Keown Family of Victoria and Kent Counties, Ontario, Canada

According to Irish Ancestors, the Keowns and Mills families came from Scotland

to the Derry area of Ireland.

JOHN KEOWN

Born: about 1807 in Northern Ireland (per Ken Keown)
Died: at age 52 (about 1859)
Married near Lindsay, Ontario, about 1830 Catharine/Katherine Mills (1810/12- 1863 or age 84)

John (some say Robert) Keown came from North Ireland, probably the northwest. A John Keown was located on lot #24, Conc. 8, Frontenac Co. in 1878. This is on the edge of Loughborough, north of Kingston. He is thought to have arrived in Canada about 1828. They had a farm near Omemee and Lindsay, between Peterborough and Fenlou Falls. There is a Moore's Falls in this area, but Moore is a common name. There are a number of Keowns buried in Dwight farther north. There were three marriages between the Moore-Keown families, Robert, John and Ester.

Some of Keown descendants lived in Chicago, IL for awhile. Information on these families comes from several sources: Lois Meldrum Parker, Jean Plain, and Muriel Montgomery.
The following is copied from a document supplied by Jean Plain. "My father (Thomas Meldrum) visited her [Catherine Mills Keown]....He said he filled her pipe for her. She was a chubby old dear and looked a bit like a feather tick with a string tied round her middle." The documents mentions a newspaper clipping about the Widow Meldrum's cow which got into her root cellar and ate so much it died, and a farewell party for Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Keown.

Children:
Mary Anne Keown (1832) married Thomas Lockhart.
In addition to her own five children she raised her brother Tom Keown's daughter Violet whose mother died in childbirth. This family lived near Fenelon Falls.

^i. Annie Lockhart married Sam Ellis (nephew of Sarah Jane Ellis).
^ii. Aggie Lockhart married Fred Smitherson.
^iii. Lavinia "Vina" Lockhart married John Barrett.
^iv. William Lockhart married Ellen Ellis (cousin of Sarah Jane Ellis).
^v. Harry Lockhart married unknown

James Keown (about 1835) went west to British Columbia.

John Keown (1839-1881) married Nov. 24, 1864 in Northumberia to Est(h)er Moore (1842-1915). This family lived near Fenelon Falls for 12-14 years, and then moved to the Ridgetown area. John died after being kicked in the abdomen by a horse. After his death Esther moved to a house in either Thamesville, Kingsville, or Highgate and kept boarders.

^i. John Keown (1868) married Vina Beau (5 children)
^ii. William Keown (1870) married Ida (5 children)
^iii. Henrietta "Ett" Keown (1872-1930) married Dec. 24, 1901 Thomas Meldrum, son of Sarah Jane Ellis Meldrum.
A. Lois A. Meldrum (1904) married Dr. N. H. Parker. Dr. Parker retired from McMaster's Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, 1966.
B. Lloyd Meldrum
C. Willard Meldrum
D. Haddon Meldrum
^iv. Franklin Keown (1874) married Hilda Miller (5 children)
^v. Bertha Keown (1876) married Arthur Thompson.
^vi. Ida Keown (1879) married Harvey Berry. Ida was always teased about being born in a "pig pen" because the old log house where she born was converted to a pig sty after the new house was built.

Robert Keown (1841) married in 1865 to Eliza Jane Moore (about 1844).


Eliza Jane Moore Keown
Information for these families provided by Muriel Montgomery and Jean Plain. The order of the children varies: Joseph, James, Kate, Libbie, Robert, Samuel, Annie, Thomas, William; or:
^i. James Keown married Lena Matilla Tyler

Lenna Matilla Tyler Keown
Thanks to Cherie Prentice of WIndsor, Ontario for the pictures of Eliza and Lenna.
A. Earl Keown
B. Clarence Keown
C. Evelyn Keown
 ^ii. Hannah Catherine "Kate" Keown married James Wesley O'Flaherty. He dropped the "O'" and they became the Flahertys.
^iii. John Albert Keown married Ethel Tyler (sister of Lena-so are they Taylors or Tylers???)
A. Beatrice Keown married James Cotton
 ^iv. Martha Elizabeth "Libbie" Keown married William Cousins.
^v. Robert Keown married first Gertrude Myland, married second Maude Weaver.
A. John Wesley Keown ^vi. Annie Rosella Keown (1882-1919) married John Leigh Gosnell (1882-1950).
A. Muriel Gosnell married John Montgomery. Muriel is another Chatham School of Nursing graduate.
B. Kathleen Fay Gosnell (died 1980), single
C. Anna Jean Gosnell married Bruce Millard
D. Mildred Elizabeth Gosnell (died 1987) Dr. Andrew Green.
E. Leah Beverly Gosnell (1917) married Oct. 5, 1949 Preston Lawrence Stansell (1910).
1. Susan Beverly Stansell (July 29, 1950)
 ^vii. Thomas Keown married first Nita Rumble, married second Jessie Claus.
^viii. William Newton Keown married Mildred Alderton.
A. Percy Keown
B. Harvey Keown
C. Margaret Keown married Gordon Montgomery
1. Hugh Montgomery
2. Kaye Montgomery
 ^ix. Samuel Keown
^x. Joseph Keown
^xi. George Keown

Thomas Keown (1846-1928) married unknown.

