William Keene was the son of Thomas Keene, Jr. and Mary Thorley. He was born on Kent Island, Queen Anne's County, Md.(In the Chesapeake Bay) He married Elizabeth Rogers (b. 1643 d. 1720). Elizabeth was the daughter of Major John Rogers, a justice in Nothumberland County, Virginia, and his wife Ellin. William and Elizabeth were the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters. One of the daughters was Hannah Keene who married Colonel John Bushrod, they were the parents of nine children.

William's parents Thomas and Mary Thorley Keene left Kent Island, and migrated to the shore of the Virginia Colony, along the Potomac River.
They settled in Northumberland County, formed October 1648. William's father Thomas Keene, Jr., was granted 527 acres of land there on 13 October 13, 1653. The exact date of the arrival of the Keene family in Northumberland County is unknown, as the date of the land grant is not the date of possession. Obtaining a land grant was a lengthy process, beginning with a warrant, then a survey, then the grant. Thomas had probably established himself on the land, built a home and cleared his land, prior to actually receiving his grant in 1653. Thomas's land was located upon Cloughton's Creek and Cherry Poynt (Point). William would have been a boy, probably between the ages of 7 and 10, when his family moved to Northumberland County.


William's plantation was at Cypress Farm, Cherry Point, Northumberland County, Virginia. The house was destroyed by the British in 1812 and has been replaced by a later structure. William's grave is located near the road that leads to Lewisetta, Northumberland County, Virginia (on the left side), near the sight of his early residence. This is at the beginning of Garner's Creek. John Garner owned land there, across from William. John Garner married William's sister Susanna Keene.

William died February 8, 1684, age 42, leaving his widow Elizabeth and their six children. His will has not been found, but it was probated on May 20, 1685, having been petitioned by Mrs. Elizabeth Keene. Elizabeth remarried after William's death. Her second husband was Thomas Banks.
Elizabeth Keene Banks died in 1720.


(NOTE: Queen Anne's County, Maryland was founded in 1706, Chapter 3, Acts of 1706, Kent Island became a part of Queen Anne's County at that time)

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His tombstone is at Cypress Farm, a private residence today.


THE EPITAPH ON HIS TOMBSTONE AT CYPRESS FARM:


..................EPITAPH....................


Here lyeth the body of
William Keene, the Eldest son
of Thomas and Mary Keene
Born in Kent, Maryland the
10th day of March anno
Dom 1642, Who marryed
Eliza the 2. Daughter of John
Rogers Gent. and Ellin, his
Wife of Northumberland Co.
in Virginia by Whome he had
two sons and Four daughters
and dyed ye 8 day of Feb.
1684 in ye two and Fortieth
year of his age.



BY: Rebecca Prillaman