 1613 - Abt 1672 (59 years)
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| Name |
Ralph Keeler [2, 3, 4] |
| Birth |
1613 |
England  [1, 5] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
Abt Sep 1672 |
Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut [6, 7, 8, 9] |
- Inventory taken Sep and Oct 1672
|
| Notes |
- He settled in Hartford by 1640; went with first settlers to Norwalk.
Will 20 Aug 1672; aged 59, wife Sarah; eldest son Ralph; sons John, Samuel; youngest son Jonah, daus. Rebecca, Elizabeth; friends Daniel Kellogg and John Bouton, Sr., overseers.
Inv. Sep 1672. Thomas Morehouse married eldest daughter, not mentioned in will; Court ordered share paid to her
Children are by first unnamed wife, not Sarah
RALPH was born in England about 1613, probably the son of Ralph Keeler, yeoman, who was living in Lawford, County Essex, in 1600... Ralph came to America before February 1639, when his name appears in the Hartford, CT, town records as owner of several parcels of land... It is not certain just when Ralph moved from Hartford to Norwalk... His name appears in the agreement of 19 June 1650 between the new proprietors and Roger Ludlow of Fairfield, who had purchased the land from the Indians in 1640... We know Ralph was in Norwalk 18 Dec. 1653. It was agreed by the townsmen on that date that Ralph Keeler and Walter Hoyt should build a house for Thomas Hanford, Norwalk's first minister ... It appears that Ralph built a house on his home lot and sold it 20 Oct. 1662 to Richard Raymond of Salem, MA... Thomas Betts "bought house and homelot of Ralph Keeler--recorded about 1660"... After the sale of his home lot to Raymond, Ralph apparently went to Jamaica, Long Island... Ralph was back in Norwalk 1 Sept. 1665 when he purchased from Thomas Ward his dwelling house... We do not know the identity of Ralph's first wife, who was presumably the mother of his children... ." His second wife was Sarah Whelpley, who was the daughter of Robert Howes of London, Eng... Ralph made his will 20 Aug. 1672 ... The will was proved 5 Nov. 1672. His estate was valued at 366 pounds in an inventory taken in September and October 1672
Ralph Keeler was born probably in England about 1613 and died at Norwalk, Connecticut, after 20 August 1672, the date of his will , and before an inventory of his estate was begun the next month. He probably married first at Hartford in the mid-1640s, ___ Betts, born say 1621, a previously unrecognized daughter of John and Mary Betts of Claydon, Oxfordshire, and whose mother became the widow Mary Betts, the early "schooldame" at Hartford. The chronology indicates that this daughter probably was older than her known sisters, Mary and Martha Betts, born about 1623 and 1625, respectively. Ralph Keeler had been living in Hartford a dozen years or more when he moved soon after 1650 with the first settlers to Norwalk. He was at that time about 37 years old and had several small children. Younger children were born at Norwalk in the 1650s. His first wife died probably in Norwalk before 11 August 1659, by which time at least one of her children had been placed with her brother John Betts in Wethersfield. About 1663 Ralph Keeler married, as his second wife, Sarah Whelpley, the widow of Edward Treadwell of Hempstead, Long Island,
and of Henry Whelpley of Fairfield, Connecticut. Sarah married as her fourth husband, Thomas Skidmore, of Fairfield, and died about November 1684.
In reference to the early history of Ralph Keeler, who was one of the first settlers of Norwalk, Conn. , it says Ralph Keeler was born in England about 1613 and owned a lot in Hartford, Conn. in 1640; an early settler of Norwalk, Conn. to which he went about 1651 or 1652; his first wife not known; second wife, married after 1651, was Sarah, widow of Henry Whelpley of Norwalk.
The following was copied by the compiler of this work from the Fairfield Probate Court records from the will of Ralph Keeler, Sr., which is held there. Will dated Aug. 20, 1672, and probated the same year, thus proving his death to have occurred in the latter part of that year. He begins by saying he is about 59 years old. First, he bequeaths one-third of his estate to his wife, Sarah; second, to his sons John Keeler and Ralph Keeler, Jr., Samuel Keeler, Jonah Keeler, and Rebecca and Elizabeth Keeler, the remainder of his estate, to be apportioned as afterwards designated.
