Freestone County, Texas Towns Milton / Keechi Milton On March 1, 1852, the community got the post office called Milton with Ezekiel Higdon as its postmaster. Only six months later on Nov. 13, 1852, the post office name was changed to Keechi. *1* Elizabeth Daughterty mentions how the original settlement of Keechi moved from its first location which is unknown. *2* So it seems Milton might have been in a slightly different place from the later Keechi. I have not seen Ezekiel with kids in the 1855 scholastic census or later his family in the 1860 census. Post Office: March 1, 1852 to Nov. 13, 1852 School: Church: Cemeteries: Social Organizations: Businesses: Nearby Communities: Known Former Residents: Gammage, T. T. (attorney) Higdon, Ezekiel ------------------------------------------------------------ Keechi [of Freestone County] [NOTE - I feel there are some facts that could be incorrectly attributed to the wrong Keechi community since there is a larger Keechi community in Leon County. NOTE - Some old maps with heavy calligraphy make this look like "Beechi". An 1862 map by Pressler incorrectly spells this community as "Neeche". ] The community name of Keechi comes from the Keechi creek that runs through Freestone county. This is a different community than the more famous Keechi in nearby Leon county on the railroad that ran out of Palestine. On Nov. 13, 1852, the Milton post office was renamed to Keechi. Henry C. Stagner is the only known postmaster of Keechi, although there could have be others. Keechi appears in the list of post offices in Texas furnished by the postmaster of Galveston in December 1, 1856 to Dr. Braham that published in "Braman's Information About Texas" printed in Philadelphia in 1857. Keechi was apparently an old inn located on FM Road 1580 that goes south from Fairfield down to the Post Oak community. Located about 1 mile north of Keechi Creek. The Keechi inn was a stop for coaches and wagons enroute to Centerville. The 1860 Freestone County census that lists Keechi residents on pages 62 and 63. Keechi appears on maps as though it is Freestone County from 1862 to 1865. An 1865 map shows Keechi at the intersection of a road from Fairfield to the town of Navarro in Leon County and a road going from Leon County to Parker's Bluff on the Trinity River in route to Palestine in Anderson County. An 1862 map by Pressler incorrectly spells this community as "Neeche". A search of the people of Keechi is that a number of the men fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. After the American Civil War, on Nov. 5, 1866, the Keechi post office was discontinued. (Perhaps from a lack of soldiers returning from the war.) Through research by Linda Mullen, she has been able to link Keechi to its church. Church records tends to misspell the community's name another way. The church listed with a Fairfield post office as "Keechel" years 1866-1872. The link is that the delegate for the 1868 for the state meeting for the "Keechel" Baptist Church was Henry C. Stagner, who was the post master of the community. Keechi was site of a tannery and a shoe factory. Doc Hatcher ran a backsmith shop. William Moody owned a store at Keechi in 1916. Post Office: Nov. 13, 1852 to Nov. 5, 1866 School: Keechi / Keechie School - In 1887, the Keechie School had 72 Africian-American students. *3* The 1893 school year listed an enrollment of 45 black students. Social Organizations: Churches: "Keechel" Baptist Church *4* (at least active from 1865-1872) Trinity River Baptist Assocation; Pastor: G. W. Green; Clerk: J. B. Harrison; Delegates: J. B. Harrison, J. M. Webb, F. B. Matthews, total church membership: 19 in 1865. *5* In 1872 the Post office was listed as "Keechi Station". Pastor was N. E. Hooper, Clerk was W. R. Holloway, Delegates were D. W. Solomon, J. B. Harrison, and W. R. Holloway. *4* Cemeteries: Businesses: tannery shoe factory backsmith shop store Nearby Communities: KNOWN PAST RESIDENTS OF KEECHI: Bannerman, Robert J. & Catherine Criss, Benjamin & Martha Edwards, John Collins & Mary E. Johnson Green, Pastor G. W. Harrison, Charles W. & Caroline Harrison, Mrs. Elizabeth Harrison, Hibbard H. Harrison, John B. & Mary Hatcher, Doc Hester, Daniel & Ellen Hooper, Pastor N. E. Holloway, W. R. Johnson, Columbus Johnson, John L. & Mary Johnson, Melville G. Johnson, Mrs. Nancy Agnes McGough Johnson, Robert T. Johnson, Mrs. Ruth F. Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Wm. B. & Mary S. Lewis, Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis, John M. Lewis, Virgil L. Matthews, Franklin B. & Sarah Solomon, D. W. Stagner, Henry C. Webb, J. M. ========================================================================= *1* History of Freestone County, Vol I, pg. 32. *2* History of Freestone County, Vol I, pg. 86. *3* [Note - spelled as original document lists] *4* research by Linda Mullen *5* Trinity River Baptist Assocation records located at Baylor and scanned by Paula Snider.