The following is a transcription from the family Bible of Nathan S. Keen.

FLYLEAF:
Nathan S. Keen
Newton
W Va

FLYLEAF REVERSE:
Mr N S Keen

PAGE HEADED "MARRIAGES:"
Nathan S. Keen and
Blanch M Upton Was Marryed
June the 22 1876
Nancy J Nichols was born Nov 21 1878
Died July the 4 1900

PAGE HEADED "BIRTHS:"
Charles N Keen was borned
June the 1st 1877 Nancy J Keen
was borned Nov the 21 1878
Mary F Keen was borned Nov
the 17 1881 Isaac E Keen was borned
July 31 1883 Leonia H Keen was
borned oct the 9th 1885 Virginia S
Keen was borned Nov the 28th 1887
Robert L Keen was borned feb the
9th 1890 Linna M Keen was borned
June the 17th 1892
Cora Keen July 22 1896

PAGE HEADED "DEATHS:"
Nancy J Nichols Died July 4 1900
Virginia S Keen Died may the 3 1906

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
The records of the marriage of Nathan Keen and Blanch (sic) Upton, and all of the births except that of Cora Keen, are written in a greenish ink, and would appear to have been written at the same time. All other writings are in black ink.

The latest copyright date in this Bible is 1885, which is therefore the earliest possible date that Mr Keen could have obtained it. If the green-ink records were indeed written all at one time, that must have been sometime between 1892 and 1896.

Transcribed by David W. Griffith, February 2008.

Generation No. 1

1. ALVA L.³ LAUGHLIN (JAMES², JAMES¹) was born 1830 in Pennsylvania, and died July 01, 1863 in Pocahontas Co.. West Virginia. Place of burial unknown. . He married (1) NANCY CONNOLLY March 07, 1850 in Gilmer Co., (West) Virginia. She was born 1833, and died Unknown. He married (2) DIANA A. BRANNON May 25, 1853 in Gilmer Co., (W) Virginia, daughter of WILLIAM BRANNON and MARY PAINE. She was born 1825 in Kanawha Co., (W) Virginia, and died December 1891 in Calhoun Co. West Virginia-Buried- Road Run Cemetery, Calhoun Co. WV.

Robert Hopkins and his wife, Martha A. (Stalnaker) Hopkins, were the first of this name to settle in this district. Robert was born in Pendleton County, western Virginia, 23 December 1822, son of Lawrence B. and Mary (Jordan) Hopkins. Lawrence B. Hopkins was born in Rhode Island in 1760 and was a soldier of the Continental Army of the Revolution. Mary Jordan was a daughter of Captain William Jordan of the Continental Army who lived in Pendleton County when Mary, the mother of Robert Hopkins, was born in 1794. Martha's parents were John and Susannah (Chenoweth) Stalnaker, who came from Randolph Co., WV and settled early near Reedy, Roane County, WV.

Armstead Harper was one of three brothers that came to this area from the Clinch River section of Russell County, Virginia. He was born in 1799 and died 26 Nov 1867 and was buried with his wife in Harper Cemetery. Armstead married Rachel Bishop, born 23 Jun 1801, and she died 27 Oct 1868. They settled on the Flat Fork of Poca River where many of the Harper family still reside. They are reported to have had the first child born in the Harper settlement about 1835 and that Armstead preached the first sermon at his home in Harper District in 1837. To this union was born eleven children including Henderson Harper on 03 June 1818. Armstead's brother, Asa, taught the first school in the district in 1839.

Uriah Gandee, Sr., was born 1753, in Philadelphia, PA, and served in the Revolutionary War, 1776-1777, with the Pennsylvania Continentals. It is believed that after this period he moved to Randolph County where he became involved in a Tory uprising, was 'forgiven', became sheriff for two terms and in 1798 moved to Mason County. He was possibly the Uriah Gandee who operated a floating grist mill on the Ohio River off Buffington's Island 1800-1810. In 1833 he lived with a son on the Ohio River in Jackson County. Uriah, Jr. married Massie Hughes, on 30 Jul 1806 in Mason County and later, around 1824, settled in the area that became Gandeeville, Roane County.