b. 11 February 1867 or 1868, d. 7 October 1923
| Birth | 11 Feb 1867 or 1868 | James King Keys was born on 11 Feb 1867 or 1868 in Virginia.3,4 |
| Childhood | | James spend his childhood years in Washington County, Virginia, where his father was both an educator (having founded Liberty Hall Academy) and a minister. James had 4 half siblings from his father's first marriage, although one brother died before James's birth. Of his own 4 full siblings, one brother died in 1874 when James was 6. The 1880 census enumerated the family living in the Holston District of the county. Besides James and his parents the household included James's brothers David (16), Robert (14), and Bascom (10). However a few years later, in 1886, James Sr. died, as did David and Bascom.2 |
| Marriage | circa 1891 | He married Sarah F.V. Widner, daughter of Stephen Widener and Lydia Widener, circa 1891.4 |
| 28 Dec 1891 | Family tradition has long held that James's mother then took James and his surviving sibling Robert and headed west to live. However Washington County records establish that in December 1891 James and Robert executed a $600 bond to probate their mother's estate, suggesting if they did leave the area they probably did not make a permanent move.5 |
| | A marriage record for James and Sarah has not been located but census records suggest the marriage took place about 1891 and that Sarah was a native of Virginia. The couple's first 4 children were also born in Virginia (one may have been born in West Virginia).4 |
| Cens-1900 | 3 Jul 1900 | By 1900 James and Sarah had moved "west". They were recorded in 1900 living on Choctaw Indian lands in what would become part of the state of Oklahoma. James was employed as a coal miner. Sarah's entry indicated that she was the mother of 6 children, 5 of whom were living. They were recorded as: Lydia (8), William (6), Robert (4), Martha (3) and John (2 months).4 |
| Cens-1910 | 7 May 1910 | When Oklahoma became a state in 1907 LaFlore County was one of the counties created from the Choctaw Nation. The 1910 census again recorded James working as a coal miner. This time Sarah was listed as the mother of 12 children, only 7 of whom were living. Six children were listed with the family: Blaine W[illiam] (17), Robert (15), Martha (13), Clinton (8), Harvey (3) and Emma (1).6 |
| | This would seem to suggest that daughter Lydia may have still been living, but possibly was married (she would have been 18). However it also suggests that John who was an infant in 1900 had probably died before 1910. It also would indicate, if the census is accurate, that Sarah gave birth to 6 children between 1900 and 1910, 3 of whom did not survive to 1910. |
| Migration | | James and Sarah remained in Oklahoma for most of the next decade. Their oldest sons, William and Robert both registered for the World War I draft in neighboring Latimer County in 1917. The draft and later census records indicate that William (whose first name was James but who went by one of his two middle names) married in Oklahoma and had a child there prior to 1917. But at some point after that, James Sr. and his children all moved to Mesa County, Colorado. |
| | There James and his sons, William, Robert and Harvey, all found employment at the Midwest Coal Mine near Palisades which is located at the base of the "Grand Mesa" on the Colorado River. The mine had been shut down for some time but had reopened in 1923 under new management.
On Sunday, October 7, 1923, James and the 3 boys, along with another miner and the plant manager, were working in the mine when a gas explosion shook the mesa. James and his 3 sons were killed. The cause of the explosion was not clear, as the miners had not been working with explosives. Rescue workers theorized that the lamps worn by the miners may have ignited a pocket of gas deep under the Grand Mesa. One cannot begin to imagine how Sarah felt when she heard the news. |
| Death | 7 Oct 1923 | James died on 7 Oct 1923 in Mesa County, Colorado.7 |