Person:Mamie Keesy (1)

I have copies of her birth and death certificate and her will.

Mayme (Mamie on her birth certificate) Keesy was the fourth child of her parents Tom and Laura Thompson Keesy. She was born on the last day of the year of 1889. She always felt that her mother expected the girls of the family to wait on the two brothers. I have records of her attending school in the local school and attending two years of college in the nearby town of Salem. Her father was a was the owner of a local general store that was situated on the railroad tracks in the city of Bristol. They always considered their home as located in Bristol although it was situated on the border of East Salem. Her bather was also an agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. When she lived at home the train stopped in Bristol and the mail picked up and delivered there. In later years after she had married and had a child her father only put the mail in a sack that was placed on a tall post where the train reached out with an arm and snatched the mail bag.

With a loan from her father she moved to Smithfield West Virginia and started a millinery shop where she made and sold hats. I do not know where she learned her millinery skills. She met Olive Bonar who was teaching school in Smithfield and they became very good friends and they kept in touch the rest of their lives. They decided to go to Washington, D.C. during World War I to work for the government. Bonar's home was in Moundsville, West Virginia and several of her friends from home including Nelle Lancaster decided to come with her to work for the government.

My mother met Nelle's brother Ralph Lancaster who was then in the army and stationed at Fort Meade which was close to Washington, D. C. I believe they visited Smithfield before they were married and they probably visited Mayme's parents at that time. Neither one ever went back to West Virginia to live.

They were married on June 30, 1920 in Washington, D.C. My mother's close friend Helen Machen was her attendant. I do not believe any of my father's family was there. They did make a trip to visit both families after the wedding. I believe they traveled by train as both families could be reached by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The story was that they skipped out early and went over the hill at my grandfather's farm to get to the Railroad and prevent the Chilvery (a celebration for newlyweds}. I guess they were ready for it the next year.

Mayme continued to work for the government until she was pregnant with her first and only child, daughter Betty.

She never worked outside the home again.

1. ↑ Birth Certificate.
2. ↑ Death Certificate.