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Facts and Events
The Town Records of John Keep
The earliest reference we have found in relation to John is dated 18 February 1660:
"ffebr: 18th 1660 - John Keepe desiring entertaynmt in this Town as an Inhabitant his desires were granted by the Select men ye day above said.”
Springfield was a closed settlement, and no one was allowed to settle there without permission, thirty-one days being the maximum time without such approval. At the same meeting where John was granted residential status, Quince Smith, who had been granted liberty of abode in the town for two months, was warned by the Selectmen to depart the town because his time had expired.
Various other references can be found in relation to John. During March 1660 he was granted five acres of meadow and at a meeting of the Selectmen on 6 January 1662 he acquiredfour acres of wet meadow on the back side of Longmeadow. On 5 January 1666, Nathaniel Burt, John Keep and George Colton were granted "ponds" adjacent to their lands.
From the “First Century of the History of Springfield: The Official Records from 1636 to 1736 with an Historical Review and Biographical Mention of the Founders” by Henry M. Burt, we know that John was a Fence Viewer:
"ffebruary the 11 1666: "John Kep & Samuell bliss veiwers ffor the long medo and the Home Lots of as ffar as the meeting house and downward."
John also served as a Selectman for Springfield during 1674, and 1676. Following John’s death Anthony Dorchester was elected in his place. This was five months after Springfield was burned by the Indians.
References
- ↑ The Keep Family dna project.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 John Keep, in Jacobus, Donald Lines, and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley. (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1952)
651-52.
"1. John1 Keep, born in England, killed by the Indians, 20 [26] Mar. 1676; …
On 18 Feb. 1660/1, 'John Keepe desiringe entertaynmt in this Towne as an Inhabitant his desires were granted by the Select men.' He was granted five acres of meadow, 13 March following, and additional land, 6 Jan.
1662/3, 6 Feb. 1664/5, and finally in January 1672/3. He was one of the fence viewers in 1664 and 1667, a hayward 1666, 1668, 1670, and 1672, Surveyor, 1669, and served the town as Selectman in 1674 and 1676. His death came while occupying that office, and it was voted, 8 June 1676: 'god in his providence having taken away John Keep by death Anthony Dorchester was Chosen by a Cleare vote of the plantation a Select man to supply that want for the yeere ensuing.'
John Keepe of Springfield took the Freeman's Oath, 20 Sept. 1669. At a Court 29 March 1676: 'John Keepe of Springfield and his wife Both being slaine by ye Indians & three small children left behinde them This Court Orders Joseph Leonard and Samuel Bliss to take care of the sayd children & of ye estate granting powere of administration upon ye estate to the sayd Joseph Leonard & Samuel Bliss Uncles to ye aforesaid children.' The inventory was presented 6 Sept. 1676. In the settlement, 'the houseing and lands of John Keepe to be to the son Samuel, he paying to his sisters Sarah and Hannah the sum of thirty three pounds when he arrives at the age of twenty one years. If either of the children dye before they come to be of age, the survivors to enjoy the deceased child's part.' The two administrators were discharged 22 March 1700 after submitting final accounts, which include an item to 'Mother Leonard for bringing up the children.'"
Date verified against several histories of Springfield and King Philip's War. The attack happened while the Longmeadow group was on their way to Springfield for public worship. 26 March 1675/76 was a Sunday.
- ↑ John Keep, in Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
3:3.
"Keep, John, Springfield 1660, freem. 1669, m. 31 Dec. 1663, Sarah Leonard, had Sarah, b. 1666; Eliz. 1668, d. young; Samuel, 1670; Hannah, 1673; and Jabez, wh. was, with his mo. tak. by the Ind. 20 [26] Mar. 1676, when the £ was k. as were the mo. and ch. soon after. The Commander of the forces on Conn. riv. Maj. Savage, in despatch of 28 Mar. tells the story."
- ↑ Book 1, Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1638-1728, in Stott, Clifford L. Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002)
1:64.
"John Keep died [incomplete]"
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