Wade & Webb Family History

William Keel?–?

Sexton, as recorded at his daughter's marriage in 1857. England

William Keel is known only through his daughter Eliza. When she married William Marrott at Hendon, Middlesex, on 25 December 1857, the register named her father William Keel, sexton; her New York death record of 1925 calls him Wm. Pryor.

On this page
  1. Family Record
  2. Life
  3. Documents (1)
  4. Open questions
  5. Searches made
  6. Notes

Birth

  1. Date unknown England

Marriages

  1. Date unknown Elizabeth Prior

Death and burial

  1. Date unknown Death: place not recorded

Family

Parents
Not recorded
Spouse
Elizabeth Prior
Children
Eliza Keel 1840–1925

Line of descent Wade line

  1. William Keel
  2. Eliza Keel, daughter
  3. Ellen Mathilda Marritt, daughter
  4. Frank Edward Wade, son
  5. William Albert Webb Wade, son

2nd great-grandfather of Webb Wade, from whom this history is traced. Why Webb Wade?

Life

William Keel is known only through his daughter Eliza.1 He was born in England, according to the FamilySearch tree, which gives no date, no more exact place and no source, and records him as deceased without a date.2 The tree names his wife as Elizabeth Prior, again without a source of its own.3

On 25 December 1857 Eliza Keel, of full age, a spinster living at Hendon, married William Marrott, a shepherd, in the parish church of Hendon, Middlesex, after banns, the announcement of an intended marriage read out in church on three Sundays so that any objection could be raised.4 The register names her father as William Keel and gives his rank or profession as sexton, the parish officer who looked after the church and churchyard and often dug the graves.4 Inference Since Eliza was living at Hendon, her father may have been sexton of the Hendon parish church itself, but the register gives no residence for him and does not say whether he was then alive.4 "Full age" meant twenty-one or over, which conflicts with the tree's birth year of 1840 for Eliza: to be of full age in December 1857 she must have been born by 1836.5

Eliza and her husband, whose name was later usually written Marritt, were living at Loughton, Essex, by 1871, and she later emigrated to New York; by 1900 she was living in Brooklyn as the wife of William Thompson.6 When her daughter Ellen married William H. Wade Jr. in Brooklyn in 1893, the certificate gave the bride's mother's maiden name as Eliza Keel.7 Eliza died in Brooklyn on 1 February 1925, as Eliza Thompson, and her New York City death record, as indexed, names her parents as "Wm. Pryor" and "Elizabeth Keel".8 Inference The surnames appear to have been transposed.9 The 1857 register, made at Eliza's own wedding, and the 1893 certificate both give Keel as her maiden name, so the "Pryor" of 1925 is most likely her mother's maiden name, Prior, attached to her father by the informant or the clerk.9

Documents

  1. 25 December 1857 Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857 Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex · image

Open questions

None recorded yet.

Searches made

  1. 2026-11-08Bulk review of Matt's OneDrive genealogy folder (Phase 3): all documents transcribed and compared with the tree1 document(s) name this person; see Documents above. Conflicts and new facts are in each document record and in research/sources/document-review-2026-11-08.md
  2. 2026-11-08Newspaper search plannot run: the tree has no birth or death year to bound a search
  3. 2026-11-09Internet Archive: "William Keel"1008 pages; first: [The Hickory Stick [1949], 1949, p. ](https://archive.org/details/hickorystick19491949beth?q=%22William%20Keel%22); [The Astrophysical Journal 1989: Vol 337 Index, 1989, p. ](https://archive.org/details/sim_astrophysical-journal_1989_337_index?q=%22William%20Keel%22); [1955 Lake View High School Yearbook, 1955, p. ](https://archive.org/details/classmates-yearbook-55063-1955-lake-view-high-school?q=%22William%20Keel%22)
  4. 2026-11-09Internet Archive assessment: "William Keel" (1,008 pages)First 20 reviewed: 1949 and 1955 school yearbooks, an astronomer of the 1980s and other namesakes; nothing in Middlesex or Hendon. Not him; the name is too common without a place.
  5. 2026-11-09Internet Archive hits assessed: 1 searchNo match.
  6. 2026-11-09DPLA: "William Keel"5 pages; first: [James William Keel (State Library and Archives of Florida), n.d., p. ](http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/210308); [Records related to William Keel (National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference), n.d., p. ](http://catalog.archives.gov/id/199066426); [Compiled Military Service Record of William Keel, Carson's Regiment, Mississippi Militia, 1814 (National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference), n.d., p. ](http://catalog.archives.gov/id/57251895)
  7. 2026-11-09DPLA assessment: "William Keel" (5 hits)All American namesakes: James William Keel (State Library and Archives of Florida); NARA "Records related to William Keel"; the compiled service record of a William Keel, Carson's Regiment, Mississippi Militia, 1814; a Chickasaw Dawes enrolment card; a 1968 letter from a William Keel to the Governor of North Carolina. He lived in England (his daughter Eliza was born there about 1840). Not him.
  8. 2026-11-09DPLA assessment: 1 searchNo match.

Notes

  1. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GDYG-8RK: one child, Eliza Keel Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857, Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex: Father's Name and Surname: William Keel back to the text
  2. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GDYG-8RK: birth England, no date; death: deceased, no date; no sources on either back to the text
  3. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GDYG-8RK: wife Elizabeth Prior FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GDYL-577 (their page): Elizabeth Prior, born England, no dates back to the text
  4. Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857, Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex: No. 169, December 25th, William Marrott, full age, Bachelor, Shepherd, Hendon; Eliza Keel, full age, Spinster, Hendon; father William Keel, Sexton; after Banns back to the text
  5. Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857, Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex: notes: full age means 21 or over; the tree's birth year of 1840 for Eliza would make her 17 FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GMWV-2K3 (their page): birth 1840, England back to the text
  6. Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857, Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex: William Marritt, spelled Marrott FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GMWV-2K3 (their page): residence 1871 and 1881, Loughton, Essex; 1900, Brooklyn "England and Wales, Census, 1871", FamilySearch, Eliza Merritt in entry for William Merritt, 1871. Record: Eliza Merritt in entry for William Merritt, 1871 "United States, Census, 1900", FamilySearch, Eliza Thompson in entry for William Thompson, 1900. Record: Eliza Thompson in entry for William Thompson, 1900 back to the text
  7. 1893-10-18-ellen-thompson-wade-marriage-certificate: Mother's Maiden Name: Eliza Keel "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", FamilySearch, Eliza Keel in entry for William H Wade, Jr and Ellen M Thompson, 18 October 1893. Record: Eliza Keel in entry for William H Wade, Jr and Ellen M Thompson, 18 October 1893 back to the text
  8. "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", FamilySearch, Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925. Record: Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925 "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", FamilySearch, Wm. Pryor in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925. Record: Wm. Pryor in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925 "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", FamilySearch, Elizabeth Keel in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925. Record: Elizabeth Keel in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925 back to the text
  9. Marriage of William Marritt and Eliza Keel, Hendon, 1857, Hendon parish register (Church of England), Middlesex: Eliza Keel, father William Keel 1893-10-18-ellen-thompson-wade-marriage-certificate: Mother's Maiden Name: Eliza Keel "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", FamilySearch, Wm. Pryor in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925. Record: Wm. Pryor in entry for Eliza Thompson, 1 Feb 1925 FamilySearch Family Tree, profile GDYL-577 (their page): Elizabeth Prior back to the text
Every FamilySearch record attached to William Keel (2)
  1. 1 Feb 1925Wm. Pryor, "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949"
  2. 1 Feb 1925Wm. Pryor, "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949"