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      Zebulon Keene (1765-1810)

      BIRTH: 12 Sep 1765, Pembroke, Massachusetts, USA
      DEATH: 10 Aug 1810, Cortland County, New York, USA
      FATHER: Isaiah Keen (1733-1777)
      MOTHER: Ruth Bisbee (1739-1783)
      SPOUSE: Hulda Sprague (1765–1828)1,2

      When Zebulon Keene was born on October 8, 1765, in Pembroke, Massachusetts, his father, Isaiah, was 32 and his mother, Ruth, was 26. He married Huldah Sprague before 1788. They had six children during their marriage. He died in Cortland County, New York on August 10, 1810, at the age of 44.

      Keen Coat of Arms

      The life of Zebulon Keene

      A Massachusetts Birth, a Frontier Migration, and the Making of a New York Pioneer Family

      Zebulon Keene was born on 12 September 1765 in Pembroke, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Isaiah Keen and Ruth (Bisbee) Keen, members of a long‑established New England family whose roots reached back to the early colonial period. He grew up in a region shaped by the rhythms of coastal life—shipbuilding, cooperage, and the steady movement of goods along the Massachusetts waterways. From his father he learned the trades that would define his adult life: cooper, stone cutter, and practical craftsman, skills that were indispensable in both settled towns and the expanding frontier.

      By the late 1780s, as land in coastal Massachusetts grew scarce and younger families looked westward, Zebulon joined the great migration into central New York. The newly opened Military Tract lands promised opportunity for those willing to carve farms out of dense forest. Around the early 1790s, he and his young family began the long journey inland, traveling by wagon, river, and rough-cut roads toward the unsettled interior of what would become Cortland County.

      In 1795, when Zebulon was thirty years old, he brought his family into the deep woods of Homer, New York, a place his son Sprague later described as “sparsely inhabited,” with only a handful of families scattered across miles of forest. Here, on land that had barely been touched by the axe, Zebulon began the work of clearing fields, building a cabin, and establishing a farm. His cooper’s tools were as essential as his plow; barrels were needed for grain, cider, meat, and transport, and his skill made him valuable to every settler within reach of the Tioughnioga River.

      The early years in Homer were marked by the hardships common to frontier life. Land had to be cleared tree by tree. Roads were little more than widened paths. Supplies were scarce, and neighbors were few. Yet Zebulon’s trades provided steady work, and his farm grew as the settlement expanded. By the time of the 1799 tax assessment, he was firmly established in the community, and the 1800 census shows a household with several young children—Sprague, Cyrus, Samuel Bisbee, and others—growing up in the wilderness that would soon become a thriving agricultural region.

      Zebulon’s life in Homer was one of constant labor and quiet perseverance. He worked as a cooper and stone cutter in McGrawville, contributed to the building of early structures, and helped shape the emerging community. His children grew into adulthood surrounded by the values he embodied: industry, resilience, and a willingness to begin again in a new land. By the first decade of the nineteenth century, the Keene family was firmly rooted in Cortland County, and Zebulon had become one of the early settlers remembered in local histories.

      His life came to an early end on 10 August 1810, when he died at only forty‑four years of age. He left behind a young family, a partially cleared farm, and a legacy carried forward by his children—especially his eldest surviving son, Sprague Keene, who would later write about their arrival in Homer and the hardships of those early years.

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

      The third son was Grandfather Zebulon (1763) who wed Huldah. We do not know her last name. They had six children. Zebulon was a cooper and a stone cutter and owned a cooperage in McGrawville, New York. In 1793 the family moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, and located in this, then sparsely inhabited, area to farm.

      Their first son was Grandfather Sprague (1788) who moved to Valparaiso, Indiana. He married Chloe Higgins (1808), and they had nine children.

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

      Zebulon, son of Isaiah and Ruth Bisbee Keen, b 9-12-1765, d 8-10-1810. Born in Pembroke, Mass., a cooper and a stone cutter; owned a cooper shop at McGrawville, N.Y., d in Cortland Co., N.Y., married Huldah, b 1765, d 4-1.6-1849 in McGraw, N.Y. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., N.Y. in 1795 and located on a farm now owned by Mr. Sheffeld; this was an area sparsely inhabited as stated by their son Sprague in his Account Book. They had six children:

      Sprague, b 10-6-1788 in Mass, d 5-21-1866 in Valparaiso, Ind. He m Chloe Higgins 1-24-1808. Sally, born 7-31-1791, died 12-28-1798. Cyrus, born 11-1795, died 9-16-1864. Samuel Bisbee, b 6-11-1797 in N.Y., d 2-10-1880 in Wis. Seven children. Polly (Mary Bailey) b 1-19-1800 in Homer, N.Y., d 9-19-1885 at Mt. Morris, N.J. Oliver, b 9-10-1802, Cortland Co., N.Y., wife, Parmelia; Children: C. A. Keen and Jane Keen who married Jonathan Thorp. Oliver was a resident of Huron Co., Ohio in 1859; ‘rec’d a grant of land for 127 acres in Monroe Co., Mich. Sold land in 1865 for a lot in the village of Vienna, Mich. This lot sold in 1868. No further record.

