Ralph Keeler, of Norwalk

Ralph Keeler

• B: 1612/1613 Lawford, Co. Essex, England
• D: 10 Sep 1672, East Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut
• M: 1652 Norwalk, Fairfield, Conn

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Family

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Keeler-12

Parents unknown. Brother of Walter Keeler.

Ralph married twice. He was living at Hartford when he first married, probably in the mid-1640s,[1] to an unknown 1st wife.[4] She was the mother of all his children, who were all born between the mid-1640s and the late 1650s.[1] She died at Norwalk probably before August 1659; her death was unrecorded.[1] An article in The American Genealogist written by Gale Ion Harris in 2005 makes an excellent circumstantial argument that she was the unnamed daughter of Mary Betts of Hartford, a widowed schoolteacher.

Ralph's children were probably placed, after her death, with their mother's family in Wethersfield, who was their uncle John Betts and his wife. The children may have remained there until Ralph remarried.[1]

He married about 1663 at Norwalk, as his 2nd, and as her 3rd, to Sarah (Howes) Treadwell Whelpley, widow of her 1st, Edward Treadwell and her 2nd, Henry Whelpley [citing Coldham, NGSQ 68:117].[1] After Ralph Keeler died, Sarah married, as her 4th to Thomas Skidmore; she died in late 1684.[2]

Notes

Excerpt from "Rockwell and Keeler Genealogy" by James Boughton

Added by richardsonmichelle219 on 17 May 2008

The Keelers of America presumably have all descended from Ralph Keeler, born about 1613 in England, and who emigrated to Connecticut about 1639.

Ralph Keeler was born in England about 1613. He owned a lot in Hartford, Connecticut in 1639. There are records that show that he was one of its early PUritan settlers and sold his estate there and moved to Norwalk in 1651 or 1652. Which was about two years after the commencement of the settlement of Norwalk. December 18, 1653 the town awarded him the contract to cut timber and build a house for Mr. Hanford, the Pastor of the church there at that time, said house to be 16 by 26 feet. He was next mentioned in a list of estates in Norwalk, in which his was valued at 150 pounds, dated 1655.

At a town meeting, September 1668 he was contracted to build forty rods of fence. Records show an enrollment of three Keeler children February 20, 1672. December 16, 1684, home lots, three acres to the hundred, to be drawn for Ralph Jr., two lots; and John Keeler, three lots; January 3, 1687 another valuation of estates was made in which Ralph Jr. is recorded at 170 pounds, and John Keeler 100 pounds. Samuel Keeler 103 pounds.

January 16, 1694, Ralph Keeler Jr. was named on of a Town committee to procure a minister and dispenser of the Gospel in Norwalk.

October 25, 1694, Ralph Jr. and Samuel Keeler and John Whitney were appointed to erect a support to the gallery in the meeting house - the above being the last mention on public records at Norwalk of Ralph Keeler as given in Hall's History of Norwalk (pg 4).

Ralph Keeler's first wife is not known. He married sometime after, second wife, Sarah, widow of Henry Whelpley of Norwalk. Ralph's will at Fairfield dated August 20, 1672. He died the same year at about 59 years of age.

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II Ralph Keeler (b. 1613, d. September 10, 1672)

Ralph Keeler (son of Ralph Keeler and ??)768, 769, 770, 771 was born 1613 in Lawford, Essex, England772, 773, and died September 10, 1672 in East Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut774, 775, 776. He married (1) Unknown ? on Abt. 1640 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut777, 778, 779. He married (2) Sarah Howes on 1663 in Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut779.

Notes for Ralph Keeler:

Puritan (Congregational)

In Connecticut in 1647 and 1648. Public Records of CT, Vol 1. 1647, brought a man into court for insulting his cow. 1648, acquitted of slander. In 1639, the public records show that he was an early Puritan settler of Hartford, and sold out his estate there and moved to Norwalk in 1651 o r 1652. He is mentioned in a list of those to whom grants of land were made as settlers by the town authorities. These grants were made in 1652, about two years after the commencement of the settlement of Norwalk. He is mentioned Dec. 18, 1653, as the contractor to cut the timber and build a house for Mr. Hanford, the pastor of the church, the house to be 16 x 26 ft. His estate was valued at 150 pounds in 1655.

From Whitney Genealogy, p. 79. Ralph Keeler was born in England about 1613 and owned a lot in Hartford in 1640; an early settler of Norwalk; his first wife not known; second wife, married after 1651, was Sarah, widow of Henry Whelpley , of Norwalk. From will of Ralph Keeler, Sr., dated Aug. 20 , 1672, and probated the same year. He begins by saying that he is about 59 years old. He bequeathed 1/3 to his wife, Sarah; the remainder to his sons John, Ralph Jr., Samuel , and Jonah, daughters Rebecca and Elizabeth.

DEATH: Will dated 20 Aug 1672. Came to America by 1637 to Hartford, CT. In Norwalk, CT by 1651. Ralph Keeler of Norwalk, Conn. and His Descendants, Vol l

ANCI County Essex, England

Ralph was married once before he married the widow of Henry Whelply of Fairfield, Conn. name is unknown of first wife . US/CAN film area 0874267 item 15 Keeler - by Imio Bussard - The Ralph Keeler History - 1613-1917

History of Danbury - Ralphe and Walter Keeler came from the port of London, England in 1635 or 1636.

Connecticut Puritan Settlers, 1633-1845, www.ancestry.com
Hartford in 1639, viewer of chimneys in 1645.

Ralph Keeler, born about 1613 in England and possibly the son of another Ralph who died in Lawford, Essex Co., England , after 1600.

Feb 1639, appears in town records of Hartford, Ct as owner of several parcels of land. "Trumbull's Memorial History of Hartford", p. 42

More About Ralph Keeler: Ancestral File Number: 8J40-39.779 Burial: Unknown, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut.779 Inventory of estate: September 24, 1672779 Occupation: Carpenter and realtor.780, 781 Will: August 20, 1672782, 783

More About Ralph Keeler and Unknown ?: Marriage: Abt. 1640, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut.784, 785, 786

More About Ralph Keeler and Sarah Howes: Marriage: 1663, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut.786

Children of Ralph Keeler and Unknown ? are: +Ralph Keeler, b. Bet. 1645 - 1646, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut787, 788, 789, d. Aft. March 23, 1715/16, Fairfield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut789. Isabel Keeler, b. November 19, 1648, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut790, 791, d. Bef. November 01, 1696, Danbury, Fairfield Co., Connecticut791. Rebecca Keeler, b. February 09, 1649/50, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut792, 793, 794, d. Abt. 1720, Wallingford, New Haven Co., Connecticut795, 796, 797. Elizabeth Keeler, b., Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut798, 799, 800, d. November 03, 1729, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut801, 802. Samuel Keeler, b. 1655, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut803, 804, 805, 806, 807, d. May 19, 1713, Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut808, 809, 810, 811, 812. Jonah Keeler, b. Abt. 1658, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut813, 814, d. 1676, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut814. +John Keeler, b. February 09, 1653/54, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut815, 816, 817, d. Aft. February 27, 1718/19, Fairfield, Fairfield Co., Connecticut817.

Children of Ralph Keeler and Sarah Howes are: Mary Keeler, b., 817, d. date unknown.

Biographical Summary:

Ralph Keeler, Hartford, 1639, "granted a lot at the town's courtesie;" his home-lot was on what is now the West Park, north of the present site of the Capitol; he was chimney-viewer, 1645; one of the signers of the agreement for planting Norwalk, June, 1650, and there 1652; freeman, 1668; died 1672, between August 20 and September 10.

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 248. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books