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Ed Kearey, grandson of Laura Keehne & George Kearey, provided the source material for our first major breakthrough for Sophia Caroline Keehne, nee Kaylor. Ed sent me a copy of Marriages & Deaths in Baltimore Sun Index, 1837-1850. Death notices in that volume listed George Kaylor as the grandfather of several of Sophia and Augustus Keehne's children. Marriage notices in that volume and in its sequel, Index to Marriages in the Baltimore Sun, 1851-1860 led to further discoveries. Combined with the family bibles and the 1850 City of Baltimore Federal Census, much of the above has been pieced together. Through the Maryland State Archives we were able to find church and government records which substantiated many of our earlier guesses, however, as is usually the case, there remains much more to decipher.
- Pennsylvania is the place of birth listed for Margaret on the 1850 City of Baltimore Federal Census.
The age given suggests 1780 as the approximate birth year. We know little of Margaret's background. Family lore has suggested a tie between some early ancestors in the United States and the Revolutionary War. The census information for Margaret may or may not support this. Right now I am not certain how to pursue earlier information for Margaret.
- I have speculated that John, Elizabeth, and Thomas may have been a family based on the 1850 City of Baltimore Census. They are listed with George and Margaret Kaylor, and with the widowed, Margaret Kerner and children. Another possibility is that Elizabeth was an unmarried daughter of George & Margaret.
- A list of the interred in the Kaylor family plot in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (with date of interment):
- Margaret Kaylor, 10 Dec 1855
- George Kaylor, 11 May 1856
- Child of Mrs. Gardner, 30 June 1856
- Amelia G. Wright, 15 Aug 1857
- Elizabeth I. Kayler [sic], 4 July, 1868
- J. Kaylor, 3 June 1871
- W. I. Kaylor, 7 April 1873
- Margaret A. Carey, 9 March 1875
- Child of Mrs. Kerner, 15 Dec 1878
- George W. Kerner, 8 Aug 1879
- L.P. Kerner, 26 June 1884
- John Kaylor, 9 Aug 1884
- Margaret A. Kerner, 31 Aug 1885
- Myrtle L. Wright, 5 Feb 1889
The above list offers other possible connections: Was J. Kaylor, d. 1871, the "John" listed in the 1850 census? or was the John Kaylor, d. 1884, that son? Is Amelia G. Wright, the married name of Amelia Kerner? More clues to follow up.
- I am speculating that Margaret Kaylor Kerner's husband was William. This is based on entries in the Baltimore Sun indexes. Elenora Kerner's January 7,1857 marriage to William Richstein is recorded in the Index to Marriages in the Baltimore Sun, 1851-1860. Elenora is listed as "dau of William, grandau of George Kaylor". There is a death notice for a William Kerner listed in Marriages & Deaths in the Baltimore Sun Index, dated May 27 1842, the same year that Margaret's youngest child, George was born. The 1850 census lists Margaret and her children as living with her parents, George & Margaret Kaylor. There is no listing of her husband. Although this is certainly not proof, it would seem to go along with the idea that Margaret was widowed before 1850.
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Within the pages of Sophia Kaylor Keehne's family bible we have found several poignant inserts, including a lock of white hair wrapped with a torn piece of newspaper dating 1855, the year Margaret Kaylor died. What appears to be an unfinished poem was also found in the bible. The handwritten poem is a dialogue between a husband and wife. I have not been able to figure out one of the words, which appears twice in the poem. The poem follows as written:
The Dying Wife
Lay the ______ upon my bosom
Let me feel her sweet warm breath
For a strong chill o'er me passes
And i know that it is death
I would gaze upon the treasure
Scarcely given ere i go
Feel her rosy dimpled fingers
Wander o'er my cheeks of snow
I am passing through the waters
But a blessed shore appears
Kneel beside me husband dearest
Let me kiss away thy tears
Wrestle with thy grief my husband
Strive from midnight untill day
It may leave an angles blessing
When it vanishes away
Lay the ________ upon my bosom
Tis not long she can be there
See how to my heart she nestles
Tis the pearl i love to near
If in after years beside thee
Sits another in my chair
Though her voice be sweeter music
And her face than mine more fair |
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