Staggs Family History

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      Samuel Keen (1694-1777)

      BIRTH: 17 Mar 1694, Duxbury, Massachusetts, USA
      DEATH: 18 May 1777, Pembroke, Massachusetts, USA
      FATHER: Josiah Keen Jr (1657-1732)
      MOTHER: Lydia Baker (1659-1732)
      SPOUSE: Ruth Sprague (1701-1736)

      When Samuel Keen was born in 1694 in Duxbury, Massachusetts, his father, Josiah, was 37 and his mother, Lydia, was 35. He married Ruth Sprague and they had six children together. He then married Margaret Redding and they had four children together. He died on May 18, 1777, in Pembroke, Massachusetts, having lived a long life of 83 years.

      Keen Coat of Arms

      The life of Samuel Keen

      Samuel Keen’s life reads like the quiet, steady heartbeat of early Pembroke—one of those men whose name rarely appears in grand histories, yet whose presence shaped the community generation after generation. His story begins in Duxbury, where he was born on 17 March 1694 into the large and deeply rooted Keen family. His father, Josiah Keen Jr., carried the legacy of the Warren and Winslow lines; his mother, Lydia Baker, brought in the Baker–Winslow heritage of Duxbury. Samuel grew up in a world where land, family, and duty were the pillars of life.

      Early Life and Marriage

      By the time Samuel reached adulthood, he was part of a family known for its reliability—farmers, carpenters, constables, and town officers. On 18 April 1719, he married Ruth Sprague, daughter of William Sprague and Grace Wadsworth. Ruth came from a family of seafarers and surveyors, and her mother’s probate record later named Samuel and Ruth’s children among her cherished grandchildren.

      Samuel and Ruth settled in Pembroke, where Samuel worked the land and raised a growing family. Their household expanded quickly: William (1720), Levi (1722), Abel (1724), Grace (1726), Samuel (1729), and Isaiah (1733). These six children formed the first half of Samuel’s legacy—each one appearing in Pembroke’s vital records, each one woven into the fabric of the town.

      Loss and Renewal

      Ruth died on 18 April 1734, leaving Samuel with six children under the age of fourteen. The loss must have been heavy, but life in colonial Massachusetts allowed little time for prolonged grief. On 4 January 1737, Samuel married Margaret Redding, daughter of Eben Redding of Middleborough. Margaret stepped into a household already full of children, and soon added four more: Ruth (1737), Asher (1739), Moses (1741), and Judah (1743).

      Samuel’s home became one of the largest family centers in Pembroke—ten children spanning twenty-three years, all documented in Pembroke’s records and later in Mayflower Births and Deaths. His children married into families like Leavitt, Cole, Jennings, and Freeman, spreading the Keen name across Plymouth County and beyond.

      Community and Patriotism

      Though Samuel was too old to serve in the Revolutionary War, his sons and grandsons did. Isaiah’s line produced soldiers; Levi’s line produced town officers; Grace’s children married into families that sent men to the Continental Army. Samuel himself provided recognized patriotic service in Pembroke, enough that the Sons of the American Revolution accepted him as an ancestor (SAR #6516). His descendants proudly cited him in their applications, linking his name to the cause of independence.

      Final Years

      Samuel lived to the remarkable age of eighty-three, dying in Pembroke in 1777, the very year the colonies fought to secure the independence he had supported. By then, his children had scattered into neighboring towns—Hanover, Middleborough, Rochester, and eventually Maine. His second wife, Margaret, lived until after 1765, appearing in the probate of their son Judah.

      Samuel’s life was not marked by dramatic events or public office, but by the steady, generational work of building a family and a community. His name appears in vital records, probate references, genealogies, and lineage society applications—small marks of a life lived with constancy.

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

      Samuel, b 1694, married 4-18-1719 Ruth Sprague, born 2-22-1701/2 in Duxbury, daughter of William and Grace (Wadsworth) Sprague. They had eleven children.1

      Legacy of Samuel Keen

      Samuel Keen’s legacy is carried not in monuments but in lineage. Through his mother, he preserved the Warren–Winslow heritage of Plymouth Colony. Through his first wife, Ruth Sprague, he connected the Keen line to the Sprague–Wadsworth families of Duxbury. Through his second wife, Margaret Redding, he extended the family into Middleborough and Pembroke.

      His ten children became the roots of dozens of families—Leavitts, Coles, Jennings, Freemans, and more. His descendants served in the Revolution, settled new towns in Maine, and preserved the Keen name in genealogies, town records, and SAR applications.

      Samuel’s life reminds us that the strength of early New England was built not only by governors and soldiers, but by men like him—steady, rooted, devoted to family, and quietly shaping the world that followed.

      Parents

      Father: Josiah Keen Jr (1657-1732)

      Mother: Lydia Baker (1659-1732)

      Married

      Married 1st: Ruth Sprague (1701-1736) on April 18, 1719, in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts

      Married 2nd: Margaret Redding (1704-1789) married on January 4, 1737, in Pembroke, Massachusetts

      Children

      Children with wife Ruth Sprague

      • William Keen (1720-?) married Ruth Sargant (1721-?)
      • Levi Keen (1722-?) married Eunice Jennings (1729-?)
      • Abel Keen (1724-?) married Bethiah Dogget
      • Grace Keen (1726-1772) married Jabez Cole (1720-1790)
      • Samuel Keen (1729-?)
      • Isaiah Keen (1733-1777) married Ruth Bisbee (1739-1783)

      Children with wife Margaret Redding

      • Ruth Keen (1737-1795) married John Leavitt (1738-1812)
      • Asher Keen (1739-1789) married Desire Witherel (?-1823)
      • Moses Keen (1741-?) married Maria Freeman (1749-1835)
      • Judah Keen (1743-1765)

      Documents

      Footnote

      1. Samuel and his first wife, Ruth Sprague, had six children. After Ruth’s death Samuel married Margaret Redding and they had four children.

      Relation of Samuel Keen to Steven Barry Staggs: 7th great-grandfather

      Page last updated November 13, 2025

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