Jerri's Ancestors

Hi! Welcome to My Family History!

Welcome to pictures and stories on the Landers/Keen side. Pictures are best viewed with Internet Explorer.

Family stories say we are possibly related to Jesse James! Could that be? My gg grandfather, John Landers, was married to Nancy Ware James - that's supposed to be the connection according to my uncle, Dalton Landers, brother to my Dad, Doyle Landers. Information on Nancy is sketchy: b March 5, 1840 in IL; d March 20, 1899 in Lake and Peninsula, AR. She was married to John Landers July 9, 1857, in Coffee, KS.

The Landers family is one I would like to know more about; it's my Dad's family. The following information is from family records, birth and death certificates, censuses and anything else I come across in my research:

My Dad is Doyle Kirby Landers (b 23 Aug 1924 in Animas, NM. He was named after his maternal uncle Kirb Smith.). He married my mom, Vada June Keen, June 16, 1948). His parents are John Henry Landers (b 29 Mar 1888, Little Rock, AR; d 7 May 1952 in Sunnymead, CA) and Johnny Delilah "Lila" Smith (b 3 Jan 1898, Comanche, TX; d 17 Jun, 1975 in Ontario, CA). They were married in 1912.

The following picture is Johnny Delilah Smith (my grandmother), left, and Aunt Mabel Smith, her sister, on the right.. The second picture is my Dad, Doyle Landers, in the Army and his Aunt Mabel taken in 1943.

John Henry left Arkansas with his family when he was five years old and went to Brownswood, Texas, with a team of oxen. They went across a bridge on the Red River. He remembers they had to cover the cracks with grass before the horses and mules would cross; it didn't bother the oxen. When he was in his late teens he went back to AR once, then returned to TX. He owned a bicycle shop in TX. He was in Virginia during WW1; worked for the government on construction projects during the swine flu epidemic. When he moved to Brawley,California from TX, he said they had to come across a road that was on planks over sand dunes; they had to keep the wagon wheels on the planks.

John Henry and Delilah Landers' children are (living): Dalton ONeal, Doyle Kirby (my Dad), Chester Armand, Ruth Fay and Shirley Marie. They are preceded in death by children: Thelma, Bill, Kenneth, Dora, Dale, ?baby boy?, ?another baby?, Carl Lee and Raymond Earl.

This is a picture of the Landers family when my grandparents were still alive. My Dad is the second from the left, top row.

John Henry's siblings were: Stella Harris (Children: Virgil, Jay, John, Minnie (her daughter is Texie June)), Amanda (Mance) Mossbarger (Children: Bertha, Elmer, Olga,Vermelle and Ruby), Maggie Forson (Children: Clyde and Gladys), Irvin T. (b 11 Nov, 1900, d 5 June, 1946, married to Nellie? who had three or four children prior to marriage) and Fred (married Lillie Garner. Children: Peggy, Mary and Margaret).

Johnny Delilah's siblings were: William McKinley (married a Mexican woman and adopted two children), Mabel (married three times to Cotton, Walker and Fletcher. Children: Velma, Valerie, June (Cotton), Billy, and Wayne (Walker) and E. Kirb (b 18 March 1898, d 24 Feb, 1974. Married Lulu Brakeley, Children: Winnie and Lucille).

John Henry's parents were: Henry Newton Landers ? from Kansas, b 1861 d 1923, Sunnymead, CA) and Vermel Missouri (Zu) Williamson (b 1862 in Louisiana, d 1926 Sunnymead, CA). They were married in Logan County (Paris) Arkansas on December 18, 1881. Vermel's parents were Dad John Williamson from South Carolina, b 1825 and Emily from Alabama. That's all we know. NOTE: Family - change Henry Newton's birthdate to 1861 on the family chart (erroneously typed 1881).

Get this: According to Johnny Delilah, Jesse James' mother was related to Vermel Missouri Williamson's mother, Emily (Vermel is my paternal ggrandmother). We aren't sure of the relationship, maybe a cousin or second cousin to Jesse James? The relationship would be another generation down, I think, timewise. (There was also a brother, George Williamson b 1858; d 1945.) We have never been able to verify the relationship; however, I am working on it.
We understand George Williamson, the brother, had several children, including: Norma, Kenneth, Clara, Joe, Thelma and Gene.

Update: (Updated November 15, 2005): Henry Newton's father, John Landers, was born January 17, 1834 in Washington County, Arkansas. He died June 30, 1925 in Stigles, Oklahoma. (He was not William Landers as I previously thought.) I sent family corrected copy of this information. If you did not get a copy, family member, and want one, just email and let me know.

John Landers' father was Isaac Landers, born November 18, 1798 in Kentucky, d 1841 in Mountain, Washington Co., AR; his mother was Nancy Swaggerty. Isaac and Nancy were married May 20, 1824 in Benton, AR.

