William Keegan, 1838-1880

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 15 May 1838, Trescott, Washington County, Maine

Death: 25 September 1880, Hood Canal, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.

William Keegan was born on May 15, 1838, in Trescott, Washington County, Maine. He was the eldest of eight children born to Irish immigrants James Keegan, a native of Dublin, and Elizabeth Morran. The family lived on their own farm, where James worked as a farmer.

In 1860, at the age of twenty-two, William was living on his parents’ farm with all of his siblings. He does not appear again in the records until 1871, when he was listed as a laborer living in Jefferson County, Washington Territory. William lived near the Clements–McDonough family—Ann Clements and her nephew William McDonough, both buried in Seabeck—who were also natives of Washington County, Maine. It is possible that William traveled west to Washington Territory with them.

In 1875, William purchased three parcels of land in Jefferson County.

During September and October of 1879, William—referred to as “Billy”—was employed by Jacob Hauptly on his ranch. Several of Hauptly’s journal entries describe the work William performed, including:

• “Put Keegan to splitting stakes.” 
• “Put Keegan sawing and splitting fir 8 foot stuff.” 
• “Sent Keegan and Charley to work at the bridge & road.” 
• “Put Keegan to work with Donahue ditching. Gave Keegan his time he worked 41 days.” 

On June 3 and 4, 1880, William was recorded in the U.S. Federal Census as working in Mason County. Later that year, on September 25, 1880, he was employed at a timber camp on Hood Canal when he was killed by a falling tree.

His death was reported in The Oregonian on September 29, 1880:

“Washington Territory
Fatal Accident—Increasing Fatalities
Seattle, Sept. 28—William Keegan of Prescott [Trescott], Washington County, Maine, was instantly killed at Joel Miller’s logging camp on Hood’s Canal Friday last by the falling of a big tree, the limbs of which struck him about the back and shoulders.”

William’s body was brought to Seabeck, where he was buried beneath an upright marble headstone.

In notes compiled by Fred Just, William was described as being married; however, no marriage records have been found, and all census records list him as single.