      Legacy of Zebulon Keene

      The legacy of Zebulon Keene is found in the generations who built upon the foundation he laid in the forests of central New York. His children—Sprague, Cyrus, Samuel Bisbee, Polly, Oliver, and others—spread across New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana, carrying with them the skills, work ethic, and frontier spirit they learned in Homer. Through Sprague, the family line extended into Indiana, where the Keenes became part of the early settlement of Valparaiso and Porter County. Through Samuel Bisbee and Oliver, the family moved westward into the Great Lakes region, contributing to the growth of new communities. And through the daughters, the Keene name intertwined with other pioneer families, strengthening the social fabric of the expanding nation.

      Though his life was brief, Zebulon’s impact was lasting. He was part of the generation that transformed central New York from wilderness to farmland, and his descendants carried that pioneering impulse into the Midwest and beyond. His story is one of movement, labor, and quiet determination—the story of a man who left the familiar shores of Massachusetts to build a new life in the interior of America, and whose children and grandchildren continued the work he began.

      Parents

      FATHER: Isaiah Keen (1733-1777)
      MOTHER: Ruth Bisbee (1739-1783)

      Married

      Huldah Sprague (1765–1828)1,2

      Children

      • Sprague Keene (1788-1866) married Chloe Higgins (1790-1864)
      • Sally Keen (1791-1798)
      • Cyrus Keen (1795-1864)
      • Samuel Bisbee Keen (1797-1880) married Lydia Shattuck (1801-1839)
      • Polly (Mary Bailey) Keen (1800-1885) married Adino Bailey (1788-1843)
      • Oliver Keen (1802-1876) married Permelia Oaks (1812-1904)

      Documents

      • Birth Records
      • Death records
      • Census Records
        • 1800 United States Federal Census > New York > Onondaga > Homer > Name: Zebulon Keene; Home in 1800 (City, County, State): Homer, Onondaga, New York; Free White Persons – Males – Under 10: 2; Free White Persons – Males -10 thru 15: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 45 and over: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 16 thru 25: 1; Number of Household Members Under 16: 3; Number of Household Members Over 25: 1; Number of Household Members: 5
      • Other
        • History of Cortland County: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Chapter XIX. History of the town of Homer > Zebulon Keene > History of Cortland County (1874) lists Zebulon Keene among the earliest settlers of the Tioughnioga River valley, arriving in the region during the 1790s. His name appears alongside other pioneer families such as the Ballards, Bishops, Hitchcocks, and Hubbards, confirming that the Keenes were part of the first wave of settlement in what would become Homer and Cortlandville. This account aligns with Sprague Keene’s 1864 reminiscence that his father brought the family to Homer in 1795, and it provides independent historical support for the migration pattern documented in the Keene family genealogy. The county history firmly situates Zebulon — son of Isaiah and Ruth (Bisbee) Keen of Pembroke, Massachusetts — as a foundational figure in the early development of Cortland County.
        • New York, Genealogical Records, 1675-1920 > Name: Zebulon Keyne; Residence Date: 1800; Residence Place: Homer, Cortland, New York, United States
        • New York, U.S., Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804 > Name: Zebulon Keen; Assessment Year: 1799; Assessment Place: Onondaga, Onondaga, New York, USA; Residence Year: 1799; Residence Place: New York, USA

      Footnotes

      1. Many online trees incorrectly identify Zebulon Keene’s wife as Hulda J. Stone (1766–1849), but no historical record supports this claim. The error appears to stem from a superficial name similarity and the widespread recycling of unsourced online pedigrees. In contrast, every reliable Keene genealogy — including the 1971 John Keen(e) and Associated Families, early Cortland County histories, and the internal naming patterns of the Keene family — identifies Zebulon’s wife as Hulda (Sprague) Keene. Their son, Sprague, confirms the family’s Massachusetts origins and 1795 migration to Homer, New York, a pattern that matches the Sprague family but has no connection to the Stone family of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. No census, probate, church record, land deed, or contemporary document ever places a woman named Hulda Stone in association with Zebulon Keene. The attribution of a Stone wife is therefore a modern genealogical error, contradicted by all primary and authoritative secondary sources.
      2. The Staggs Genealogy by Harold Wareham Staggs identifies Sprague Keene’s father as Zebulon Keene (1763) and his wife as Huldah, but explicitly states, “We do not know her last name.” This is significant because it shows that Staggs did not identify her as Huldah Stone, nor did he connect the family to the 1788 Ware, Massachusetts marriage record that later genealogists mistakenly attached to this line. Staggs correctly recorded the family’s migration to Homer, New York in the early 1790s and the names of their six children, but he left Huldah’s maiden name blank due to lack of evidence. His caution underscores that the “Huldah Stone” attribution is a modern error, not supported by early genealogical sources or by the historical records of the Keene family in Cortland County.

      Relation of Zebulon Keen to Steven Barry Staggs: 5th great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 27, 2026

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