The Keillors, Stonemasons of Skelton

The village of Skelton-in-Cleveland is a lovely village in the northeast part of Yorkshire, England, near North Sea.

It is also the furthest back location to which we have documented the Keillor family, although surname maps suggest the Keillors are originally from Scotland.

 A few days before we left for our trip to the UK, I found this website, https://skeltonhistorygroup.wordpress.com, run by a group of individuals interested in the local history of the area. They had extracted names and dates from the parish registers which was very helpful. 

Using the “Contact Us” tab, I sent a brief
note of thanks and mentioned we hoped to
visit during our stay. In  the bustle of getting packed
I put it out of my mind. Within a day, I got a response
from Peter, who said we must be descended from
Thomas Keillor, stonemason, who had emigrated
to North America in the 1700s. He also said
he would be glad to give us a walking tour of
Skelton if we would let him know when we would be there.
How cool is that?!?

 On the way back from Glasgow, we set up to meet Peter in Church Lane, which leads to Old All Saints church. A gentleman who lives nearby unlocked the church for us and we spent a few minutes exploring until Peter arrived.

He came prepared with a booklet of documents, all pertaining to the Keillor family in the two generations they appear to have spent in Skelton. 

John Keillor and Ann Calvert were married in nearby Guisborough in 1723/24 (calendar issues!).  In 1725, he makes his first appearance in the records of the Skelton Church warden accounts for his assessments.

In 1730, he signed the church warden accounts:

In 1757, John’s son Thomas married Mary Thompson:

Then around 1774, Thomas emigrates to Canada (and that’s another blog post!)

After we walked around the church and Peter pointed out the section that would have been standing when John and Thomas lived there, we walked around the town, where Peter showed us the spot where Thomas is thought to have lived.

Then we treated him to lunch at the Royal George Pub. We had a great time, chatting as if we were old friends. Peter has since sent additional documents and suggestions.

Three generations of Keillors back in the ancestral hometown.

What a blessing the internet is as we seek to walk in our ancestors’ footsteps!

Uncle Benno

I never met Uncle Benno, but my husband Howard seems to hold very fond memories of him. He married Howard’s grandmother’s next older sister, Jane Elizabeth McDonald on 26 Oct 1922 in Huron County,  Michigan.

Benno Frederick Christian Hahn was the son of German immigrants, August R. and Fredericka (Boettcher) Hahn. When the United States declared war in April of 1917, Benno was already 26, elderly by military standards, but he ended up in the Army anyway. Because of his German parentage, he was not allowed to serve in the infantry, so he was assigned to the Ambulance Corps.

As Howard remembers it, Uncle Benno had Parkinson’s disease, because he had an arm with a serious tremor, so severe he would sit on it to keep it still, and wore a spot in his recliner from the vibrations. 

It wasn't until a few years ago that we learned it was not Parkinson’s – Uncle Benno had been wounded in the war, hit in the head by shrapnel in the land of his ancestry and carried his badge of courage throughout his life.

Evidence of his struggle is poignantly shown in his signature on his draft card in 1942 – the “Old Man’s Draft” as it became known because men between the ages of 45 to 64 years of age were required to register.

 Below are Mr. & Mrs. Benno Hahn and Mr. & Mrs. Howard Keillor, probably about the late 1920s.