Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Ruth Bisbee (1739-1783)

      BIRTH: 25 Apr 1739, Pembroke, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
      DEATH: Jun 1783, Hanson, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
      FATHER: Jonah Bisbee (1717–1799)
      MOTHER: Ruth Bryant (1714–1777)
      SPOUSE: Isaiah Keen (1733–1777)

      When Ruth Bisbee was born on April 25, 1739, in Pembroke, Massachusetts, her father, Jonah, was 22, and her mother, Ruth, was 24. She had six sons and three daughters with Isaiah Keen between 1759 and 1775. She died in June 1783 in Hanson, Massachusetts, at the age of 44, and was buried there.

      The life of Ruth Bisbee

      A Life Rooted in Old New England and Tested by Revolution

      Ruth Bisbee was born on 25 April 1739 in Pembroke, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the eldest daughter of Jonah Bisbee (1717–1799) and Ruth (Bryant) Bisbee (1714–1777). Her family belonged to one of the oldest lines in Plymouth Colony. Through her father, Ruth descended from Thomas Besbedge/Bisbee, who arrived in New England in 1635 aboard the Hercules and later represented Duxbury in the General Court. Through her mother, she belonged to the Bryant and Waterman families, long‑established in the region. Ruth grew up in a household shaped by the rhythms of colonial life—church attendance, seasonal labor, and the close ties of extended family networks that had lived in Pembroke for generations.

      In the early 1760s, Ruth married Isaiah Keen (1733–1777), a young man from another deeply rooted Pembroke family. Isaiah descended from the Keens of Scituate and Pembroke and, through his grandmother Abigail Little, from Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. Their marriage united two families whose histories stretched back to the earliest decades of Plymouth Colony. Ruth and Isaiah settled in Pembroke, where they raised a large family of nine children, including Sprague, Isaiah Jr., and Zebulon, the ancestor through whom our line descends.

      Ruth’s life unfolded during a period of rising tension between the colonies and Great Britain. Pembroke men drilled in militia companies, attended town meetings debating resistance, and contributed supplies to the Patriot cause. Ruth’s household was directly touched by the conflict. Her eldest son, Sprague Keen, enlisted early in the Revolutionary War and was captured by the British. According to a memorial recorded by Rev. Gad Hitchcock, Sprague died aboard one of the notorious British prison ships anchored in New York Harbor, where thousands of American prisoners perished from disease, starvation, and neglect. Another son, Isaiah Keen Jr., served multiple terms as a fifer, marching in campaigns in Rhode Island in 1777, 1779, and 1780, and later receiving a bounty from the Pembroke Selectmen for long‑term Continental service.

      Ruth endured these wartime anxieties while managing her household and caring for her younger children. In May 1777, she suffered the loss of her husband Isaiah, who died at the age of forty‑four. Widowed in the midst of war, Ruth continued to raise her family in Pembroke, witnessing both the hardships of the conflict and the slow emergence of a new nation. She lived long enough to see the final months of the Revolution, dying in June 1783, just as peace negotiations were concluding and the colonies were preparing to enter a new era as the United States.

      Her death is recorded in the New England Historical & Genealogical Register (Vol. 136, p. 38), confirming her place within the Keen–Bisbee family and the broader genealogical record of early Plymouth County.

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

      A son of Grandfather Samuel and Ruth was Grandfather Isiah (1732) who, when living in Pembroke, married Ruth Bisbee (1739). They had eight children.

      Ruth was a descendent of Thomas Besbedge. In 1643 the name became Bisbee. Thomas was born in Biddenden, Kent Co., England and came to America in the Hercules in 1635. In 1643 he was chosen Representative from Duxbury to the General Court.

      Grandfather Isaiah and Ruth’s first son was Sprague who enlisted in the Revolutionary Army, was taken prisoner by the British and died while held on a British prison ship.1

      The next son was Isaiah. He served in the same Army as a fifer in Capt. John Turner’s Company, stationed at Little Compton, Rhode Island.2

      The third son was Grandfather Zebulon (1763) who wed Huldah. We do not know her last name. They had six children.

