Keziah Cassie Ritchie

Keziah ‘Cassie’ Ritchie (née Hill)

The name Keziah is a Hebrew baby name. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Keziah is: Cassia; sweet-scented spice. Keziah was one of Job's three fair daughters in the bible. This name was popular with Puritans in the 12th century.

Did Cassie Die Tragically? TAKEN FROM THE BOOK "COUNTRY ROADS AND LANES" by Fannie Lane Steele: "There is a story which has been handed down through the family that Keziah "Cassie" Ritchie, wife of John, drowned herself in a millpond. She is said to have been found one morning below the millpond, where she lay face down in the water. The story goes that...she was missing for several days and was found in the woods tied to a tree with bark from the tree.  Another story has been told when she almost killed her daughter, Sarah Jane, while she lay sleeping beside her husband. She was holding a hatchet over her and coming down toward her when great grandpa Jackson Lane caught her arm and wrestled it away from her. She is said to have lost her mind. If this story is true, it must have been in her old age, because she is listed in the 1880 census of Wise County, Virginia, living in the household of her son Jackson Ritchie at the age of 65. Her husband John is living there also, age 66. If she did lose her mind or drown herself, one can see why, after losing four children within the space of one years time......"