In Search of Isaac Kizer: A Virtual Research Trip

For this virtual research trip, I decided to head out in search of my 3x’s great-grandfather, Isaac Kizer (or Keizer, Kysar, Kyser, Kyzer, Keiser, and Keyser).

Isaac’s branch had been dangling on my family tree for over 25 years. To be honest, I inherited most of the information about Isaac from my aunt, and I couldn’t remember ever having done any research on him myself.

Life is a (Virtual) Highway

I actually knew very little about Isaac to start with. My Aunt had left notes that he was born c. 1800 in Virginia and that he married a woman named Mary.

Together they had at least 9 children, including my gg-grandmother, Susannah. To my knowledge, all 9 children were born in Tennessee. 

Not much to go on, but thankfully he had that unusual name thing going for him (which may or may not be helpful).

So off I went, cruising down the Information Superhighway.

First Stop: Ancestry

My first stop was Ancestry.com. I put Isaac Kizer’s name – and what little I knew about him – in the search box and was directed to exit at the 1850 U.S. census. There, in Washington County, Tennessee, was 50-year-old Isaac Kizer living with Mary, and 8 of the 9 presumed children, including Susannah.

According to the census, Isaac was indeed born in Virginia, was working as a carpenter, owned $1,000 worth of real estate, and apparently, could read and write. Mary and all the presumed children were born in Tennessee.

I did not see any other Kizers in the immediate vicinity; however, there was a James Keys a few doors down who might be worth investigating.

Prior to this trip, I had known absolutely nothing about Isaac’s wife Mary. I could now glean from the 1850 census that she was born c. 1806 in Tennessee.

I next decided to take a detour and head over to Ancestry’s “Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002.” There, I found an entry for Isaac Keizer and Mary Bradly, who were married on 30 April 1825.

Oddly, there were two entries for this couple: the first entry seemed to be signed by a witness, and the second entry by the Justice of the Peace. Strange, but apparently this particular clerk found the double-entry method to be the most efficient because he did it for quite a few other couples on the page. The date of marriage seemed appropriate, and since the name Isaac Keizer wasn’t exactly common in the area, I was convinced that I’d found my guy.

Oh, and now I (hopefully) had a maiden name for Mary: Bradly. And the witness was named Jonathan Bradley. Perhaps he was Mary’s father? Brother? Other relation?

After the marriage detour, I returned to census records, namely the 1860 U.S. census. I found the “Isaac Keyser” family still living in Washington County, Tennessee. 60-year-old Isaac was living with 51-year-old Mary and 5 children, including a 9-year-old Virginia, who I did not previously have in my database (she’ll be important later). Susannah was no longer in the household, which made sense because she married Albert T. Swanay in 1855.

This time, Isaac was listed as a farmer, owning $3,300 worth of real estate and $770 in personal property. Again, no Kizers nearby, but a few doors down was another Keys family. Interesting.

I did not find Isaac in the 1870 U.S. census, so I suspected that he may have died before it was enumerated. I did find 62-year-old Mary J. Kizer living alone, owning $2,000 worth of real estate and $350 worth of personal property. She was listed as “keeping house,” but with that much land, she would certainly need help taking care of it.

When I find a widow living alone, I always check the neighboring households to see if any of her children are living nearby. Right next door was John Sellars living with an 18-year-old Virginia. John was a farmer but did not seem to own any land. Could this be the Virginia who showed up in the Keyser household in the 1860 census?

I checked the “Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002” database and found an 1868 marriage for Louisa V. Keizer and John W. Sellers. Was Louisa’s middle name Virginia?

This made sense to me. Virginia would have been about 17 years old in 1868, so she certainly could be the same 18-year-old Virginia living with John Sellars in 1870, next door to the widow Mary. At least, I was convinced.

Next Stop: Tennessee GenWeb

I hit the road again heading toward one of my fave places: the Tennessee GenWeb.

I suspected that Isaac died before 1 June 1870 (the date of the 1870 census enumeration) in Washington County, where he’d been living for at least 35 years (that I knew of), so I exited at the Washington County, Tennessee, GenWeb offramp. I had been there many times before but had never taken the time to look for Isaac Kizer.

After a time-wasting pitstop of looking at random pages, I started putting names into the search box. Kizer: nothing. Keyser: nada. Kyser: zip. Keizer: BINGO.

The first hit was for Isaac Keizer’s obituary from the Jonesboro Herald-Tribune, 1869:

Keizer, Isaac
Isaac Keizer, an old and respectable citizen of the vicinity of Cherry Grove, departed this life on Wednesday, August 11th, 1869. We have known him for many years and can say that he was a good neighbor, and no doubt is gone to a better world to reap his reward. Vol. I. #1, Thurs., Aug. 26, 1869

That made sense. He did, in fact, die before the 1870 census was enumerated.

Finding closure on Isaac’s life made me so emotional that I almost missed the other gem that had turned up. In the search results, right under the listing for Isaac’s obituary, was a link to Mary’s listing in the Pleasant Grove  United Methodist Church Cemetery index:

Keizer, Mary J.
b. 2 Mar 1808
d. 9 Nov 1890
Wife of Isaac Keizer

And you know what else I found while scrolling through the index? At the bottom of the list of K’s was Isaac Kyzer! I had thought it odd a few nights ago that I did not find Isaac buried “next to” Mary, but apparently, I didn’t look hard enough. Always double-check your work!

Armed with their death dates, I got back on the highway and headed to Find A Grave. Seeing no Kizers, Kyzers, Keizers, Keysers, etc. listed in Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery, I added Isaac and Mary myself and requested photos for both. A nice volunteer eventually posted photos for Isaac Kyzer and Mary J Bradley Keizer.

Now that I knew when Isaac died, it was time to look for a will.

Last Stop: FamilySearch

I hopped back on the Virtual Highway, this time heading for FamilySearch. I exited at “Washington County, Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927,” and found that Isaac Kizer did indeed leave a will, proven in September 1869.

While Isaac’s will was mostly filled with the usual boilerplate, I did learn something important: he addressed his wife as “Mary Jane.” I now knew Mary’s middle name.

Unfortunately, Isaac named only one child, “Manda,” who was still single and living on the farm. He only addressed the others as “his heirs.” I was hoping he might have mentioned Susannah, but he did not.

Isaac signed his will with his mark. In previous censuses, he indicated that he could read and write, so I couldn’t help but think he that must have been unable to write at the end of his life. I’ll probably never know for certain.

End of the Road

Finding Isaac’s will marked the end of my virtual research trip. Upon arriving home, I took some time to organize my “swag,” as well as my thoughts.

A few things would bear further investigation:

1. Finding no other Kizers (or any other name variation) in the area makes me wonder if those folks named Keys might have dropped the “zer” from their name at some point. Based on the numerous phonetic spellings I found for Kizer, I can’t help but think the name was pronounced “Keezer.” Shortening to “Keys” would make sense.
2. “Manda” (or Amanda, as she was found in census records) was not in Mary’s household in 1870, nor was she found nearby. What happened to her?
3. Who was Jonathan Bradly, witness to Isaac’s and Mary’s marriage?
4. Isaac’s will was witnessed by Lewis Cooper and Adam Cooper. Who were they?
5. Isaac seemed to own a bit of land… a review of the deeds is in order here.
6. Tax records should be consulted in order to determine when the Kizers came to Washington County.

Have you taken a virtual research trip? What did you discover?

[cite]

If you liked this post, please share it!