Ralph Keeler came from Hartford, Conn., where in 1639 the public records show that he was one of its early Puritan settlers and sold out his estate there and moved to Norwalk, as an informant says, 1651 or 1652, where the first mention of him is in a list of those to whom grants of land were made as settlers by the town authorities. Hall's History of Norwalk says that the public records of that act bears no date, but that it is accepted that said grants were made in 1652, which was about two years after the commencement of the settlement of Norwalk, Conn. He is next mentioned Dec. 18, 1653, as the contractor to whom the town awarded the contract to cut the timber and build a house for Mr. Hanford, the pastor of the church there at that time, said house to be 16x26 feet. He is next mentioned in a list of estates in Norwalk, in which his was valued at £150, dated 1655. At a town meeting held at Norwalk September, 1668, he contracted to build forty rods of fence. On Feb. 20, 1672, an enrollment of the children. Three were mentioned as Keelers. On Dec. 16, 1684, it was agreed to apportion home lots to the inhabitants, three acres to the hundred, to be drawn for, in which Ralph Keeler, Jr., received two and John Keeler three. On Jan. 3, 1687, another valuation of estates was made, in which Ralph Keeler, Jr., is recorded at £170 10s, and John Keeler £100; Samuel Keeler, £103 10s. Jan. 16, 1694, Ralph Keeler, Jr., was named one of a Town Committee to procure a minister and dispenser of the Gospel in Norwalk. Oct. 14, 1697, 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.
{Boughton assigns children Rebecca, Ralph Jr., John, Samuel, John , Elizabeth to Ralph and Sarah Whelpley rather than Unknown.}
Table of original grants of home-lots to the first settlers in Norwalk. Note- these records appear to have been made some twenty years and more after the grants. They are generally interspersed with other records from 1670 to 1690.
Ralph Keeiler, 4 acres 1 rood. Bounded east by Common and Neck fence, west by Town Highway and Edward Nash's home-lot, north by Richard Webb's home-lot, south by Town Highway and Edward Nash's home-lot.
{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 or 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 ho use to be 16 x 26 ft. His estate was valued at 150 pound s in 1655.
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 Bussar d - 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
Alternate place of birth: Noddingham, England
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.} [4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
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| Person ID |
I17779 |
Mindrum |
| Last Modified |
23 Jul 2020 |
| Family 1 |
Unnamed Betts, b. say 1621 d. Bef 11 Aug 1659, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age ~ 38 years) |
| Marriage |
mid 1640s |
Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut [16] |
| Children |
| | 1. John Keeler, b. Abt 1645, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut d. Bef 3 May 1720, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age ~ 75 years) |
| | 2. Ralph Keeler, Jr., b. Abt 1647, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut d. Bef 2 Mar 1720/1, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age ~ 74 years) |
| | 3. Unnamed Keeler, b. Bef 1650, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut |
| | 4. Rebecca Keeler, b. 9 Feb 1651, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut |
| | 5. Elizabeth Keeler, b. Abt 1654 |
| | 6. Samuel Keeler, b. Abt 1655, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut d. 19 May 1713, Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age ~ 58 years) |
| | 7. Jonah Keeler, b. Abt 1658, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut d. Bef 11 Mar 1673/4 (Age ~ 16 years) |
| | 8. Unnamed Keeler d. Dec |
|
| Family ID |
F12434 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
28 Jul 2020 |
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| Sources |
- [S286] S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, (1878).
- [S292] James Boughton, A Genealogy of the Families of John Rockwell of Stamford, Conn., 1641, and Ralph Keeler, of Hartford, Conn, 1639, (1903), p. 3.
- [S1701] Donald L. Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, CT, 1930), p. I:355.
- [S5761] Gale Ion Harris, The American Genealogist, Vol. 80 (2005), pp. 177-187, The First Wife of Ralph Keeler of Hartford and Norwalk, Connecticut.
- [S2761] Wesley B. Keeler, Keeler Family: Ralph Keeler of Norwalk, CT and some of his descendants, (Gateway Press, 1985), p. 1, ca 1613.
- [S8501] Ralph Keeler Inventory, Fairfield Connecticut Probate Vol. 2, p. 66.
- [S8919] New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 42, p. 177, bef 10 Sep 1672.
- [S286] S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, (1878), 10 Sep 1672.
- [S2761] Wesley B. Keeler, Keeler Family: Ralph Keeler of Norwalk, CT and some of his descendants, (Gateway Press, 1985), p. 3, bef 5 Nov 1672, will proved.
- [S1701] Donald L. Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, CT, 1930), pp. I:355-356.
- [S2761] Wesley B. Keeler, Keeler Family: Ralph Keeler of Norwalk, CT and some of his descendants, (Gateway Press, 1985), pp. 1-3.
- [S292] James Boughton, A Genealogy of the Families of John Rockwell of Stamford, Conn., 1641, and Ralph Keeler, of Hartford, Conn, 1639, (1903), pp. 3-4.
- [S292] James Boughton, A Genealogy of the Families of John Rockwell of Stamford, Conn., 1641, and Ralph Keeler, of Hartford, Conn, 1639, (1903).
- [S3661] Edwin Hall, Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Conn., (A. Selleck, 1865), p. 22, p. 24.
- [S4421] Ancestry Public Trees, Keeler/Powell Family Tree, www.ancestry.com.
- [S8922] Gale Ion Harris, FASG, "The First Wife of Ralph Keeler of Hartford and Norwalk, Connecticut," The American Genealogist, Vol. 80 (2006), pp. 177-187.
- [S8919] New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 42, p. 177, after 6 Jun 1662.
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