Breckinridge County, VA - BIO: Mahala Keenan, 1844-1900

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Mahala Keenan:

Mahala Keenan left the community of Highway, Clinton County, Kentucky, by covered 
wagon headed for Texas early in 1899.  Though the railroad was available for travel 
westward, she had no support, meager funds, but enormous faith.  Born in Shelby County, 
Indiana, to John O. and Anne Reed in 1844, she had gone with her family to Clay County, 
Illinois, as a young girl.  In 1862, she married Patrick Benjamin Keenan, Sr., in Clay County.
They had five children while living near Xenia, Illinois.  The children were: Henrietta (1863);
Charles Sherman (1864); Clara Mae (1867); Joel Talbert (1871); and Vernella Myrtle (1875).

This Keenan family then migrated to Breckinridge County, Kentucky, where Patrick had been 
born and where his relatives resided.  Near Falls of Rough, two more children were born 
to Patrick and Mahala: Wilbur Elvis (1878), and Elva L. (1882).  Mahala,  a deeply religious 
person, began to preach the gospel during this period as a Methodist preacher; her husband, 
with the help of others, built the Keenan Chapel at old Hickory Lick in Breckinridge County 
for Mahala. She was known to have ridden a white jackass through the rugged  hill country 
and woods of that part of the county, ministering to farmers and their families, share 
croppers, miners, and blacks. 

Mahala's husband Patrick died in 1896 and is buried in the small cemetery at Hickory Lick 
next to the former site of the Keenan Chapel; the church no longer exists, but the old 
corner stones for the frame building can yet be located there.  Mahala next found refuge 
near Highway, Kentucky, so named because when the community post office was dedicated, 
no name had been selected.  A local minister randomly opened his Bible to  Isaiah (53:8).  

These verses  are about 'the highway to heaven.' So, the minister declared..... ' the name 
of this community shall be Highway.'  It was while living near Highway, Kentucky, that Mahala 
learned she was suffering with tuberculosis.  It was determined that the warmer climate of 
Texas would benefit her declining health.  Then, in 1899, began the long and arduous wagon 
trip.  Accompanying Mahala was her youngest son, Elva,  her daughter Myrtle and Myrtle's 
husband, Joseph F. Curtis.    

Shortly after this troupe arrived in Sunnyside, Texas, Mahala died.  The trip had taken 
almost one year to complete.  She is buried in the Keenan Cemetery near Sunnyside in Wilson 
County, Texas.  This cemetery is unique in that it only has one gravestone in it.  Also, 
the stone is located in the fork of the "Y" formed by the intersection of Farm to Market 
Roads .....  FM 427 and FM 537.  The tall marble stone is engraved on its front:

            Mahala Keenan                                   Elva L. Keenan
            30 April 1844                                    17 April 1882
             25 Jan 1900                                     17 May 1900
           Wife of Patrick                             Son of Patrick and Mahala

And so, Mahala's young eighteen year old son Elva lived only four months after his 
mother's death.  Both are buried in the same grave. The rear of their grave marker 
has engraved upon it the single word  "Grandson."  The grandson refers to a son of 
Joseph and Myrtle (Keenan) Curtis since none of Mahala's other grandsons were ever 
in Texas.  This grandson, no doubt, was responsible for having the gravestone placed 
on the grave of his grandmother and uncle.

Two of Mahala's sons, Joel Talbert Keenan and Wilbur Elvis Keenan were ordained 
ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Mahala's obituary stated that she was 
buried in "new ground" near Sunnyside, Texas.  Thus, this woman of inestimable strength 
and towering love for fellow humans, left Highway, Kentucky, and came to rest near two 
highways in Wilson County, Texas.      
   
END
   
Francis W. Keenan, Ph.D.

The research for this short essay took a number of years but is now completed.  

A photo of Mahala Keenan can be viewed:

http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/bios/mahala.jpg