Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Josiah Keen (1620-1710)

      BIRTH: 1620, London, England
      DEATH: Sep 1710, Duxbury, Massachusetts, USA
      FATHER: John Keene (1578-1649)
      MOTHER: Martha —- (?-1638)
      SPOUSE: 1st Abigail Little (1634-1657), 2nd Hannah Dingley (1641-1715)

      Josiah Keene was born in 1620 in London, London, England, the son of Martha and John. He married Abigail Little and they had two children together. He then married Hannah Dingley and they had eight children together. He died in 1710 in Duxbury, Massachusetts, at the impressive age of 90.

      Keen Coat of Arms

      The life of Josiah Keen

      From London Bridge to Duxbury

      Josiah Keen was born in 1620 on London Bridge, at a time when the bridge was lined with shops and dwellings perched above the River Thames. His father, John Keen (1578–1649), was a tradesman of London; his mother, Martha, kept the household that included Josiah, one brother, and three sisters. In 1638, the family left England aboard the ship Confidence, sailing from Southampton to New England eighteen years after the Mayflower. The voyage was marked by hardship: Martha Keen died at sea, leaving John to bring their children alone to the New World.

      The Keens first settled in Boston, then moved to Hingham, and finally to Marshfield and Duxbury, where Josiah spent most of his adult life. Passenger records confirm that Josiah was nine years old when he arrived, listed as “Josias Keene,” traveling with his father John and siblings Elizabeth, Martha, Josias, and Sarah. The family became part of the second wave of English migration that transformed Plymouth Colony from a fragile settlement into a stable community.

      Marriage to Abigail Little

      Around 1654, Josiah married Abigail Little (1634–1657), daughter of Thomas Little and Anna Warren. Anna was the daughter of Richard Warren, Mayflower passenger and one of the colony’s most respected early settlers. Through this marriage, Josiah’s descendants inherited the Warren line — one of the most thoroughly documented Mayflower families.

      Josiah and Abigail had two children: Josiah Keen Jr. (1657–1732) and a daughter who died young.

      Abigail herself died in 1657, likely in childbirth or shortly afterward, leaving Josiah a widower with an infant son.

      Marriage to Hannah Dingley

      Around 1660, Josiah married Hannah Dingley, daughter of John Dingley of Marshfield. Hannah became the mother of seven more Keen children and the matriarch of the large Dingley–Keen branch that spread across Marshfield, Duxbury, and Pembroke.

      Josiah’s household blended:

      • his son from Abigail Little
      • his children with Hannah Dingley
      • the extended Little, Warren, and Dingley families
      • the growing network of Keen cousins descending from his siblings

      This made Josiah a central figure in the early Keen family of Plymouth County.

      Life in Marshfield and Duxbury

      By the 1660s, Josiah was established as a yeoman1 — a free landholder — in Marshfield and later Duxbury. He appears in:

      • land transactions
      • town records
      • church membership lists
      • Plymouth Colony court records
      • the 1695 will he wrote near the end of his life

      He lived through the transition from the earliest colonial period into the more structured provincial era, witnessing the growth of towns, the establishment of new parishes, and the expansion of English settlement inland.

      Josiah’s will, dated 28 May 1695 and proved 15 September 1710, names his children and confirms the structure of his family:

      • Josiah Jr.
      • John
      • Matthew
      • Hannah
      • Elizabeth
      • Sarah
      • others born to Hannah Dingley

      His estate included land, livestock, tools, and household goods typical of a successful yeoman farmer.

      Josiah died in September 1710 in Duxbury, closing the life of a man who had crossed the Atlantic as a child and helped build the second generation of Plymouth Colony.

      The following is an excerpt from Staggs Genealogy – Harold Wareham Staggs – His Book

      Grandfather Josia Keen was born (1620) in London on London Bridge which, at that time, was lined on both sides with shops with living quarters above them. He, his father John (1578), mother Martha, one brother and three sisters came to America on the “Confidence” in 1638, eighteen years after the Mayflower. His mother died during the voyage. They finally settled in Boston.

