by Gary KEETER

This family history is a result of 15 years of research. The four basic family lines are Keeter and Ivy on my father’s side and Cram and Brown on my mother’s side. The last generation is Kalani Lynn Bjork, my grandson. The next generation is Carlina Lynn Keeter Bjork, Kalani’s mother and my daughter. The various families lived in several states and countries, and the four lines mentioned above all had their immigrant ancestor come from England. Genealogy is the study of family history. We start with one person, in this case me. It then goes back in time, to two people, my parents. The next generation is four people, my grandparents. Next are 8 people, my great grandparents. Each generation back has twice the number of great grandparents, and so on. If I go back 30 generations, about 900 years, I have 1 billion, 73 million, 741 thousand, 824 grand parents between then and me. If we compare the population of the world in the year 1105 to the population in 1944, when I was born, we would see a huge difference. It is no wonder then that the King of England in 1105, for example, would be related to people numbering in the billions The following pages contain a variety of information about each family. Included are (when known) dates of birth, death, marriage, names of spouses, children, where they lived, and stories about their lives. In the back is an index for easy reference to a particular name.

A written history of the Keeter family, to which I am directly related, begins with William Kittowe, born 13 Sep. 1640, in the Parish of Padstow, County of Cornwall, England. His father was Michael Kyttowe, born 4 Sep, 1614, in the same place as William. Michael’s father was William Kyttowe, probably born about 1590. William born in 1640 is the Keeter immigrant to North America, and there is a good chance he was transported from Cornwall County, England to the Virginia Colony as a young man to work for Arthur Allen, a wealthy businessman with connections in London. William first appears in court records for 12 April, 1664, in Surry County. Dorothy Baker testified she was pregnant by William Kitto and would probably give birth in about 2 months, in June. William also testified to that fact, and admitted he was the father of her soon to be born baby. She and William were both servants of Arthur Allen, and had to sign their names with an X as they were illiterate. The court clerk wrote his name as it sounded to him and spelled it Kitto. It was probably pronounced "KEETOE". After their son was born they named him William. They were probably married by then, or soon after. They were definitely married by 1677 when they testified in the estate hearing of Susanna Jones, deceased, whom they both knew. In July, 1677, William testified that he unknowingly gave transportation to some of Nathaniel Bacon’s men during "Bacon’s Rebellion." Bacon had tried to overthrow the government of Virginia, by force. William had taken a small number of Bacon’s men across the river in his rowboat His testimony, as recorded by the court clerk is as follows:

William was acquitted of charges of treason. In 1681 William was taken to court by Roger Rawlings for debts. He had to bind over personal possessions to Rawlings, and before he had to do so he gave his son, William Jr., one of his horses. It kept Rawlings from taking possession of it. William Sr. also owed money to George Foster and failed to show up in court. He was arrested in 1682. He appears on the lists of those to be taxed in Surry County for the years 1673, 1674, 1681, 1682 and 1688.

William Kitto’s son, William Jr., got out of Dodge about that time and decided to make it on his own in nearby Chowan Precinct, Albemarle County, North Carolina, just across the border. He was there by at least 1693 when he appeared as a witness in court records. The spelling of the "Kitto" name changed after William arrived in North Carolina, probably due to the Scottish accent of most of the court clerks in that area. The name became "Keato". After William Jr. had arrived in North Carolina he married and had children. A son, William, was born about 1694 and another, James, was born about 1698. William owned land by then and was a farmer. He and his wife, Martha, worked hard to make a living. The soil was fertile and the climate conducive to growing tobacco, the main crop in that area and most of the Carolinas. William died about 1716, about 52 years old. His son, James, had moved west to Bertie County and married. He owned land there, purchased after his mother, Martha, had died about 1725. James lived until about 1750 and had at least 3 children, William about 1732, James about 1740 and John about 1747. More than likely there were other children during that 15 year span. James Jr. moved to Brunswick County, Virginia about 1762, along with his 15 year old brother, John. He bought some land and married Lucy Johnson. His name on the land purchase was spelled James Ceter, so he was probably illiterate. By 1764 a son, Henry, was born, then several more children. In 1769 he and Lucy sold the land for a loss and James was sued for debts. He was still in Brunswick County in 1787 then he moved to Rutherford County, North Carolina. Farmers were always on the move a long time ago. The soil became farmed out and they didn’t have the fertilizers and knowledge about crop rotation back then. Henry Keeter preceded his father to Rutherford County. He was there by 1785 in court records, serving as a juror to help ensure a road was laid out accurately. He was only 21 at the time. By 1790 he was married and had a baby boy, John. Henry bought up land as fast as he could. He became one of the real land barons in the area. By 1801 his father died and he became the head shed, the oldster, family patriarch. His name was spelled Keta, Keto, Kets, Keter, and Keeter in various court records and land deals. He was literate and signed his name as Henry Keeter on his will. He died about 1846.

