Well, that was interesting. Three weeks ago (see Relatives of Robert Keable, Part 1, July 13^th, 2022) I detailed my plan to track down relatives of Robert Keable. Although most of my ancestors seem to have changed their surnames (lots of daughters taking their husband’s name) I decided to begin with everyone called Keable. From the BT website I found the addresses of fifty living in England and on Facebook there were another fifty. So I contacted 100 Keables out of the blue, either via Facebook or by post, naming a few of my forebears and asking if they were related.

Almost immediately, via Facebook, I heard back from a few Keables. The first was Brett who told me he didn’t recognise any of my lot but would check with his family. Next up was Diana who said I had texted her 'brother bret Keable asking him about family’. I wrote back to Brett to say his sister had been in touch and he replied: ‘Well I don’t have a sister so I’m not sure who you are referring to.’ Who would have known there would be two Brett Keables?

After that I heard from Jenny, Louise and Georgie. None of them could make a connection between my relatives and theirs. I explained to Georgie that there weren’t many Keables left on my tree and she replied:

Keable is a common name from this area, known for incest, so my family trees are wreaths!!

She went on to explain they all lived in Suffolk.

Meanwhile unknown to me, Toni Keable-Willmott posted my letter onto a Facebook group and Mark contacted me to ask if I would like to join their Keable Family Facebook group. It was very kind of them to allow me to join, since they had almost 50 closely related members. Unsurprisingly no one in the group has found any connection with Robert Keable’s family.

My fifty letters only produced one other response. But Bingo! At last, I had found a relative. Crispin Keable, who got in touch, was Robert Keable’s cousin’s grandson.

Since I heard from Crispin and with help from a family tree one of his relations had researched, I have been able to put together a more definitive tree of Robert Keable’s relations. Crispin and his brother and sister seem to the last Keables left with the Keable surname.  

Where next?

I suppose I should begin work on contacting other relations of Robert Keable but it is hard to know where to start. Beginning with Robert Keable’s great grandfather Benjamin Keable (1780-1852) I have so far found eleven relatives of Robert Keable with different surnames. From Robert Keable’s two children there are eighteen Keable-Elliotts, four Tomalas and quite a few Bonvallets. Otherwise, there were four Hills all born in the 1850s, although none seem to have married; three Tillotts born in the early twentieth century who have already begat Robinsons and Winterfloods; the son of Mary Keable and Victor Percival Derrick who has begat Derricks, Pilkingtons and Solowans; and finally, Benjamin Keable’s daughter who married a Knapman.

Professions

With Robert Keable and his father both having been priests my brother wondered how many other family members joined the church. As far as I can tell, having checked their census entries, there was just Robert’s cousin Geoffrey and, if he counts, Willian Tillott who married Geoffrey’s sister.

Otherwise, there are an intriguing range of professions claimed by family members.  Robert Keable’s father began his working life as a ‘Tallow Melter’ and seems to have followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Richard Batten, who was a ‘Candle Manufacturer’. His wife’s father was a ‘Wholesale Druggist’ and his brother Benjamin was a ‘Coffee and Sugar Taster’. Nice work if you can get it.