Keatts Family Wills of Pittsylvania County, Virginia: A Wish Granted

On my research trip to the Pittsylvania County Courthouse, I was saddened that I wasn't beginning to scratch the surface of their vast collection. While my time was well focused on the research questions I had at the time, I knew full well that there were hundreds of other records I would never have time to see. Included in these passed over records were many of the wills for my earliest connections to Pittsylvania County in the Keatts family. It pained me to pass over their surnames in the record books I knew were pertinent to me, in exchange for the records I'd planned to collect that day.

So the weekend that the Ancestry.com probate collection launched, I was full of hope that the records would include some of these. And when I got my first Keatts hints to the collection, I celebrated...

However, it was premature. 

 

 Is there anything worse than an interrupted happy dance?
(The answer is no. No, there isn't.)

You see, the hint lead to an error page. And I sat there for a good five minutes, refreshing in disbelief. I felt lied to. Betrayed. Filled with first world rage. And as I tried to navigate to the collection directly from the Card Catalog, only to be greeted by "No results found" for every combination of search criteria, I finally gave up. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get any results for anyone in Pittsylvania County to appear. Something was wrong, broken, or both.

As the hints continued to accumulate for this ghost collection, and each of them led to the same error page, my frustration mounted. I contacted Ancestry directly to point out the issue, and they said they'd investigate. 

Meanwhile, I ignored every single hint and told the matching algorithm to stick them in its eye...

...among other things I won't repeat in polite company.

Here's the thing y'all. Just because we subscribe to record collections which are held by large corporations, it doesn't mean we shouldn't communicate with them. Providing user feedback is all the more important when the companies we deal with are large. I think sometimes we have the impression that this does no good because we don't feel like we're talking to a person. Instead, it feels like we're talking to a mechanical collective of voices with no thoughts of its own.

But corporations like Ancestry.com are made up of people, including other genealogists. And they really do want to see us happy. Like a genie of sorts, they want to give us everything we wish for. And like magic, their money and influence give them the power to deliver many things we can't do for ourselves. And just like a genie, even their power has its limits.

But perhaps the ways in which Ancestry.com (and other companies too) are most like genies, is that the only way to never get what you wish for is to never tell them what you want.

So I reached out. I told them what was wrong. I wanted Pittsylvania County, Virginia probates and wills. I wanted the error message to go away and let me get on with my happy dancing. Because there is absolutely nothing worse than taking back a happy dance. It should say right on the receipt  NO REFUNDS in big, ugly letters.

And I don't know whether they finally got the records, or the database working, or what. I don't care which of my wishes they granted. The point is, the records have arrived!

The Pittsylvania County, Virginia probate and will database is up, running, and open for business!

If you, like me, are looking for the Keatts family, allow me to get you started. And let me know in comments, because I want to know who you are!

Index

Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983. Pittsylvania County, "Wills, 1800-1870" Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9085 : accessed 2 January 2016), index entries for Keatts family members, Image #33, Pg. 27.

Curtis Keatts: My 6x Great Grandfather

Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983. Pittsylvania County, "Deeds and Will Book, Vol. 11, 1780-1820," Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9085 : accessed 2 January 2016), entry for Curtis Keatts, Image #145, Pg. 268.

Charles Keatts: My 5x Great Grandfather

Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983. Pittsylvania County, "General Index to Wills, Vol. 1, 1767-1948," Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9085 : accessed 2 January 2016), entry for Charles Keatts, Image #377-378, Pg. 185-186.

Randolph Keatts: My 4x Great Grandfather

Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983. Pittsylvania County, "General Index to Wills, Vol. 1, 1767-1948," Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9085 : accessed 2 January 2016), entry for Randolph Keatts, Image #813, Pg. 480.

That's Not My Name!

Having information about a person with no evidence is like copying the answer on a test that requires you to show your work. It doesn't matter that you have the right answer; if you can't prove it, is it really an answer? Do you get full credit? Can you really feel secure that it IS the right answer?

That has been my relationship so far with John H. Bennett and Mary Arthur, parents of Lillian Belle Bennett.

Lillian is pretty well documented in the lives of her children. I have her listed as mother in numerous obituaries and birth records, so I've always been confident that she really is the mother. But no amount of searching was revealing who her parents were. In fact, the last time I knew this much about someone and still couldn't get anywhere was with Annie Rorer. It just didn't make sense, given that Lillian didn't appear to be any sort of orphan like Annie was.

So the first time I saw Lillian's parents listed as John Bennett and Mary Arthur was some time when I was in college. Whether it was Rootsweb or an Ancestry tree or some other such place I don't remember. All I remember, and have been working through ever since, is that no one ever provided any sort of evidence. 

They gave the answer--Lillian Belle Bennett, married to Charlie Keatts on 23 September 1890, but didn't show any work.

In hindsight, I see now that I was never going to find the answer on the internet. And it wasn't until my research trip to Pittsylvania County that I discovered what the problem was... really, what the problems were.

The first problem is that Pittsylvania County publishes almost none of their records online. They're in books, on microfilm at the Library of Virginia, or on site in the Clerk of the Court's office in Chatham. But not online. Google all you want, it just won't happen.

The second, infinitely more frustrating problem, is that Lillian is not her real name. In fact, I have no idea WHAT her name is!

On this census record, her name is Martha...

John H. Bennett and family on the 1880 Census in Pittylvania County, Virginia
Also note that Absalom and Elizabeth Bennett also appear. This will become relevant shortly.