Elbert Benson Keeter was born at the start of the War of 1812. The very young United States was fighting the British again. England decided it was within their rights to attack U.S. ships at sea and capture sailors, forcing them to work on their own ships. It was called "impressment". Their army invaded U.S. soil and was on the way to defeating our troops, which would have subjected our country to English rule, completely ending the very freedom we had won in the Revolutionary War. British troops were in Washington, burned the capital and the white house. A severe storm stopped them and they were defeated the next day. We were able to negotiate a peace that included their stopping the use of impressment

Elbert was 2 years old when the war ended. He lived with his father, John Keeter, and mother, Susannah, on a modest farm in south western North Carolina, in Rutherford county. They raised a few hogs, cattle and crops, mostly corn and tobacco. It was hard work and they carved out a meagre living. His grandfather, Henry, lived nearby, as did several aunts and uncles. A few years before there were only two families of Keeters in that county, and now there were eight. Everyone chipped in and helped each other, as was the custom. Little Elbert grew up learning that hard work was necessary to survive.

By the mid 1820’s land was actually getting scarce in Rutherford County, and it was time for some people to move on. One of those families was John Keeter’s. His wife was originally from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, just across the state and county lines from John’s home. With Susannah’s connections they were able to settle near her family, the Bensons, in Spartanburg County. This was 1828. They only had to move about 50 miles, but that was a difficult task in those days. They had 6 children ranging in age from one to sixteen. Once there they built their new farm.

In 1831 John became ill, suffering from a liver disease. He died at the age of 41, leaving Susannah and her children to survive as best they could. Oldest son, Elbert, was 19 and became the man in the family. Fortunately they received help from nearby farmers, including Susannah’s parents and brothers and sisters. By 1835 Elbert was 23 and ready to start his own farm. He bought land near John Taylor and married his daughter, Mahala. He was on his own, but close enough to help his mother.

Elbert was a strong man, 6 feet tall, blond hair and blue eyes. Mahala was beautiful, dark hair and blue eyes. She knew how to work as a farm wife and was ready to have a family. She gave birth to their first child in 1836, a son they named John Henry. He was named for Elbert’s father and grandfather. In 1838 another son was born and they named him James Jefferson. More children followed, about every 2 years, which was common .

In the 1840’s new land was quickly being home-steaded in Georgia. Elbert decided to move there and build a new farm. He filled wagons with as many possessions as could be moved and headed off for an area about 50 miles north of Atlanta. He had 5 children, and with him were his mother and his brothers. This move took several days and was very difficult. They settled in an area called the Valley of Sardis Creek. They built a modest house from logs and put up the necessary outbuildings. His goal was to buy up as much surrounding land as he could, which was the custom for new farmers home steading an area. They wanted to keep their family close by to one another, which was a custom back then. It was a good way to survive.

