During the Crimean War, Thomas Keep was just ten years old and a Bugler with the Third Battalion of the Grenadier Guards.  He took part in the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854.  Despite the heavy bombardment from General Menshikov’s Russian forces, Thomas bravely built a fire to provide warmth and tea for the troops.  He went out under fire to assist the wounded in the field, and continued despite being badly wounded.  Thomas was given the title of “Boy Hero” by the troops.  His courage was acknowledged by J. E. Rankin’s poem “Thomas Keep of Battersea.”

 

                                                        

James Miller Keep, born at Pepperell, Massachusetts, on 8 December 1822 invented roller skates at the age of fifteen.  In 1846 he manufactured chewing gum and was the first person to market it.  James also patented Parafine paper in 1876, which was widely used in the confectionery trade.

KEEP TRIVIA

Nathan Cooley Keep, was born 23 December 1800, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.  He was a pioneer in the field of dentistry, invented and manufactured many dental tools used even today, and is credited with being one of the first to manufacture porcelain teeth.  Dr. Keep founded the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and was its first Dean. He was a founder and the first president of the Massachusetts Dental Society and was an officer of the American Association of Dental Surgeons.   Dr. Keep had a partnership in his dental practice with William Morton, credited by many to first demonstrate the use of surgical anesthesia, and he was prominently involved in the controversy with Morton and others over the restrictions set by Morton of its use. 

Dr. Keep was the first in the Western Hemisphere to use anesthesia in childbirth, administering ether to Fanny Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife, on the occasion of her daughter's birth on 7 April 1847.  He was the first person to identify a corpse at a trial through dental records, which led to John White Webster, a professor of chemistry at the Harvard Medical School, being convicted and hanged for the murder of George Parkman, a prominent physician and member of the Boston Brahmin elite.

Theodore Keep was a co-founder of Liberty Records.  He was chief of engineering at the label and introduced a number of innovations to commercial sound recording, and electronic music. He is also known for lending his name to the character of Theodore from The Chipmunks.

 

Byron William Keep, born 9 January 1917 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and died on 22 July 2000 in Portland, Oregon, was a pioneer of early morning-drive broadcasting.  From 1944 until Valentine's Day, 1979, Byron or "Ol' Barn," as he was known, broadcast his show "Keeptime" for KEX in Portland. To celebrate his 30th year in broadcasting, Oregon Governor Tom McCall declared 28 Dec 1975 as "Barney Keep Day."

Angela Keep, born 1981, is an Australian actress, who made her television debut playing Jenny Kelly on the sitcom Hey Dad..!. She also starred in children's mini series, Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord and in the drama Breakers.  Angela played Skye Patterson in the sitcom Home and Away.  Among her film credits are Garage Days, and Ned Kelly.

 

Please send suggestions for additions to Bob Warner.

The Rev. John Keep, 1781 - 1870,  was a very prominent clergyman in the United States.  He established churches, was trustee of Auburn Theological Seminary, of Hamilton College, and of Oberlin College as well as serving as President of its Board of Trustees. He is included in the huge portrait of the 1840 Convention of the Anti-Slavery Society found in the National Portrait Gallery in London, painted by Haydon.  A computer beside the painting identifies him.

Oliver  Hildreth Keep, b 1832, invented the shirt that could be bought with the collar and cuff already sewed on.  Prior to this, shirts apparently came in 4 separate pieces--body, collar and two cuffs.  The patent description in 1872:  The present invention consists principally in a shirt front bosom and yoke, combined in such a manner as to cause them to conform to the shape of a person having a certain neck measurement.  It consists further in a shirt front yoke and bosom combined in the usual manner, and provided with suitable guide marks or lines whereby the dimensions of the same may be varied to cause the article to fit any person of ordinary size.

The Keep with the longest name is Francisca d'Ararauma Marianna Pereira Filippe Luiz Anna Izabel Keep.  She was born in Brazil  in 1869  where her father, Calvin William Keep, spent some years after the U. S. Civil War.

Lucy Gunn Keep, b 1868 married Ralph Isham in 1893.  She died one year later leaving a child, Albert Keep Isham, 1894 - 1931,Captain, U. S. Army.  The Aeolian Skinner organ in Harvard's Memorial Church was donated by his father in 1932 in his memory. Albert was in the Harvard class of 1915.  The gift of the organ marked the beginning of the Isham Memorial Library at Harvard, in which a very excellent and complete collection of early organ music was amassed including  Bach and other important composers.
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DUCKING STOOL  The Thetford Borough Records in Norfolk note that in 1579 “Briggett Kepas, the wife of Thomas Kepas and on(e) Bakers wife were each docstolled for skoullinge”.  To put this into modern English, “Thomas Keep’s wife Bridget and the Baker’s wife had to endure the ducking-stool for being coarse abusive persons”.  More often associated with claims of witchcraft, the ducking-stool was a form of social humiliation, similar to the stocks.  This reference constitutes one of the earliest records of the practise in England.

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A KEEP FAMILY QUARREL MAKES THE NEW YORK TIMES

1877

 

A Step-Mother Who Could Not Agree with Her Step-Son

 

Dr. Lester Keep, a physician of extensive practice in Brooklyn, and now over 84 years old, having buried his first wife in March, 1876, married Caroline J. Yoemans, an M. D., aged about 40 years.  A son of Dr. Keep, Dr. S. Hopkins Keep, lived in the same house with his father and step-mother, had his office in the basement, and his professional sign was hung in the front.  Shortly after the arrival of Mrs. Keep, M. D., the step-son had to take down his sign and vacate the premises.  Whereupon, Mrs. Keep put up her tablet as a practicing physician.  Dr. S. Hopkins Keep thereupon commenced two suits in the Supreme Court of Kings Country, one against his father for the recovery of moneys advanced to him for the erection of a monument at Fair Haven, Conn., and the other against the father and step-mother to decide the amount of his interest in the house on Gates and Vanderbilt Avenues, from which he was ejected.

 

The matter was brought to trial, and afterward, by consent, was referred to Eugene H. Pomeroy to decide the issues.  The Referee’s report, which was filed recently, finds that Dr. Lester Keep was the owner of the premises in question, and that in 1872 it was agreed between him and the son, that if the son would assist in defraying the household expenses the house should revert to him on the death of the father and his then wife.  After the death of the first Mrs. Keep, a further agreement of the same tenor was entered into between the father and son.  Dr. S. Hopkins Keep, in pursuance of this agreement, laid out large sums of money in the payment of household expenses, taxes &c., and in May, 1875, the father made a will devising the house to the son.  In March, 1877, notwithstanding the agreement, Dr. Lester Keep, for a nominal consideration, deeded the property to his second wife—the Doctor”—and destroyed his will.  On the strength of this conveyance, Mrs. Keep, M. D., demanded that her step-son should pay rent for his apartments or clear out.  The Referee finds the conveyance to Mrs. Keep was in fraud of the rights of the plaintiff, and he directs judgment for the plaintiff for $5,478.22, with interest to accrue and costs, enforceable at the death of his father.

The Keep River rises in the Northern Territory of Australia and flows for approximately 107 miles before entering the Timor Sea atJoseph Bonaparte Gulf. It was named after Henry Francis Keep, born 27 January 1863 in Wollaston Northamptonshire, and died on 26 September 1905 in Perth, Western Australia. Henry, together with John Craigie, made an early examination of this river in May 1888. It is home to the endangered Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis microdon). Part of its course runs through an area now designated as the Keep River National Park. It falls within the Aboriginal tribal area of the Mirriuwoong and Gadjerong Aboriginal People, and contains an indigenous Australian art site. It has a number of striking sandstone formations.