in Missouri before Arkansas, and not the Kecks.

Mythological Origins(?)

According to tradition, that is, to Corbett Keck's manuscript, which is the only narrative source for the migration of the Keck's to Arkansas, John Keck, oldest son of Andrew was the first Keck in Arkansas, arriving in 1852. He was then followed by some of his brothers, namely (according to Corbett): Isaac, Frederick, Joseph and finally Simon. The manuscript reads as follows:

Five of the Keck boys out of the fourteen came to Arkansas and at different times. Grandpa John came first and settled at the mouth of the creek near Witter 1852.... Isaac Keck was the next one to come to Arkansas and settled on the head of War Eagle five miles from Witter, above the Ogdens. The next Keck that came, settled up stream from John Keck, was Fredrick (Feddy) Keck and Joseph Keck. I don't know if they came together or came separate. From this time it was called Kecks Creek. Simon Keck was the last of John Keck brothers to come to Arkansas. Simon was a very small child when his brother John Keck left Tennessee in 1852. It was several years before he came to Arkansas with some of his family.

It is difficult to decide how much credence to give Corbett's narrative. It is well known among genealogists that 19th and early 20th century family histories are notoriously inaccurate. But these family histories can also preserve, often in a cloaked form, interesting and important details. The example that comes to mind is the family who preserved a tradition of an ancestor who was a glorious, adventurous, and brave sea captain who commanded a sailing ship that endured the tempestuous Atlantic crossing from London to Boston for many years. When detailed genealogical work was done, however, it was found that their ancestor did indeed pilot a boat, but it was a barge which lumbered back and forth from London to a small village named Boston situated a few miles up the Thames river. The challenge is to separate fact from embellishment and this is only possible with other contemporary or near contemporary sources.

As to Corbett's story, We know that his version of the origin of the Keck family and the whole narrative about the battle of Bunker Hill is incorrect, because We know that John Keck's father, Andrew Keck was too young to have fought in the Revolutionary War (having been born in 1800). Furthermore, no Nathan Keck from that generation has been found by researchers.

Before discounting Corbett's story altogether, we can look a little closer. It is likely that Corbett's source was confusing Andrew with his father (John's grandfather), Frederick Conrad, who did fight in the War as we saw in the previous chapter. However, Frederick Conrad was not at the battle of Bunker Hill, rather he fought at Germantown and Brandywine. Bunker Hill was a famous battle and perhaps the only battle with a name that Corbett's source knew about or could remember.

Even more interesting is Corbett's statements concerning the origin of the family. We know that there were no brothers Andrew and Nathan who emigrated from Germany, but observe the structure of the story: two brothers with military experience emigrate from Bavaria via Holland. Replace the names Nathan and Andrew with Henrich and Johannes for the two brothers and Corbett's narrative is essentially correct. Henrich is thought to have come from Bavaria, and he did, like many others, travel to Rotterdam, Holland to board a ship to America.

Corbett's claim that the two Keck brothers were in the German military is interesting because of the legend, mentioned by the J.A. Keck manuscript, that Henrich was drafted into the military when he was very young. He says: "When twelve years of age he [Henrich] found himself in the employ of one of the generals of Alexander the Great [Frederick the Great in the 1900 version of the manuscript]. During that desolating war many families were scattered, here and there, who were never reunited, and it is reasonable to suppose that many children were left to wander without parents or home, and so it was with him." Keck researcher, Don Slivka, developed the following two hypotheses based on the above passage in the J.A. Keck Manuscript:

Hypothesis I: Henrich's father may have been a mercenary soldier from Basle who met his end by accident, disease, or arms in a foreign land and Henrich's welfare was taken up by the commander/general. Or Henrich himself may have been a mercenary soldier.

Hypothesis II: While it is clear that Georg Keck's recollections regarding his father's service in the army of Frederick the Great were not accurate, there possibly may be some element of truth in them. It is possible that Frederick William's name became confused with Frederick the Great, who ruled during Georg's lifetime. Young Henrich may possibly have been in the service of a commander/general for King Frederick William in Prussia, in which case Henrich may have served under Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, the brutal but efficient drillmaster who made the Prussian infantry the best trained in Europe during Frederick William's reign. Or Henrich's father may possibly have served in the army of Frederick I.2

Madison County

It is now time to see how Corbett's information relates to what we know about the Keck family in Arkansas. According to censuses and land records, the following children of Andrew Keck migrated from Claiborne County to Bowen twp., Madison Co. AR: John, Frederick, Isaac, Jacob, and Daniel.3 All of these Keck boys are listed on the 1850 Claiborne Co. census.4 According to this census Andrew and Isabel were both 50 years of age, and the children who eventually went to Arkansas were the following ages: John was 23, Frederick was 22, Isaac was 20 and Jacob was 13. Daniel was the oldest son of Andrew from a previous marriage. He was 30 years old in 1850 and had 4 children. The 1850 censuses list no Kecks in Arkansas.