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

      Isaiah Keen, son of Samuel and Ruth (Sprague) Keen was born 1-19-1732/3, died 5-18-1777 at Pembroke. He married Ruth Bisbee, born 4-22-1739, died 1783; daughter of Jonah and Ruth (Bryant) Bisbee; granddaughter of John and Mary (Oldham) Bisbee, born 1717, died 2-12-1800, They had eight children.

      Legacy of Ruth Bisbee

      The legacy of Ruth (Bisbee) Keen is carried forward through the generations who descended from her. Through her son Zebulon, she became the matriarch of the Keene family that migrated to central New York in the 1790s and later spread westward into Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and beyond. Through her parents, she carried the heritage of the Bisbee, Bryant, and Waterman families—names woven into the earliest fabric of Plymouth Colony. Her sons’ sacrifices during the American Revolution, including the death of Sprague in captivity and the service of Isaiah Jr. in multiple campaigns, reflect the family’s deep commitment to the Patriot cause. Though her own life left few written records, Ruth’s influence endures in the generations shaped by her resilience, her heritage, and the Revolutionary era in which she lived.

      Parents

      FATHER: Jonah Bisbee (1717–1799)
      MOTHER: Ruth Bryant (1714–1777)

      Married

      Isaiah Keen (1733–1777) on January 10, 1754

      Children

      • Sprague Keen (1759-1781)
      • Isaiah Keen (1761-1838) married Lydia Bourne (1762-1848)
      • Hanna Keen (1763-1768)
      • Zebulon Keene (1765-1810) married Huldah —- (1766-1828)
      • Galen Keen (1768-1856) married Diana Gardner (1779-1860)
      • Edna Keen (1770-1838) married Thomas Gardner Jr. (1769-1845)
      • Samuel Keen (1771-1850)
      • Sarah Keen (1774-?)
      • Daniel Keen (1775-?)

      Documents

      • Birth Records
      • Marriage records
        • Isaiah Keen (1733–1777) of Pembroke, Massachusetts married Ruth Bisbee on January 10, 1754, according to Pembroke vital records. This marriage is consistent with genealogical sources that list Ruth as his wife and the mother of his children.
      • Death records
        • The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1847-2011 > Name: Ruth Keen; Event Type: Death; Death Date: Jun 1783; Death Place: USA; Page number: 38; Volume Number: 136
        • Find a Grave > Ruth Bisbee Keen, Birth: 1739; Death: Jun 1783 (aged 43–44), Hanson, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
        • Burial: Fern Hill Cemetery, Hanson, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA

      Footnotes

      1. According to the memorial recorded by Rev. Gad Hitchcock, Sprague Keen died aboard a British prison ship during the Revolutionary War. These ships, anchored in New York Harbor, were notorious for their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Thousands of American prisoners of war perished aboard them due to disease, starvation, and neglect.
      2. The publication “Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War” volume 9, has the following listing on page 15: KEEN, ISIAH, Pembroke. Fifer, Capt. John Turner’s co., Col. Theophilus Cotton’s regt.; marched Sept. 28, 1777; service, l mo. 3 days; company marched to Rhode Island; also, Capt. Calvin Partridge’s co., Lient. Col. Samuel Pierce’s regt.; marched May 21, 1779; service, 1 mo. 14 days; company raised in Plymouth Co. and stationed at Little Compton, R. I.; also, Capt. John Turner’s co., Col. John Jacobs’s refit.; enlisted July 24, 1780; discharged Oct. 30, 1780; service, 3 mos. 6 days; regiment detached from militia to reinforce Continental Army at Rhode Island for 3 months; also, return dated Pembroke, April 1, 1782, made by the Selectmen, of bounties paid said Keen and others to serve in the Continental Army for the term of 3 years or during the war, agreeable to resolve of Dec. 2, 1780.

      Relation of Isaiah Keen to Steven Barry Staggs: 6th great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 28, 2026

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