Family Group Sheet
NameAbraham Kegley
Birth4 Aug 1806, Wythe Co., Virginia56
FatherChristian Kegley (1774-1831)
MotherCatherine Leedy
Other spousesRachel Leedy
Marriageabt 1862, Kentucky
SpouseRutha Williams
Birthabt 1830, Virginia
Notes for Rutha Williams
Rutha is listed as 32 in the 1870 census and as 52 in the 1880 census, implying a birthdate somewhere between 1827 and 1838. It is probably at one end or the other, and one of the censuses is 10 years off.
Census Notes for Abraham & Rutha (Family)
1870 census of Elliott Co., Ky, Moccasin precinct, enumerated July, lists as family #87:
Kegly, Absalum, 64; Rutha, 32; Robert, 16; Benton, 14; Jane, 12; Missouri, 7. All born in Virginia.
What is very curious to me about the above record is that the 1860 census does not show any children who could be Robert, Benton or Jane. (The youngest family member in 1860 is Sam W., age 8.) This may mean that they are step-children of Abraham, and entered the family with Rutha. But if so, either the enumerator forgot to show a change of surname, or else her first husband was also a Kegley.
1880 census of Elliott Co., Ky, Moccasin precinct, enumerated June, lists as family #220:
Kegley, Abraham, 73, farmer, b. Va/Va/NC; Rutha, wife, 52, b. VA/-/-; Williams, W. A., 4, step-grandson, b. Ky/Ky/Ky.
Note that although Rutha has a grandson named W. A. Williams, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she was the widow of a Williams. She might have had a daughter who married a Williams.
Kegly, Absalum, 64; Rutha, 32; Robert, 16; Benton, 14; Jane, 12; Missouri, 7. All born in Virginia.
What is very curious to me about the above record is that the 1860 census does not show any children who could be Robert, Benton or Jane. (The youngest family member in 1860 is Sam W., age 8.) This may mean that they are step-children of Abraham, and entered the family with Rutha. But if so, either the enumerator forgot to show a change of surname, or else her first husband was also a Kegley.
1880 census of Elliott Co., Ky, Moccasin precinct, enumerated June, lists as family #220:
Kegley, Abraham, 73, farmer, b. Va/Va/NC; Rutha, wife, 52, b. VA/-/-; Williams, W. A., 4, step-grandson, b. Ky/Ky/Ky.
Note that although Rutha has a grandson named W. A. Williams, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she was the widow of a Williams. She might have had a daughter who married a Williams.