Ten years later, the 1860 Madison Co. Census lists all five of the Keck brothers: Daniel, John, Frederick, Isaac, and Jacob. Daniel had married Sementha Whited in Claiborne Co. and had 4 young children who all accompanied him to Arkansas. John came to Arkansas unmarried, as Corbett states, and Isaac probably came unmarried as well since he married Destamonia Smith who was born in Arkansas. Jacob moved to Laurel Co. Kentucky and married Nancy Whited there in 1855 before moving to Madison Co. with Nancy's parents. Frederick married Mary Ann Shofner in TN. When she died on 30 October 1859, they were already living in Arkansas.

So five Keck brothers did come to Arkansas which does correspond to Corbett's five Keck brothers, although he lists a Joseph instead of Jacob and he mentions a younger brother Simon rather than the oldest of the brothers Daniel. The Simon R. Keck mentioned in the BLM land records as buying land in 1895 is Simon Redman Keck who married Margaret Jane Duncan in 1884 and was the son of Isaac Keck and therefore was the grandson of Andrew and not his son. Other than Simon R., no other Simon Keck is attested in Arkansas.

At this point I would like to point out that although Corbett's story reads like an adventure story, with John wandering aimlessly in the Arkansas wilderness until he comes to a place of his liking and settled down, this is most likely not the case. Arkansas achieved statehood in 1836, 16 years before John came. Although the land certainly was not tamed, it was not terra incognita, there were maps and roads. Furthermore, sometime before 1840 John's grandparents, Frederick Bolinger and Elizabeth (Weaver) Bolinger were living in Madison Co, AR, along with some of his uncles and aunts. Frederick Bolinger, along with his sons, Henry, Jesse, Joseph, and Samuel are listed in Madison County tax lists dating to 1938, 1839, and 1841, so they were settled in Madison County at least by 1838. Both Frederick and Elizabeth were dead before the Keck boys came to Arkansas, but they had numerous uncles, aunts, and cousins to greet them. The most likely scenario is that John and his brothers, hearing of the virtues of Arkansas and the availability of land from their relatives, were deliberately heading for Madison County and were not freely exploring the wilderness looking for a place to call home.

There is a hint of this in Corbett's story, where he says: "A few families had settled about twelve miles to the south of him on white River," and that he borrowed some oxen and some tools from "some friend that lived on White River to the south." I would wager that these "friends" were actually his kin already settled in the region.

Corbett claims that John was the first Keck in the region, arriving there in 1852. there is no evidence supporting or contradicting that statement, except that he is the first Keck to apply for a land BLM patent in Madison Co., that being dated 15 December, 1856,5 so we know that he was in Arkansas by 1856. Daniel, John's half-brother possibly came to Arkansas about the same time, in 1856 or early 1857. In the 1870 census he is listed as having a son William born in Arkansas and being 13 years old. That would make him born about 1857. If the information from the census is correct, then Daniel and family had to have been in Arkansas in 1857 or before. For some reason, this William was omitted from the 1860 census, when he would have been 3 years old. Daniel was definitely in Arkansas by 1860.

Frederick married Mary Ann Shofner in Tennessee; his first two children, Andrew and Mary Catherine are listed as being born in Tennessee in 1855 and 1856, respectively. Therefore he came to Arkansas sometime between 1856 and December 1859, when Mary Ann died in Arkansas. He is also on record as having received a BLM land grant in 1860.

Isaac married his wife, Destamonia Smith in Arkansas in December, 1856. She was born in Madison Co. in 1834. Thus Isaac was in Arkansas before 1856.

We can pinpoint Jacob's date into Arkansas a little more precisely than the others. A few years after the 1850 Claiborne Co. census Jacob went to Laurel Co. Kentucky, where he married Nancy Whited in August, 1855. His first-born son was born there in Kentucky in 1857, but his second-born son, Thomas, was born in Arkansas in 1858. Therefore Isaac, his family, and his wife's parents moved to Arkansas somewhere between 1857 and 1858.

The best we can say therefore, is that both John and Isaac were in Arkansas before December 1856, the month John applied for land and Isaac was married. Whether John came first as Corbett asserts, or if they came together, we do not know. Daniel probably came next (unless he accompanied them), in 1856 or 1857, and after him, Jacob came from Kentucky in late 1857 or early 1858. Frederick came about the same time as Jacob.