On this marriage record, her name is Linda...

Marriage record for Charles L. Keatts, dated 23 September 1890

On this marriage record, her name is "Sis"...

Marriage record for Giles Keats and Callie May Fenity, dated 24 December 1936

But on this one...

See top left: Marriage record for Charles H. Keats

And in this obituary...

Obituary for Posie Lester Keatts

Her name is Lillian.

First off, let's answer the important question. How do we know that this information is accurate? Well, look at some of the ancillary information on the records. All of the information for her husband's family is correct. Husband, Charlie Keatts with father Richard C. Keatts and mother Susan. The date also matches the date given be the anonymous tipster of yesteryear.

The real solution would be to find some other documentation to settle the matter. And fortunately for me, the holy grail of all evidence was also available in the Clerk's office in Chatham, VA.

The chancery court case settling the estate of Absalom Bennett, grandfather of Lillian/Linda/Martha and father of John H. Bennett.

Absalom Bennett had quite a bit of property. At his death, he was old enough to have grandchildren, and in some cases great-grandchildren. There were so many different descendants that had legal claim on the property that the only thing to do was to sell the farm, settle the debts, and divide what was left among a LONG list of people.

John H. Bennett portion of the heirs list for his father, Absalom Bennett
Note that the name in the image for the daughter in question is Sis Keatts

What you see here is a genealogy which was handwritten between 1915 and 1917 to establish paternity for my great grandfather, Giles Blanton Keats. Through his mother--referred to throughout these records as Sis, Lillian, Linda, and Lil--we have decisive legal evidence that proves their claim to this estate, and to this family. Lillian's father is listed as John H. Bennett, son of Absalom Bennett.

Which brings us to a happy close with this marriage record for John H. Bennett and Mary Arthur, married on 12 May 1868 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia!

So in the end, what is my great great grandmother's name?

I still have no idea.

And this may be the one time in my research that it truly doesn't matter, because I figured it out anyway.

Visiting Pittsylvania County, Virginia

For my anniversary, my husband surprised me by taking me to Virginia. We went to Pittsylvania County, and I got to take pictures of things I have always wanted to see!

Like this cemetery...

Green Bay Christian Church in Chatham, Virginia

With these graves...

Pomp Fenity's headstone in Green Bay Christian Church cemetery

Catherine Fenity Morton's headstone in Green Bay Christian Church cemetery

And THIS cemetery...

Keatts Farm Family Cemetery in Chatham, Virginia

With THESE graves!

Charles Lee Keatts, buried in the Keatts Farm Family Cemetery, with his second wife Fannie Crews

And Annie Rorer Fenity! No clue as to what she's doing in the Keatts cemetery, but I'll take it!

I was also able to get the Keatts cemetery up on Google Maps, which should make it easier to find than ever before. (And trust me. It was NOT easy to find!)

View Larger Map

It was a fantastic trip, one I'll always remember. Couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my first anniversary!

The Diphtheria Epidemic of Pittsylvania County, Virginia

Looking for death records in a small community can quickly reveal the aspects of life which stand in direct contrast to our first-world comfort today. One of my earliest discoveries of this nature was in the family of Richard C. Keatts, when his children passed through the diphtheria epidemic of 1882.

He and his wife Susan E.Bennett are a well-documented family in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. They have ten children together, but the sickness will come to affect nine of them.

1. Mary Elizabeth (23)
2. Susan (22)
3. Charles (20)
4. James (16)
5. Sarah (14)
6. Martha (11)
7. Richard Jr. (7)
8. Henrietta Jane (5)
9. John Thomas (3)
10. Emma Virter (born in 1884, therefore was unborn at the time)

I've included their ages in 1882 in parentheses. It helps to put the sickness into that much more of a perspective.

Dr. Chase's Third, Last and Complete Receipt Book and Household Physician from 1891 describes diphtheria this way:

This guide is an interesting look into the germ theory of the late nineteenth century. It covers a variety of illnesses, and the suggested remedies. Whether these remedies prove ineffective, or unknown, it didn't stem the tide of illness that swept through Pittsylvania County in the late summer of 1882. The Halifax Advertiser reported on September 15th, 1882:

“In the neighborhood of Pig River, Pittsylvania county, the diphtheria has been raging to an alarming extent for some three weeks or more. Over fifty deaths have occurred in one week. The doctors are unable to cope with it. Numbers of persons have died within twenty-four hours after taking it.”

Among those dozens who passed away were five of the Keatts children.

1. Mary Elizabeth (23)
2. Susan (22) was third, 30th of August
3. Charles (20)
4. James (16) died with Henrietta Jane on the same day, 3rd of September
5. Sarah (14)
6. Martha (11) was the first to succumb on the 24th of August
7. Richard Jr. (7) was second to die, on the 28th of Aug
8. Henrietta Jane (5)
9. John Thomas (3) [Note: I have been unable to find a death date for little John, so I cannot confirm whether or not he was also taken by the outbreak. The missing 1890 census leaves a gap I haven't filled for him yet.]

In outbreaks like this, many of the dead were buried in mass graves out of necessity. For this reason, it wouldn't surprise me if don't find individual graves or markers for these children. I simply cannot fathom how a parent can handle losing 5 of their children in less than a month--and two in the same day.

Because I live in the era of DTaP vaccines, I will never need to know what this kind of suffering is like. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the tragedy in the loss of life so young, and count my blessings that we live in better times today.