I found an 1825 Miller Co. Petition of Arkansas Territory, Territorial Papers, Clarence E. Carter (ed), The Territorial Papers of the United States, Territory of Arkansas (Petition to the President by Citizens of Miller Co.) on the internet. It petitions the US govrernment to clarify that the land they homesteaded in previously Choctaw Indian territory is theirs. It is signed by Thomas Swagerty, Isaac Landers and Abraham Landers. It states that the land was acquired from the Quapaw Nation of Indians in 1818. Parties listed "...settled upon lands owned at the time of such settlements by Indians, where the settlements at the beginning were upon Indian Lands, but your present petitioners respectfully deny having settled upon Indian Lands." The petition is requesting the government to uphold their land claims.<\p>

My Dad, Doyle Landers, says Johnny Delilah's parents (my grandmother's parents) were Isham William Smith born in Tennessee in 1832 and Ida Wilks. Ida Wilks was born in 1857 in Mississippi; her parents were born in Mississippi/Georgia. That's all I know at this point. Ida's family does not trace back to England as I originally thought. Sorry, family, for the inconvenience - will issue new family tree charts next time we're together. Isham died December 20, 1910 in Comanche County, TX. He was half Comanche or Cherokee, half Irish; his mother was full-blooded Comanche or Cherokee. The Comanche blood is information Johnny Delilah told my Dad, and this is what some family believes. His death certificate says he was born in Alabama; that information is only as good as the person who gives the information. It was Ida (his wife), who gave the information on the death certificate but I have found numerous censuses that say he was born in Tennessee - straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

I would question his birthplace if Tennessee didn't appear on so many censuses: 1850, 1870, 1900 and 1910. So Tennessee it is. However, his mother was born in Alabama, which means she could be a member of the Cherokee Tribe - there were a few Comanche there, too - anybody's guess at this point. I have been studying the movement of Indians in our history. Maybe something there will give me a clue. There are a lot of different Indian rolls. There is a Delilah Smith (that would be her granddaughter, my grandmother) on the rolls that I am checking into, but it's grasping at straws at this point. In order to be on the Dawes list she had to be living on the reservation. We know she (Delilah) was born in TX so that gives me a starting point to research further. As I mentioned I'm studying the Indian tribes and their locations at that point in time and hopefully will come up with some clues on where to research. Pretty interesting.

Isham was in Madison, Alabama, when he was 19 according to the 1850 census. The 1870 census shows him in District 15, Gallatin, Sumner, TN (about 40 years old) He was a laborer at that time and a wife is not mentioned. He could be divorced or a widower at that time - or not married. He was in Comanche, Comanche County, TX 1n 1900 at 68 years old in a Texas census. Ida, his wife, was 43, which tells me she was born in May, 1857, not 1865 as I thought. This is the first I have seen his family on a census. Their kids are listed as Mabel, born October 1882; she was eight. Kirby was five; he was born in 1885. Johnny (my grandmother) was was born in 1898 according to family records; this census says she was two years old - born in 1888. There was also a Little George, a grandson, listed. It shows him as 14 and his birthdate as 1886 - perhaps he is from another marriage. From the age of his wife, I would say this is a second marriage. Johnny Delilah Smith (my grandmother) did tell Doyle Kirby Landers (my father) that she probably had some half-siblings somewhere. There are always surprises when you are researching family! So I'm on a search for Isham's past before he married Ida Wilks.

There's more. I show him in a 1910 US census in Erath, TX. He was 77 - just before he died in Comanche County, TX. This census shows Ida is 54 - remember the census is taken at different parts of year, so this would be right. On this census I show Kirby (spelled Curby here!) as 14, Delilah (Johnny) as 11 and McKinley (who would be William McKinley) as 9 - that explains why he was not in the last census. This census doesn't mention Mabel, as she would be 18 and was probably on her own and/or married by then.

We also now know Isham's parents' names: Daniel Smith from South Carolina and Matilda Smith from Alabama. Matilda is Comanche or Cherokee, as I mentioned earlier, but I haven't found the link to verify that yet..

My Dad has a picture of Delilah's family: Dad Isham Smith; her brother E. Kirb; Johnny Delilah; her brother William McKinley, and her Mom Ida Wilks. I will try to get a copy and post it. I do have a copy now, but my scanner is broke. So when I get a new one I will scan in the picture.

Update - 01/03/01.

I now have copy of the death certificate for Isham W. Smith. From that I was able to locate a copy of a census that tells me who his family was. The November 2, 1850, Federal Census lists family #164: Daniel Smith,father, a saddler, age 36, born in South Carolina; Matilda, mother, age 34, born in Alabama; Isham, 19, born in Tennessee; and more children (siblings, all born in Alabama) -First name is illegible, age 16, laborer; Martha, age 14; Daniel, age 12 and Margaret, age 10. This census fits with Isham's death year. If any of you out there have any other information that fits this, please let me know.

So that's the scoop on the Landers' family as we know it! Please be sure to let me know if you have questions or different information than I have. I have recently updated my records (9/5/2005)and if something here is different than your chart I recently gave you - the dates and names here are right.

