Life History

Notes

• 1850 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 11 November, Page 257, Hse/Fam #1521
  William Terry  39  M  Farmer  $1175 Real Estate SC [born abt 1811]
  Jula [Julia] A Terry  26 F  NC [born abt 1824]
  Dianna Terry 10  F  GA [born abt 1840]
  
  Note the spelling of her name in the census.  Terry family genealogies spell her name Deanna, although one spells it Diannah.  Deanna Terry, reported by Terry family sources to have married a Martin Keith, matches the wife of M L Keith in the 1860 Murray County, Georgia, census.  M L's wife in the census, however, is reported as Catherine.  It could be that Deanna's full name was Deanna Catherine.
  
  In 2014, I found a photo of Dianna in my grandmother's photos.  My grandmother was Julia Virginia (Jennie) Terry Jenkins.  She was the oldest child of Dianna's brother Thomas Duncan Terry.  In her photos given to me after the death of her son, my father, was a photo of Jennie's mother Mattie Wall Terry with Dianna.  Jennie had written on the back:
  "Mother feeding chickens  ---  Dianna."
  
  Perhaps this was the way her family spelled her Aunt Dianna's name.  Because Mattie and Dianana are together in the photo, this must before Thomas and Mattie moved from Murray County, Georgia in late 1900.  Dianna and her husband Martin Lafayette Keith did not move to Indian Territory with Thomas and Mattie, but did move to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 30 July, District 1013, PO Hoplers Mills, page 101, Hse #717, Fam #681
  M L Keith 23 M Farm Laborer $320 Personal Estate born Georgia [abt 1837]
  Catherine Keith 22 F born Georgia [abt 1838]
  
  The M L Keith who married Catherine is the son of Martin and Jane Keith who were living about three houses from M L in Georgia Militia District 1013 in 1860.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 30 July, Militia District 1013, PO Hoplers Mills, page 101, Hse #714, Fam #678
  Martin Keith 68 M Farmer $420 Real Estate $3745 Personal born Virginia [abt 1792]
  Jane Keith 63 F born South Carolina [abt 1797]
  
  Some genealogies reporting on the Keith lineage have the father of Martin and John B Keith as Joel Martin or Joel Mackey Keith, and his mother as Mary Jane Roper.  The birth information of Mary Jane matches this Jane Keith.  However, J M is reported as born 1799, while Martin Keith is reported by census age as born in 1792.  Wes Covey reports the birth state of Joel Mackey Keith as South Carolina.  But the censuses of 1850 and 1860 report that Martin Keith (married to Jane) was born in Virginia.  The census agrees with Covey that Jane (and Mary Jane Roper) were born in South Carolina.
  
  Living next door is a family named McClure, and next to the McClures is a Stovall family.  I know the Stovall name from a listing of family members given to my mother by my grandmother, Julia Virginia Terry in the 1950s.  Among names of some of her brothers and others was the name Rondell Stovall.  This name was vaguely familiar to me from my childhood, but neither I nor my mother can make any meaningful connection.  Perhaps the Stovalls were related to the Terrys and Keiths while they all lived in Georgia.
  
  Next to the Stovalls we find one of Martin and Mary Jane's children, Martin Lafayette Keith, and his young wife Catherine.  They have no children.  This Catherine appears to be the person known in earlier Terry censuses as Deanna Terry. Richard Bates reports that Deanna married a Martin Keith, but had no information on Martin.  She went by Catherine in later life. See also City Directory below.
  
  The Catherine here matches Deanna.  This Martin is the right age to match.  Thus this person's full name appears to be Deanna Catherine Terry (or perhaps Catherine Deanna).  The full names and birth information of Deanna Catherine and Martin Lafayette Keith are reported in Bates' and others' genealogies of the Keiths.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 30 July, Militia District 1013, PO Hoplers Mills, page 101, Hse #717, Fam #681
  M L Keith 23 M Farm Laborer [No Real Estate] $320 Personal  born Georgia [abt 1837]
  Catherine Keith 22 F born Georgia [abt 1838]
  
  By the time of the 1900 census, Martin and Mary Catherine, also called Kate, have moved to Whitfield County, Georgia.  Whitfield County is bordered on the north by Hamilton County, Tennessee, where Cattanooga is located.
  
  1900 Federal Census, Whitfield County, Georgia, 24 June, Dalton District outside Dalton Town, District 105, Page 18, House #326, Family #347
  Keith, Martin L  Head W M Nov 1835 64  Married 42 years  GA SC SC Farmer  Owns Farm
  Keith, Catherine  Wife W F Feb 1838 62  Married 42 years  2 children/2 living GA SC TN
  Keith, Martin J  Son W M Jul 1882  17  Single GA GA GA Farm Laborer
  
  U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989
  Chattanooga, Tennessee, City Directory, 1907, p 373
  Keith Catherine wid Martin L r 205 Main R'dale [Rockdale]
  
  U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989
  Chattanooga, Tennessee, City Directory, 1912, p 373
  Keith Catherine wid Martin L r 1205 Watkins R'dale [Rockdale]
  
  Catherine died in Chattanooga.
  
  "KEITH, M. L., Died prior to 1915. His wife, Kate, was 77yrs. when she died in Chatt. and was buried in Pleasant Valley. [CT June 21, 1915]".
  --  "Hamilton County Confederates," The Chattanoogan, 16 August 2005
  
  The paper does not give a location for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery.  The wording implies it is in Chattanooga.  I cannot identify the Pleasant Valley Cemetery the paper refers to.  I cannot find a cemetery by this name in Chattanooga or in Murray County, Georgia, where they had previously lived.  There is a Pleasant Valley Cemetery in nearby Whitfield Cuonty, Georgia, where they lived prior to moving into Chattanooga.

Sources

• 1. The Chattanoogan, "Hamilton County Confederates" 16 August 2005
• 2. 1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 30 July, Militia District 1013, PO Hoplers Mills, page 101, Hse #717, Fam #681
• 3. 1870 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 25 July, Militia District 1013, PO Spring Place, page 9 (scan p 548), Hse/Fam #61
• 4. 1900 Federal Census, Whitfield County, Georgia
  • 24 June, Dalton District outside Dalton Town, District 105, Page 18, House #326, Family #347
• 5. 1850 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 11 November, Page 222, Hse/Fam #1521
• 6. Ancestry Trees
  • Richard Bates, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rbbates1302004&id=I05502
• 7. Terry Family
• 8. 1880 Federal Census, Catooga County, Georgia
  • 11 June, Catooga District 1109, Enumeration District 13, page 14, Hse #129, Fam #135
• 9. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995
  • Chattanooga, Tennessee, City Directory, 1907, p 373
• 10. Julia Virginia Terry Jenkins