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Mary Catherine <I>Shoemaker</I> Keeney

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Mary Catherine Shoemaker Keeney

Birth
Virginia, USA
Death
18 Apr 1896 (aged 75–76)
Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho, USA
Burial
Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho, USA Add to Map
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Mary married Jonathan Keeney in Lafyette County, Missouri in 1837. They went west on the Oregon Trail in 1846 and settled in what was later called the town of Brownsville, Oregon. The family moved again to the mouth of the Boise River on the Snake River in 1865 where Jonathan ran a ferry.

Jonathan Keeney was involved in many battles and skirmishes with Indians through out his frontiersman life. After a battle that occurred near the ferry site, Jonathan returned with two papooses; a boy and a girl for Mrs. Keeney. The little Indian girl had a string of beads tied around her neck with a buckskin string and Mrs. Keeney decided to give her a bath and clean her up; so, she asked her daughter to bring the scissors to remove the beads. The little Indian girl thought they were going to butcher her and she became so alarmed and frightened that she bit a good-sized mouthful of hide of Mrs. Keeney's neck.

Mrs. Keeney cared for and raised the two children. When the boy became a young man, he left home and went to rejoin his people. Several years later, the Indian boy came back all dressed in Indian fashion, with feathers around his head. He came to the ferry to see Mrs. Keeney and after a short visit, he left, never to return.

The Indian girl, named Eliza, married Jim Holcomb, who settled and made his home in Eagle Valley, near Richland, Oregon.

Mary Keeney died at the home of her youngest daughter, Susan Elizabeth, in Caldwell, Idaho.
Mary married Jonathan Keeney in Lafyette County, Missouri in 1837. They went west on the Oregon Trail in 1846 and settled in what was later called the town of Brownsville, Oregon. The family moved again to the mouth of the Boise River on the Snake River in 1865 where Jonathan ran a ferry.

Jonathan Keeney was involved in many battles and skirmishes with Indians through out his frontiersman life. After a battle that occurred near the ferry site, Jonathan returned with two papooses; a boy and a girl for Mrs. Keeney. The little Indian girl had a string of beads tied around her neck with a buckskin string and Mrs. Keeney decided to give her a bath and clean her up; so, she asked her daughter to bring the scissors to remove the beads. The little Indian girl thought they were going to butcher her and she became so alarmed and frightened that she bit a good-sized mouthful of hide of Mrs. Keeney's neck.

Mrs. Keeney cared for and raised the two children. When the boy became a young man, he left home and went to rejoin his people. Several years later, the Indian boy came back all dressed in Indian fashion, with feathers around his head. He came to the ferry to see Mrs. Keeney and after a short visit, he left, never to return.

The Indian girl, named Eliza, married Jim Holcomb, who settled and made his home in Eagle Valley, near Richland, Oregon.

Mary Keeney died at the home of her youngest daughter, Susan Elizabeth, in Caldwell, Idaho.

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