Extended Family Friday - The Keeners

As this post is written, I have been busy weeding through much information that I have received from another found cousin in my Keener line of the family. First, I must tell you that I met this cousin in a chat hosted by the  Ancestorville Genealogy Facebook page.  If you don't join the chats being held there, you could certainly be missing out!   They have state-focused chats and chances are, if your family has a large presence in a certain state, you may find someone with common research interests.   Such is the case with me and cousin Nancy who I "met" on a recent WV chat.

She has shared much with me already - especially photographs.  She's been researching this family for years and is glad to share her knowledge with me - someone who has not done much on the collateral lines.   Thanks so much Nancy!

Today I highlight her Great Grandfather, my 1st cousin 5x removed; Lewis S. Keener.

Lewis was born in 1841 to Thomas Ullery Keener (aka Ullery Keener; Ulrich Keener) and his wife Sarah Ann Kisner, in Fetterman, a town in now Taylor County WV.    Lewis enlisted as a soldier for the Confederacy on May 13, 1861 and fought for Company A, 25th Infantry Regiment of Virginia and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on July 9, 1864.     He married Catherine B. Jackson on December 8, 1864, in Abermarle County VA and the couple was listed in the 1880 census for Whitehall, Abermarle, Virginia.   Lewis and his wife had 7 children: James, John, Thomas, Catherine, Mary, Susan and Andrew.    I had not even realized that a very large part of the Keener family had gone to this part of Virginia and a nearby town called Crozet -  assuming (incorrectly of course) that they all remained in Taylor County because I was so focused on my direct line that I've not bothered to see where all the other brothers had wandered off to.

Nancy shared the photo below with me, of Lewis and his brother James Alfred Keener and their wives.

Photo privately held

Yet again, it pays to be a part of the larger genealogy community on the web.  Without reaching out to others, making connections and joining groups or chats, we cannot corroborate or share our research fully with others.