By 1870 Jacob Keck had left Arkansas for Indiana but the other four remained in Madison County. These brothers were the first Kecks in Arkansas and are the ancestors of most of the Keck families in the state. Other branches of the family eventually made their way into the valleys of Arkansas and settled in various counties. In the early and mid-nineteenth century, some Kecks of the Pennsylvania branch moved into Ohio and Indiana and some went down into northern Arkansas. In the mid 1800's, many Kecks immigrated directly from Germany and settled n the Midwest. Some of these moved down into Arkansas. To summarize the censuses, in 1850 there were no Kecks in Arkansas. In 1860 the five Keck brothers, Daniel, John, Frederick, Isaac, and Jacob were the only Kecks and were living in Madison county. In 1870, the four sons of Andrew Keck (Jacob had left) were still there in Madison County, but a Keck from a different family, named Irving Keck, was living in Union Twp., Hot Springs County. By the 1900 census, there were 23 Kecks heading households in Arkansas. Of the 23, 18 were descended from Andrew and 5 were from different families. In the BLM records the earliest land patent granted to a Keck not descended from Andrew went to a Theophilus Keck, whose family came from Indiana.

Of this family, Andrew's first-born son John is the one we will look at in greater detail. Corbett said John came to Arkansas unmarried, and there is little doubt that he is correct. According to family tradition, John married Rachel Catherine Comer in 1858 in Bowen, Madison County. Our tradition says that she was born in Brownbranch, Taney Co. MO, but both the 1860 and 1900 censuses give her place of birth as Tennessee. this latter document claims that her father was born in Alabama and her mother was born in Tennessee. She could have been born in Wilson County, TN. Little is known about Rachel Catherine. According to one tradition, her parents were Stephen Ellis Comer and Anna Marrs.

The Children of John and Rachel are:

  1. Stephen Anderson Keck, b. 10 January, 1859 in Aurora, Madison Co. AR; d. 5 August, 1921 in Rudd, Carroll Co. AR; buried in Gobbler Cemetery, Carroll Co. AR; m. Salinda Frances Tucker, 7 March, 1886 in Aurora, Madison Co. AR; they had 5 children.

  2. William Fletcher Keck, b. 1 May, 1860 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR

  3. Isaac Harrison Keck, b. 1 December, 1861 in Bowen, Madison, AR; d. 9 November, 1916 in Madison Co. AR; m. Susan A. (Nettie) Dennis, 1894

  4. George Alexander Keck, b. 27 November, 1865 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 15 July, 1942 in Carroll Co. AR; m. Laura A. Bunch, 25 September, 1895; they had 4 children

  5. Esau Keck, b. 17 September, 1867 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 20 January, 1961 in Olean, Oregon; m. Lucinda Caroline Ogden, 14 December, 1896 in Madison Co.

  6. Mary J. Keck, b. February, 1867 in Bowen, Madison, AR; d. 20 January, 1922; m. David Hall, 1918

  7. Milley Ann Keck, b. 17 July, 1869 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 7 April, 1927 in Kingston, OK; m. Rufus Buttery

  8. Ida Lou Keck, b. 11 November, 1871 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 4 August, 1967 in Legrande, Union Co.,OR; m. (1) John Wesley Rollins, 1899 in Arkansas; (2) William P. ds Dennis, aft. April 1925 in Berkeley, CA

  9. Samuel Keck, b. 22 February, 1874 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 18 April, 1952 in LeGrande, Union Co., OR

  10. John H. Keck, b. 16 June, 1881 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR

  11. Virginia Mae Keck, b. 16 July, 1881 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 2 November, 1960; m. John McAdoo, 3 March, 1907 in Madison Co., AR

  12. Melkijah (Kige) Keck, b. 26 November, 1883 in Bowen, Madison Co. AR; d. 22 May, 1964; buried in Alabam Cemetery; m. Goldie Wheeler, 12 September, 1906 in Huntsville, AR

The 1900 census recorded that John and Rachel had 12 children, and 11 of them were living in 1900. The traditional date for Rachel Catherine's death, taken from her tombstone, is 27 January, 1900. but since the 1900 census lists Rachel as alive, then she probably died after 4 June, 1900, the date of the census. The headstone which gives the apparent erroneous date is a double stone erected when John died, 17 years after Rachel. Thus her actual death date may not have been remembered by their family. They did not even attempt to put her birth date on the stone. John died 27 August, 1917, according to the stone. Since the stone was erected closer to his actual death date, there is more of a possibility that that date is correct. The stone is still standing in the Witter School and Cemetery. It reads on the left side: "Father: John Keck 10/24/1827, died 8/27/1917." On the right side of the stone it reads: "Mother: Catherine Keck, died 1/27/1900." Across the bottom it reads: "Their toils are past, their work is done. They fought the fight, the victory won."

Of John and Catherine's family, we will look at Stephen Anderson next, my great-grandfather.

Back