Re: Henry Keatts Brunswick Co VA
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In reply to:
Re: Henry Keatts Brunswick Co VA
Teresa Gorge 3/29/99
I don't know the Keatts family. Just checking a little on James B. Keatts because he was in an 1856 book called "The Solitary Hunter" by John Palliser. Palliser was a famous explorer from Ireland. In 1847 he explored the western U.S. and stayed with Keatts for awhile going hunting with him and his brother-in-law F. Thibault.
He tells some funny stories on Keatts. Like the time he went fire pan hunting. They would use a fire pan with burning pine knots at night and deer eyes would shine. This like poachers use now a days with lanterns.
Anyway he shot what he thought was a buck and then the doe. When daylight came he had killed his brood mare and her foal.
Maria Thubault and her kids are living with James K, Keatts on the 1850 census so maybe her husband was dead by then.
Palliser said Keatts was physically weak. One one night he and Thubault left him in a tree. While they were skinning a deer they head a large boom and went to check, Keatts was on the ground and laid up for 2 weeks. He had somehow fired both barrells of Palliers shotgun at the same time. Palliser was horrified that the stock was shattered on his gun in the fall.
He had some other stires as well. I read this
at the Univ of Penn;s online book page. They collect rare books and this was part of a collection in Germany. It is very tedious because you have to download an image of each original page. It has not been scanned.