Alias: Mrs. Mary /Keeble/
"MIDDLESEX CO., VA in the 17th Century: On a sandy peninsula between
tidewater Virginia's Rappahannock and Piankatank river lies Middlesex
County, carved in 1668 out of sprawling Lancaster County. In the late
1640's, families had begun appropriating land here. Settlement was well
under way by February 1651, when little Richard Perrott became 'the first
Man Child that was gott and born in Rappahannock River of English
parents'. Richard's parents, like all the 83 families residing in
Middlesex by 1668, lived on isolated 'plantations' that raised corn and
live-stock for food and tobacco for sale.
"These 83 families comprised 513 free people. They accounted for roughly
half the county's residents and owned the other half of the population:
334 English indentured servants (mostly males aged 15-25) and 65 blacks
brought from the West Indies. Servants and slaves were as much the head
of household's responsibility as children. Blacks' conditions of
servitude were still fluid, although a trend toward lifetime bondage had
begun. Servants typically owed between four and twelve years' service,
and half of those with four or more years to go would not live to enjoy
freedom. Their lot was hard, but their labor essential. Each
hoe-wielding laborer could cultivate two to three acres of tobacco
plants, and owners could increase input only by adding to their labor
force. Because planters such as Peter Montague faced "the whole lost of
the...Cropp" when a servant ran away at the height of the season, unfree
workers had some bargaining leverage.
"Death lurked everywhere. On average, adult men and women died at ages
48 and 39 respectively--a life expectancy of fifteen years less than that
of New Englanders. Thirty percent of all children under 18 lost both
parents. The appearance of a highly lethal strain of malaria (which
coincided with increasing imports of African-born slaves after 1680) kept
death rates high.
"The prevalence of early death produced complex households in which
stepparents might raise children with two or three different surnames.
MARY KEEBLE (George Keeble's wife) bore seven children before being
widowed at age 29, whereupon she immediately became ROBERT BEVERLEY's
wife. MARY died in 1678 at age 41, after having five children by
BEVERLEY, who then married Katherine Hone, a widow with one child. Upon
Beverley's death in 1687, Katherine quickly wed Christopher Robinson, who
had just lost his wife and needed a mother for his four children.
CHRISTOPHER and KATHERINE's household included children named Keeble,
Beverley, Hone, and Robinson. This tangled chain of six marriages among
seven people eventually produced twenty-five children who lived at least
part of their lives with one or more stepparents.
"For a sense of belonging, residents relied primarily on kin networks.
Twice monthly, however, they could gather in the parish church for a
short sermon, communion, and a chance to gossip, trade news, and sell
livestock--always using tobacco as the medium of exchange. Monthly court
sessions, likewise, brought people together to resolve disputes and see
the county's prominent men installed in the petty local offices that
helped define their status. (The Enduring Vision, A History of the
American People, p. 75a (1990)
"p. 75b: CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON arrived in Virginia from England about
1666, and built this stately brick home in 1678. Robinson, who served
two terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses, was named England's
secretary of foreign plantations in 1692, but he died the following
year." (Source: View Hewick at: http://www.hewick.com/ A PLACE IN
TIME; Middlesex Co., VA in the 17th Century.)
Mary Keeble appears to have born a CARTER

• Married:

1. Robert Beverly b: 1673 in Jamestown Virginia USA

1. Abbrev: Family Archives of Hooper / Crosby / Bianchi and Related Families
   Title: Twig, Tree & Treasure A Genealogical Sojourn
   Bianchi's Twig, Tree & Treasure A Genealogical Sojourn
   by Linda & Mike Bianchi, email: twigtree@milin.net
   The project started in earnest during the 1960's and has continued sporadically from then on with help by various family members and a lot of friends. Oral and documented family information was complied by Linda Bianchi nee Hooper and Barbara Hooper nee Crosby, later augmented with additions by Lee and Cathy nee Hooper Galloway. A special Thank You to Michele Yvonne Hayward Tate and her family and to Amy Holtgrewe Haertling and her family, for their generous help. The project continues to be updated and expanded by Linda and Mike Bianchi.
   Not all of the source data is listed simply because the data is a compilation from many different sources, most which were family oral history records. Some data will have individuals or groups listed as the source of information. While these persons should be credited and are thanked for making significant contributions to this work, they should by no means be construed as being the only source for that particular data or as the only person to have worked on that line.