Stephen Folk Keepers[1]
Rank: Sergeant, Company H, 158th
Pennsylvania Infantry
Born/died: July 15, 1830 – June 17, 1905
Cause of death: Chronic
diarrhea and piles
Residence at death:
Hustontown, Pennsylvania
Served: October 16, 1862 –
August 12, 1863
Age at enlistment: 32
Claim filed: March 15, 1890
Remarks:
There are a number of
affidavits in the pension file attesting to the marriage of Stephen to Jane A.
Campbell. They were not previously
married nor were they divorced. Witnesses included John M. Latherow, Chicago,
Illinois, Sylvester B. Woollet and Elizabeth Woollet, McConnellsburg, John
Laidig and Henry C. Mathias, Hustontown.
Affidavits of disability,
during March through May, 1890, stated that Stephen was healthy before the war
and he was treated “for hemorrhoids
after obtuse pain in the region of the spleen.” He had chronic diarrhea and piles and “could not do a half-day’s
work.” Joseph D. Stevens stated that
Stephen had helped him build a barn in 1891.
The muster rolls show Stephen
as present from November 4, 1862, to April, 1863. In the file, he was last paid to April 30, 1863. An amount for clothing in kind or money
advanced was $32.75. He enrolled in Captain Sipes’ company, which became
company H. Some of the cards state enrollment in company H, 158th
Pennsylvania “Drafted Militia” Infantry.
The rate of his pension was $12/month.
It appears that this amount was also paid to his widow through April 4,
1915.
Stephen and Jane had four
children, and by 1900, none were living.
Stephen’s brother, William
Franklin Keepers, served as a Private in Company D, 20th Illinois
Volunteer Infantry.