The Keeler Family Tree
Second Generation
Joseph Strike - Ludham, Norfolk, England 29 Feb 1832 - 24 Jan 1913
Elizabeth Olive Cain - Carlton, Orleans County, New York 15 Oct 1835 - 22 Feb 1902
Married Carlton, New York 28 Sep 1852
They had 5 children
John Oliver - Carlton, Orleans County, New York 4 Mar 1855
Emma O. - Carlton, Orleans County, New York 28 Aug 1857
Parria Sadie Ann - Carlton, Orleans County, New York 28 May 1860
unnamed baby - New York - died in infancy
Grant L. -New York 29 May 1868
View Civil War Records
In 1849, at age seventeen, Joseph left his home in England and traveled to
America, settling in Orleans County, New York. The Keelers lived in Orleans County,
New York, residing at Carlton, and later Barre. On August 13, 1862, Joseph
Keeler enlisted in the 151st Regiment, Company A. in the Civil War, at Medina, New York.
He was 29 years old, five feet seven 1/2 inches high, light complexion, blue eyes,
light hair, and by occupation a farmer. He served three years, part of which he
spent as a nurse in the Filbert Street Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was
discharged April 27, 1865 at Philadelphia. The assistant surgeon who examined him at the time
of his enlistment stated that he was well acquainted with Joseph S. Keeler and remembered
examining him at the time of his enlistment, that he was sound in body and mind
and tough deponent, and that he was not sick until soon after being detailed to
care for a smallpox case at Lafayette Square, Baltimore.
In his February 1865 application for an invalid pension, Joseph stated that he
was attacked with chronic diarrhea at Clarksburg in Western Virginia, about the 10th day
of May 1863, and about the 1st of July 1863 had sunstroke at Maryland Heights .
He was taken soon after to Regiment Hospital, and on the 18th of August 1863 was sent
to the hospital at Fairfax, Virginia. He was transferred to two other hospitals before being taken
to 16th Filbert Street Hospital at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was assigned nurse duty.
About the 7th day of July 1864, while dressing gangrene wounds in that hospital, he received
infection in his right hand, a result of which he lost the second finger of his right hand
and almost the entire use of that hand. He stated that his hand was numb, affected by cold,
and he was wholly unable to follow his usual occupation which was that of a farmer.
In addition, he was affected by sunstroke and had chronic diarrhea since its commencement, which
now seriously affected him, rendering him wholly unable to do any labor.
In the spring of 1883, Joseph and Elizabeth Keeler moved to Michigan, settling on a
farm one mile north of Carlton Center. In 1898, they purchased a home in Carlton Center,
where they lived for seven years while Joseph was the postmaster at Carlton Center.
Elizabeth died at their home in Carlton Center on February 22, 1902. In 1904, Joseph
returned to the old farm, where he lived until within two months of his death, which occurred
on January 24, 1918 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Samuel Leavens, in Carlton Center.
Joseph and Elizabeth were buried in Fuller Cemetery, Carlton Twp., Barry County, Michigan.
