Celebration planned in conjunction with marker dedication
By Jack Criss, The Bolivar Bullet
As the result of a labor or love of a descendant – Alyssa Killebrew – the well-known Keeler family of Bolivar County and their storied history will be part of a series of forthcoming events.
An exhibit featuring Keeler family art and memorabilia will be on display for the public at The Warehouse in Cleveland will open on September 1 and run through November 1.
In addition, a historical marker will be dedicated at the site of the old Keeler home on Highway 32 in Shelby on October 5, followed by an open house with guided tours at the Blanchard-Harris house (another one of the main families and founders of the community) at 167 Knowlton Road in Gunnison.
“I’m a Keeler by blood,” said Killebrew, a clinical psychologist who now lives and practices in Madison and who organized the celebration. “My grandmother is Garnett Keeler Scott, who grew up in Gunnison and lived there all of her life. My family would like to invite all our friends and family to this special day on October 5 celebrating our Mississippi ancestry and Delta history – which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly like any family,” she said.
“In 2008, when my mother moved to Oxford from Lexington, where I was born and raised, she gave me steamer trunks full of letters, newspaper clippings, and oil paintings of family members I did not know. In 2011, I moved to Utah for my residency and unpacked the trunks so that I could take them with me to go through. What I found was a gold mine of stories dating back to the early 1820s,” says Killebrew.
She elaborated on her Facebook page about what happened next: “My great-great-grandfather, Charles Keeler, was a boat (‘Keel’) builder. He, along with his wife, Henrietta, boarded a ship that he made in Bremen, Germany, headed for the Promised Land. They disembarked in White Plains, New York and started their milling business and had seven children. My great-grandfather, Fredrick Burnett, moved South to Shelby, Mississippi, when he was a young teenager and married the preacher’s daughter, Orlenie Johnson, in 1874. They had nine children and built a Victorian-style, three-story mansion in Bolivar County known as the ‘castle in the cotton fields.’
“In late 1880 and the early 1900s, Fredrick Burnett and seven of his children passed away due to illnesses such as typhoid fever leaving the large cotton farm and all his land to his youngest daughter, my great-aunt, Laura Maie Keeler. It is so fascinating to me that the family chose Laura even though Charles Dehay Keeler (my great grandfather) was an option. After hearing about her character I realized why,” writes Killebrew.
“Laura Maie was a bold, loyal, determined woman who received formal college training at Sullins College where she studied business. She did not shy away from the responsibility she inherited. A woman in the early 1900s taking over a large cotton farm would seem near impossible—but not for Laura Maie. After researching her life at the Mormon Family History Museum and interviewing the few people in the Delta left who remembered her, I discovered stories and a character worthy of Academy Awards.”
Killebrew said these are just a few of the incredible stories she discovered about her ancestors that people will learn about and she calls Laura Maie her kindred spirit. “We have so many life parallels,” said Killebrew, including a sharing of traumatic pain and loss, which actually was the impetus for Killebrew to go forward with the exhibit and dedication.
“I lost my beloved husband in a plane crash and was pregnant at the time,” she said. “And we had been together since we were 14. I also lost a baby to Covid and a dear friend to breast cancer. These tragedies added a sense of urgency to my mission to research my family – life is precious and fleeting and we need to live with this sense of urgency.
“We are all creating the story of our lives right now,” continued Killebrew. “Do we want to live life passively or intentionally, fighting for what we love and believe? I think this exhibit and dedication is real and inspiring Delta history that can speak to all of us and we can relate to, regardless of our own backgrounds,” added Killebrew.
“My Keeler family, and the laborers who worked on the home place truly, inspire me. I pray that this story will bring hope and a desire to learn from your ancestors, even if the story is full of pain. Often as a result of family trauma, history repeats itself if we aren’t intentional and open to change. The families who lived here in the Delta and were pioneers in so many ways also experienced tremendous hardship and setbacks. The story is one of resilience and strong family ties which I think is needed today,” said Killebrew.
“I urge people to email me for more information and also to tell me their own family stories and history,” said Killebrew, whose email address is alyssakillebrew1@gmail.com. “I even see a possible movie or a book coming out of my experience and those of other Delta families.”
Room blocks are available for the Keeler family celebration at The Cotton House in downtown Cleveland.