Thomas Timothy Keene

Thomas Timothy Keene (1593–1653) was described in family tree notes as a cooper and merchant who came from England to Virginia. Those notes place him and his wife, Mary Thorley, among settlers who reached Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay in 1631 with Col. William Clayborne.

Thomas Timothy Keene was born on 20 January 1593 and died on 20 January 1653.

Family tree notes describe Thomas as a cooper and merchant who came from England to Virginia. They identify his mother as Elizabeth Gosnold (1570–1665) and state that she was a first cousin of Bartholomew Gosnold, who commanded the Goodspeed to the Jamestown settlement in 1607.

According to the same notes, Thomas and his wife, Mary Thorley, were among about 100 Virginia settlers who arrived on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay with Col. William Clayborne in 1631. The notes say that Clayborne's effort to settle the island for Virginia ultimately failed.

The family tree notes further state that, in 1649, most of the Kent Island settlers sailed down the bay to St. Mary's City, Maryland, and crossed the Potomac to Cherry Point on Virginia's Northern Neck. The notes do not specifically state whether Thomas and Mary were among those settlers.

Historical context

Family tree notes connect Thomas Keene's 1631 arrival on Kent Island with Col. William Clayborne's effort to establish the island for Virginia. They describe the later movement of most Kent Island settlers in 1649, after that effort proved unsuccessful.

Sources & research