I only had a child’s name to go on and so I was not sure where to search. I assumed that the spelling was Louis, but searches turned up empty. I turned to an alternate spelling. Lewis. If he was not living with his father and his father’s parents were deceased, then maybe his maternal grandparents. I started searching census records for a Lewis who was related to the head of house other than as a son. A grandson or possibly a border.
I first discovered a 6-year-old Lewis living in the home of Benjamine (spelling taken from the census) Kerns in 1910. He is listed as grandson to head of the house and they are in Avon, Coffey Kansas. It took some sleuthing but going back through past census of Benjamine Kerns I discover he had a stepdaughter by the name of Louise Williams. Looking more into Louise I discovered two newspaper clippings that I have shared below.
One article was found in the Kansas City Kansas Globe on Monday, Oct 14, 1907. On page 8 of the paper, we find that Louise has filed a petition for divorce. She has stated some strong allegations against Harrison. But what we do find is that it states they were wed in June of 1901.
A second article indicates that Louise Keele was granted a divorce from Harrison R Keele.
It also lists a child named Mary Louise. Further discovery indicates that the name of the child was not recorded correctly. This child is Harry Lewis Keele. Sadly I discovered an article written for an unknown paper on April 29, 1904, states that “Loraine Keele, aged 2 years died Tuesday at the home of her parents.
This would have been the first child of Harrison and Louise Keele. Based on dates of birth Louise was pregnant with Harry Lewis Keele at the time of Loraine’s death. On July 5, 1904, Harry Lewis Keele was born. Harry is a shortened nickname for Harrison, but he went by Lewis. In the 1940 census, he is listed as divorced, living as a lodger. He works as a sheet metal worker. In the 1930 census, he is living with Harrison, Florence, and 9 children. (Ardice had already moved out). The address is 3834 Farrow Ave Kansas City Ks.
There is no dwelling standing when you use Google maps but at the time it was listed as a Farm. In Grandma Betty and Uncle Boy’s story stated that Lewis was sent away because he was not kind to the younger children, namely them. I do not have definitive proof that this was the case but in Harrison’s obituary Lewis is not listed as part of the surviving family, and Lewis was still living at this time. But now what about grandma saying that Lewis’s mother was “scalped by Indians”?
