Ancestors

Philmore Keele

Philmore Keele, whose name was also written Fillmore, was born in 1798. His memorial names his parents as Rev. John Keele and Nancy Green. A family letter written by a cousin names another couple, Richard S. Keele and Lydia Richmond, and the Richmond name his son Richard Richmond carried came from Lydia either way. He grew up in Middle Tennessee, in the Duck River country of Bedford County, where the Keeles were early settlers.

Before July 1818 he married Margaret Box, called Peggy, a South Carolina girl about his own age from the Pendleton District. They lived in Bedford County and the neighboring hill counties for the rest of his life and had nine children, all born in Tennessee: Maston Green Clay, 1820; Elsie Caroline, 1823, who married a Ferrell; Margaret, 1824; Richard Richmond, 1825; Philmore Jr., 1828; Milton Jackson, 1828 or 1829; Thomas, 1834; Talitha, 1836, who married a Bingham; and Mathias Washington, 1836 or 1838.

Two of the sons, Maston and Milton, went west to Bell County, Texas. Maston settled near Killeen and Milton near Salado. Milton named a son Finis Richmond, after his brother Richard Richmond.

He was a man of some substance in Coffee County. In 1848 he was one of six men who stood bound for $12,500 as sureties for the county's Register, and in 1853 he stood surety for his son Maston's debts. His place had a small grist mill on it.

Philmore died in September 1859, aged about 61. One account places his death in Warren County and another in Coffee County. He was buried in the Keele Cemetery in Bedford County, and his grave was marked with a fieldstone.

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Cite: Heirology, "Philmore Keele (1798-1859)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/philmore-keele-1798-1859-77f527.