      Josia met and married Abigail Little and they had two children. Abigail was the daughter of Thomas and Anna (Warren) Little. Grandfather Richard Warren, Anna’s father, was a Mayflower passenger and was the first of our ancestors to reach America.

      The following is an excerpt from The John Keen(e) (1578-1649) and Associated Families, by Mr. and Mrs. Archie Timothy Keene, 1971

      Josiah, 1620-1710, born in London, on London Bridge, came with his parents (leaving two brothers behind) to Boston, “Hengham” and “Mishfieid.” He married 1st Abigail Little, daughter of Thomas and Anna (Warren) Little; granddaughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Juatt) (Marsh) Warren, Warren was a Mayflower Passenger. Abigail Little, first wife of Josiah, died shortly `after the birth of her second child, a daughter who died young. They had one son, Josiah Jr. Josiah married second, Hannah, daughter of Jahn Dingley, by whom he had seven children.

      Legacy of Josiah Keen

      Josiah Keen’s legacy is carried through the families that descended from his two marriages. Through Abigail Little, his son Josiah Jr. inherited the Mayflower Warren line, which passed through the Keen family into Pembroke and Kingston. Through Hannah Dingley, Josiah’s younger children formed the Dingley–Keen branch that spread across Marshfield and Duxbury.

      Josiah’s descendants include:

      • Revolutionary War soldiers
      • early settlers of Pembroke and Kingston
      • members of the Soule, Baker, Winslow, Bisbee, Thomas, and Barker families
      • generations of Keen descendants who preserved his name in town records, family Bibles, and lineage society applications

      His life bridged two worlds: the bustling streets of London Bridge and the quiet farms of Duxbury. He carried his family across the Atlantic, survived loss, built a household in a new land, and became the patriarch of a line that would endure for centuries. Through his children — especially Josiah Keen Jr., your ancestor — Josiah’s legacy became woven into the fabric of Plymouth County’s history and into your own family story.

      Parents

      FATHER: John Keene (1578-1649)
      MOTHER: Martha —- (?-1638)

      Married

      • Married 1st: Abigail Little (1634-1657) about 1654
      • Married 2nd: Hannah Dingley (1641-1715) in 1665

      Children

      • Children with wife Abigail Little (1634-1657)
        • Josiah Keen Jr (1657-1732) married Lydia Baker (1659–1732)
        • Unnamed infant daughter (1655/6-1656) no further records; mentioned in family account book and secondary sources.
      • Children with wife Hannah Dingley (1661-?)
        • Unnamed infant (1659-1660)
        • John Keene (1661-1744)
        • Matthew Keene (1667-1698)
        • Hanna Keen (1668-1717)
        • Abigail Keen (1671-?)
        • Sarah Keen (1671-1730) married Timothy Rogers April 6, 1710
        • Ephraim Keene (1675-1729)
        • Elizabeth Keem (1678-1729)
        • Abigail Keen (1693-?)

      Documents

      Footnote

      1. A yeoman in colonial Massachusetts was a free land‑owning farmer — someone who worked his own land, supported his household without servitude, and stood solidly in the middle tier of society. Unlike laborers or tenant farmers, a yeoman owned the property he lived on and managed, which gave him economic independence and social respectability. He was not part of the gentry or merchant elite, but he was considered a stable, responsible member of the community, eligible to serve on juries, vote in town affairs, and hold minor local offices. When a man like Josiah Keen Jr. is described as a “yeoman of Pembroke,” it means he was an independent landholder whose farm, tools, livestock, and household formed the backbone of the town’s everyday life — a man of modest means but solid standing, rooted in the land he passed on to his children.

      Relation of Josiah Keen Jr to Steven Barry Staggs: 9th great-grandfather

      Page last updated November 17, 2025

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