BIO: Benjamin McKeehan, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2011.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

                               CHAPTER LX.

                       WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

583  WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

  BENJAMIN McKEEHAN, farmer, P. O. Kerrsville, is a grandson of 
Benjamin McKeehan, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, whose first 
settlement in Cumberland County, Penn., was near the Conodoguinet, in 
what is now West Pennsborough Township.  At that time he was only 
eleven years of age, but three brothers came with him:  John, James and 
Alexander; they were the possessors of plenty of ready money, for an 
immense tract of land was purchased, extending from within a half mile 
from Newville to Mount Rock.  Benjamin McKeehan was a Revolutionary 
soldier, and after the close of the war returned to this township; a 
few years later he married Margaret Wilson, and their first daughter, 
Mary, was born June 15, 1782, followed by the birth of Chrissy in 1784, 
Jane in 1787, John in 1789, William in 1793, and Margaret in 1797.  
This pioneer couple died, the father October 23, 1814, and the mother 
April 24, 1829.  The youngest son (father of our subject) was married, 
in 1833, to Rebecca, daughter of James McManes, who came from Ireland 
when a young man, and settled near Plainfield; was married to Ann 
Holtsoppel, and had the following children:  Irvin, Esther, Rebecca and 
John.  To William McKeehan and wife six children were born:  Margaret, 
Benjamin, Thaddeus S., Grizzell, Rebecca C. and Jane M.  Thaddeus S. 
was a volunteer in Company E, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment 
Pennsylvania Infantry, and fell in the memorable battle of Antietam, 
upon which bloody field he was buried.  William McKeehan lived a long 
and useful life, and died in April, 1871.  His good widow finds a 
pleasant home with her son and daughter in the old mansion where her 
married life has been spent, and has passed her eighty-first birthday, 
having lived to see Cumberland Valley transformed from a forest into 
elegant farms, dotted with fine residences and prosperous villages.  
The children are of that intelligent class that may be expected from 
those who carry in their veins the blood of a Revolutionary soldier.