^i. Everitt Keown married Christine Patterson
^ii. Violet Keown, she was raised Thomas' sister Mary.
Thomas married second Sarah Jane (Ellis) Meldrum
^iii. Octavia Keown (1886-died young with TB)
^iv. Hilliard Keown (1888) remained single.
^v. Irene Keown (1889/90-1966) married Thomas Abraham McMasters (1883-1964). Thomas was the second child of William McMaster (1831-1931) and Sarah Crundell (1858- 1934).
A. Iva McMasters (1912-1991) married Everitt Ede(1909-1988) (no children)
B. Bessie McMasters (1913) married Lewellyn Wakefield(1905-1971)
C. Clava McMasters (1915-1964) married John Holman(died 1978)
D. George McMasters (1918-1984) married Frances Warwick (1919-1989)
E. Anne McMasters (1918) married Leslie Harris.
F. Jean McMasters (1919) married Howard Plains.
G. Thomas Lloyd McMasters (1922-1922) H. Gwen McMasters (1926) married Clayton Steele

Ruth Keown (twin, 1846-Aug. 20, 1911, age 65) married Richard Morgan Moore (Jan. 1842-June 2, 1932, age 92 yrs, 5 mons) Ruth and Thomas were twins. Lois Meldrum Parker has a memory as a little girl of baked goodies hanging in baskets in Aunt Ruth's cellar.

Sam Keown (1848-1913) married Jane Anne Jones daughter of James Jones and Bessie Lytle who came from Ireland about 1840 and settle in Cavan Twp. They lived in Verulam Twp, Fenelon, Eldon. She died in Mariposa Twp. ^i. Lavina "Vina" Keown married Mr. Campbell ^ii. Herbert William Keown (Nov. 9, 18?0-May 13, 1947) married Jan. 18, 1905 Violet May Herron?(July 29, 1884- Aug. 6, 1953). A. Stella Irene Keown (Feb. 6, 1907) married May 25, 1927 Lorne A. Waddell (1894-1967)) B. Ivan Everett Keown (Dec. 1, 1908-Jan. 18, 1939) C. Hazel Pearl Keown (Dec. 4, 1910) married March 3, 1945 Harry Oke (Nov. 26, 1903). (No children.) D. Violet Elva Keown (Sept. 20, 1913) married 1938 Edward McLeod (Sept. 11, 1914) E. Marvin Samuel Keown (Jun. 30, 1915-Feb. 8, 1971) married 1942 Ada Eleanor Winn (1916) F. ? Arley Keown (1918) married 1955 Tom Lewis (Sept. 2?, 1915-Feb. 17, 1977) G. Reginald Keown (1920) H. Herbert Stephen Keown (Sept. 3, 1923-Feb. 13, 1983) married 1942 Viloet ?r (1922) I. Clare Keown (July 6, 1929-July 22, 1992) ^iii. Stephen Keown ^iv. Pearl Keown (died age 17) ^v. Grenville Keown

George Keown (about 1851) married Emma ? ^i. a daughter

Kate Keown (about 1853) married Bob Smith ^i. Lena Smith married Mr. Galbraith. ^ii. Bob Smith married Anna. ^iii. Ethel Smith, remained single

Hannah Keown (1855-192?) married Dan Smith, a widower with two or three children.

William Keown (1858-1918/19) married Alice Baldwin (1855-1935?) ^i. James Earle Keown (1887-1967) ^ii. Violet Elizabeth Keown (1890-197?) married Hert Trott. ^iii. Frederick Keown (1897-1921)

Carrie Keown (1860) married Sam Ellis (brother of Sarah Jane Ellis Meldrum) ^i. Harry Ellis ^ii. Olive Ellis married ? Locke. ^iii. Gordon Ellis

Franicis Keown (1862-as infant 1862)

Archibald Keowm (1863-as infant 1863)

Keown and Ontario Links

Richard Morgan Moore Family
One of the 3 Moore children who married 3 Keown children.
Pictures Orford Township, Kent Co., Ontario
Pictures and lot map for Orford Twp., Kent Co., ONT
Lot map, Palmyra Icehouse, Morpeth Church

Joyce Hodges

jehodges@email.com
Bonner Springs, KS 66012-7293
United States