Fifth Generation

Charles McLin Keith was born on February 13, 1866 in Georgia, probably in Spaulding County. He is my great great grandfather on my father’s side. Charles McLin Keith was born to William James Keith and Elizabeth McLin (or McLean). He is of mainly Scottish descent.

William James Keith was born in Tennessee around 1836 and was the son of a Presbyterian minister of Tennessee also named William J.Keith. William James Keith Sr. was highly educated and known as a great minister in the church. William Keith Jr.’s mother was Martha Shumate and his stepmother was Julia Winn the daughter of Minor Winn who was the nephew of General Richard Winn, a US Representative from South Carolina. Unfortunately, I do not know William Keith’s occupation or whether or not he served in the military. The Keith family moved to Georgia sometime in the 1840’s first to Monroe County and then to Pike County. Later they moved to Griffin, Georgia where William James Keith Sr. became the leader of the First Presbyterian Church.

Elizabeth McLin or McLean was also born in Tennessee around 1840. We don’t know her parent’s names or where exactly she was born. She married William James Keith on December 12,1856 in Atlanta, Fulton, GA. They had four children. Laura was born in 1859 in Tennessee. Nathaniel was born in 1864 in Georgia. Charles was born in 1866 and Elizabeth in 1869. Only Laura was born in Tennessee. The gap in Laura’s and Nathaniel’s ages suggests that William James was in the Civil War.

Charles was raised in Georgia and later lived in Griffin, Ga in Spaulding County where his grandfather was a minister.He went to school there.

The above picture is of the railroad depot in Griffin, GA. The railroad the the major source of economy in Griffin. This is where Charles Keith began his career. He was a clerk for the railroad. He transferred to Atlanta in the mid 1880’s to work for the railroad there. He married Mary Addie Patrick in Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia in 1888.

According to the 1900 census he rented a home on 32 Slone Wall, Ward 1, Atlanta, Fulton, GA. Only Norman was going to school. Julian, Leone, and Charlotte were still very young and stayed at home. It says on the census that two other children had died by 1900. Charles Keith was still working as a clerk at the railroad. His neighbors were Francis Aiken a building inspector. An English doctor named Elizabeth Smith lived down the street.

Mary Addie Keith’s father died in 1907, the family moved back to Griffin, Georgia around this time. In the 1910 census the family was living on 203 N 6th St where they owned the house. Norman was married by then to Sarah Berry. They lived with her father, Thomas Berry at 306 N 6th St. Charles supported the family by working as a salesman. Charles’s mother-in-law was living with them. She was 69 years old. Mary Addie’s 36 year old younger sister Kate Patrick was also living with them. She was a bookkeeper for a Sewing Machine Retail Store. Norman was a printer for the newspaper.