Keepers Family of Salem County, New Jersey

Group 15

        In the J. V. Hollingsworth Collection, Chester County, PA, the births and baptisms of some of

        the children of William & Esther Keepers (Group 1) and John & Elizabeth Keepers are listed. 

        The records for William & Esther's family are from Holy Trinity Church, also known as Old Swedes

        Church, Wilmington, Delaware, and those for John & Elizabeth's family are from Swedish Lutheran

        churches of Raccoon and Penn's Neck, New Jersey. 

    John & Elizabeth had two sons: Thomas, born in 1753, and John, born in 1766.  Thomas was

    a non-combat veteran of the Revolutionary War.  According to his pension application, whenever

    his regiment arrived at a battle site, the fighting had moved on.  He was never involved in an

    engagement.  No family members are mentioned in his pension application.

    It is possible that the other son, John, is "John of Carlisle," the progenitor of group 10, and he

    also may be Lieutenant John Keepers, Huntingdon County, PA, militiaman, 1793. 

    The data on this family is scanty.  Marriages, if any, of the eight daughters are unknown at this time.

Please note:  I have taken the liberty of assuming an error in the Hollingsworth letter.  The original letter has Elizabeth baptized in 1730 at age 26. I believe the year of baptism should be 1750. Accordingly, in this genealogy, I have placed her birth about 1724.  The records show that all ten of her children were born from 1753 through 1770.  It seems doubtful that these children would belong to a woman born in 1704.  Three's and five's can be difficult to distinguish in early handwritten records.