Congrats to Jeannette Sawyer & anyone else who worked at getting her DAR application submitted & approved. This is indeed a milestone for Keech families who descend from 1763 James. This approval will open the door for the rest of us who want SAR or DAR status. How ironic- many of us who descend from the Ontario Keech lines can also apply for U. E. L. status!

On another topic entirely, I spent the last five years looking, off and on, for Caroline Thurston who was the wife of Barton Keech 1823-1856. Barton was a son of 1791 Henry Keech and Eunice Gillett who died, obviously, very young. He is buried at the Vrooman Episcopal Cemetery at Camden East Township in L & A County, Ontario.

When we first started working on Keech genealogy, we found out that Barton and Caroline had three children- Hiram Keech born 1851 who married Emma Vanness in 1875, daughter of Lasher and Elizabeth Vanness; (Hiram and Emma had four children); plus George Keech born May 1853 who married Mary Elizabeth Lucas in 1874, had one daughter Lilly May but George also died very young at age 30 in 1883; and daughter Sarah Keech born 1856. I have no idea what happened to Sarah- if she grew up and married, or stayed single. She was still alive in 1871, age 15 years, living with her brother Hiram in Camden East in the home of her Auntie Elizabeth Keech Garrison. Their brother George Keech was living with their grandfather Henry Keech, and his second wife Jane, also in Camden East, in 1871.

Someone told me a few years ago now that Caroline Thurston Keech had "gone to the States and re-married", but that was all the information he or she had. Today I found this gem online:

JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK Marriages from the 1865 Census Sorted by Groom

Groom Age Civil Cond Bride Age Civil Cond Date City or Town where married Clergy or Justice Census Town

Fuller, Stephen 45 S Keech, Caroline Thurstin 36 W 03/03/1865 Lyme Clergy Hounsfield #1

So I checked all the census's after that for Stephen and Caroline Fuller and found them with two daughters Harriet/Hattie born Sept. 1865 and Charlotte born May 1870. They lived at Hounsfield, JEFFERSON COUNTY, and then Williamstown, Oswego County. Caroline was widowed and living with her married daughter Harriet in 1900 at Scriba, Oswego County, and then she no longer appears on a census so I assume she must have passed away before 1910. And by the way, her husband Stephen Fuller was not even remotely age 45 years when they married- he was born in 1808 so would have been about 57 years old when they married in 1865. Age 45 must have sounded better at the time....! Stephen passed away sometime between June 1880 and June 1900.

Caroline's mother Matilda Thurston, born 1795, was living with Caroline and Stephen in 1870 at Hounsfield. She was most likely born in Connecticut as when she was alive that was usually the place she stated as her birthplace. Her husband, father of Caroline Thurston Keech Fuller, was Jacob Thurston, born about 1790-1792 in NYS. He and his family were in Watertown in 1830 and then in Hounsfield every census after that until 1860. Jacob passed away sometime between June 1860 and July 1870.

Caroline had at least these four sisters: Almira Thurston born Feb. 1817 who married Edward Herrick in NYS, whom I believe to be related to the Hartwick families in Ontario who seemed to be always living in close proximity to the elder Keech's from NYS; Harriet Thurston born about 1820 who married Barton's older brother Henry Keech Junior; Martha Thurston born 1835, and Matilda M. Thurston born 1830. From early census reports it appears there were two boys in that family as well.

So I was able to follow Caroline through the years of her second marriage. I don't yet know what happened top her daughter Charlotte, presumed married with a family of her own, possibly in Jefferson or Oswego County. Caroline's husband Stephen is possibly buried at either Williamstown or Scriba, but most likely in Oswego County, his last known residence. Caroline was living in Scriba as her last known residence and may be buried there.

I wonder if she ever saw her Keech children over the years- or if they grew up never knowing what had happened to her- as was related to me by some Keech descendents. Odd that a woman could abandon her older offspring in the face of a new marriage, or was that a common thing back then, to not take your children into a second marriage? At any rate, we now know for sure that the young George Keech age 8 years in 1861 who was living with Henry and Eunice Keech in Camden East was their grandson, the younger son of Barton and Caroline.

This is a good lesson in being patient and believing that missing pieces of the Keech puzzle will appear sooner or later!

If anyone wants more info about Caroline Thurston Keech Fuller and her second family, please let me know.

If anyone ever finds out what happened to young Sarah Keech, please write- I would love to find her, she is the one last puzzle piece in Barton and Caroline's family.

And does anyone know who Stephen Fuller's parents were? He is stated to be single when he married- was he? In previous census's, the only Stephen I can find who age-matches was married with MANY children!

Thanks from Nora J. McLean