The Keen family:

Vada June Keen, was born on May 25, 1926 in Tonkawa, OK. She died 12 Dec 1995 in Tenino, WA. She was married to Leo Stipe, then Doyle Kirby Landers - the previous family history. (I was adopted by Doyle Landers.) Her siblings: Vera, Joe and Martha.

Bits of our Keen family history follows:

My grandparents are Joseph Isaac Keen and Gladys Emily Cone,my maternal grandparents, married 8 July 1923 in Wauhilla, OK. This is a picture of them with my Mom's oldest sister Vera taken in about 1925.

Nancy Travis is grandpa Keen's grandmother. She was married to Abner Mitchell Keen. Through Nancy our family has links to Colonel William B. Travis who led the Texas effort at the Alamo; he is a brother to Nancy Travis's grandfather, Thomas D. Travis.

The Travis ancestry goes way back to 1030 in Normandy, France, to Arnold Travers' birth. I'm not sure when he came to England, but he was a chief in William the Conquerer's army and overtook Tulketh Castle in England. Later he married Alison Tulketh, the previous owner's daughter, who was born in 1050 in Tulketh Castle, Lancashire. He died in Tulketh Castle in 1125. They had a son, Arnold Fitz Travers who is our ancestor along with triplets: Constance, Jordan and Blanche. Earlier in that ancestry line there are births/deaths in Scotland and Ireland. One relative, John Travis was married three times and had 21 kids! Another was married twice and had 22 kids! Busy relations!

As I mentioned, Abner Keen, John Britton Keen's father, was married to Nancy Travis. According to family research done by Dera Keen (sister-in-law to Vada Landers) he was an orator. He did dramatic speeches and his specialties were poetry and the Bible.

Abner lived in Texas for about eight or ten years. He had been moving with his family from Illinois to California and he was of the Union persuasion, but as he went through Texas he was conscripted into the Confederate Army because of his skills as a blacksmith. He was returning to Illinois after that period of time, but settled in Arkansas instead. He married a second time to Rachel Davis.

Abner's father was Smauel H. Keen, an attorney who lived in Harris County, Tennessee (this information was taken from probate papers).

Gladys Cones' siblings were: Berry, Lomis, Jeffy, Woodrow, Walsie, Sam, and Merle.

Joseph Isaac Keen's siblings were: William, Mary, Britt, John, Frank, Charlie, Cora, Dora, Dosha, Tom, Pearl and Ed.

This is a picture of paternal Grandparents John Brittan Keen and Martha Elizabeth Cox. They had eleven children! A few years back we went on a "digging-up bones" trek, and traveled to the Cox family cemetery in Oklahoma. It was out in a pasture, and we had to walk to it through the fields (chiggers, thank goodness, left us alone). Somehow it helps you connect to the past to at least see the surrounding area of where family lived back then.

My mother's maternal grandparents were Elijah Merill Cone, a teacher, and Mollie Davis . (Don't you just love those names?)

The following information on Raford Lewis Cone was supplied by Reno Pero Cone of Kansas - a distant cousin: My mother's great grandfather, Raford Lewis Cone, born 27 August 1836, at Purdy, McNairy County, Tennessee; he was a confederate soldier in the Civil War; his grandfather, Doy Davis, was in the Revolutionary War. Raford Lewis was a Democrat, Free-will Baptist, deacon and clerk for five years.

Raford was enlisted as a private (in the Rosters of Arkansas Regiments) in Infantry Regiment No. 19, Company B, 6th Arkansas Calvary at Warren, Arkansas - he was a bugler. He was also listed in Company I, Hardy's Regiment, Arkansas Infantry. He was wounded in the hand during the battle in the Post of Arkansas, the Mansfield Battle.

He was an eye doctor and had contracts with other doctors from Chicago to sell medicines. He served from sometime in 1861 until the close of the war. He was a liniment salesman selling "Liquid Electricity" from 1902-1906, among other professions. He also had three kinds of eye drops he traveled around and sold: white, black and oil for cataracts according to Dera Keen. He was said to be quite a "jovial" fellow and very easygoing. He lived until September, 1923.

His father, Berry Cone, was born about 1807 in Raleigh, NC. Berry Cone came to Arkansas with his wife, Priscilla Davis, and children in a covered wagon; two oxen pulled it. They had a herd of sheep and a milk cow. (This was during the Civil War.) When he was 63 he lived in Prairie, Franklin, Arkansas. He lived to be 73; his wife lived to be 106 - she died in 1911.

Some of the Cone boys robbed a bank in Tennessee (killed one of the brothers) and that's when they changed their name from Scottish name McCone or McCohn after they got away with the money.

This side of the family is also related to President Buchanan, a shirttail relative.

This is it for the Keen side for now. I will update as I discover more.

Thanks for visiting. If you need more information, such as a copy of the family tree with names and dates, email me at brooker1@comcast.net. I will respond to all queries.

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Family and friends: If you have better pictures or know something I don't, please e-mail me at brooker1@comcast.net - Thanks!