Benton Co., AR - Biographies - Elijah Keith

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Elijah Keith, son of William B. and Sarah (May) Keith, was born March 
19, 1836, in Benton County, Ark. He received a limited education on 
account of the scarcity of schools, and at the age of ten began on the 
farm with his parents, where he continued until reaching manhood. At 
the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in Company G, Third 
Arkansas, but remained in that company for only a short time. He then 
enlisted in Company A, First Cherokee Volunteer Cavalry, Confederate 
service, and was in active duty until the close of the war. During 
that time he participated in numerous battles and skirmishes, the most 
important being at Springfield. When the news was received at [p.855] 
his station that Lee had surrendered he went to Ft. Smith and was 
there paroled. He was in Texas a short time, and then returned to his 
home in Benton County, and began working on the farm. Two years later 
be married Miss Prudy Anderson, daughter of Arch C. and Emily 
Anderson, who were formerly from Texas. Mrs. Keith was born in the 
last named State, and came to Arkansas after the close of the war 
(1867). To Mr. and Mrs. Keith were born ten children, eight now 
living: Alma, Lemuel H., Ora, Katie, Minnie, Grace, Stella and 
Blanche. The two children deceased were named Arthur and Bernice. 
After marriage Mr. Keith lived on the farm with his parents a short 
time, and then moved to a piece of timber land one and a fourth miles 
from where he has since lived, began homesteading a farm of eighty 
acres, and there remained for five years. He then moved to his present 
farm, which consists of fifty-eight acres of cleared land and eighty 
acres of timber land. Mr. Keith is a Democrat in politics, casting his 
first presidential vote for Hancock. He is a member of the Christian 
Union Church.