More children were born after they settled in Georgia, and Elbert’s brothers were starting their own farms. The country was in turmoil during the late 1850’s. A war loomed on the horizon, a war between the southern and northern states. Although the Civil War did not start with the goal of ending slavery, it gradually evolved into that The Keeters had not owned any slaves, including all the way back to William Keeter in north eastern North Carolina in the late 1600’s. They did support the cause of the South, which was to preserve their way of life. This included the ownership of slaves. The economy of the South could not survive without it

War did break out, in 1861, and the South was in a frenzy. Men rushed to enlist and they did not realize how horrible this war would be. Elbert’s three oldest sons and two of his brothers joined up. His son, Andrew, joined the Georgia infantry. After initial training he was assigned to Company G of the 23^rd Regiment. The unit moved out and worked its way north. After Robert E. Lee was assigned commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Andrew’s unit was transferred to that group. After seeing action in Virginia, they started for Maryland in the summer of 1862. This was an invasion of the North, and the Confederacy was winning the war. Lee knew he could defeat the Northern Army if he could engage them soon. He knew if he invaded the Yankees would have to come to him. If he defeated them the way to Washington was wide open. He could take the capital and the South could get a peace settlement which would allow them to remain a separate nation.

South Mountain is located near Frederick, Maryland. The Yankees occupied the area and Lee wanted to get to Sharpsburg. He had to defeat the Yankees at South Mountain first. The 23^rd Georgia Regiment was part of the attack and Andrew saw plenty of action there. It was right up his alley. He could hide among the trees and run around, finding Yankees to shoot at. It was like the days back home when he went hunting for deer and quail. They succeeded in defeating the Northern troops at South Mountain and it opened the way for the rest of Lee’s army to move west and link up with the rest of his forces who were taking the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Once in Sharpsburg he could occupy the high ground and set up his army to be in the best position to win, even though he was outnumbered.

Lee arrived at Sharpsburg on September 16 and he waited for McClellan’s "Grand Army of the Potomac". The battle would start the following day, and it did with a fury. Lee’s cannons fired north and east as his troops moved out to attack. Andrew’s unit moved north, through a corn field, and dug in behind a rail fence. They waited for the attack they knew would come. Yankee cannon blasted their positions. Then the troops followed. When they emerged from the woods Andrew and his fellow soldiers opened up. Men in blue uniforms fell in rows. More came and overran the Rebel positions. Just as Andrew raised up to retreat he was hit with a mini ball in the left shoulder. He staggered but kept moving. He took another hit, in the back of his left knee, shattering the bones. He went down and lay there. Yankees ran by and pursued his buddies. Smoke was so thick he could barely see.

Andrew couldn’t move and he was in terrible pain. He was going into shock. The battle continued and no medical aid was available. The two armies actually moved back and forth past Andrew several times. He was able to apply a tourniquet and stop the bleeding from his left leg. He wanted water, but there wasn’t any. Dead and wounded men lay all around him. Northern troops gained possession of that area by midday and they started carrying off their wounded. They let the injured Southern troops lay there. Finally, at about 4:00 P.M., they carried Andrew to the rear and laid him down near a field hospital. By the next day he was feeling better, but still in danger of bleeding to death. A Yankee officer told him he would help him if he signed an oath of allegiance to the North. Andrew signed it and a doctor amputated his leg at the knee.

Andrew went in and out of consciousness during the next 5 days. He was in terrible pain. His shoulder was still bleeding and gangrene had set in to his leg. He died the next day. He was buried in a mass grave that afternoon. That night his mother had a terrible nightmare. She saw Andrew all bloody and laying in the open. He was crying, asking for her, and he could not get up. She woke up and screamed. She told Elbert that their son had been wounded, and she was afraid he was going to die. His mother suffered a heart attack one week later, killing her instantly. She was only 50 years old and had given birth to 13 children.

Sharpsburg was a stalemate, not the victory Lee had hoped for. It was the turning point of the war. The South began fighting more and more defensively. The North invaded and started moving through Georgia The small town of Canton was only a few miles from the Keeter farms. Federal troops occupied the area and burned the town. People miles away could see the glow from fires at night The Keeter farms were spared. The Yankees moved on through and attacked Atlanta 50 miles away. The war ended in 1865, and "reconstruction" of the south began.

John Henry Keeter, Elbert’s oldest son, got married in 1859 and Samuel Benson, or "S.B.", was born in 1860. John Henry farmed near his father. In 1869 Elbert died and left no will. The county appointed John Henry executor after Elbert’s second wife, Arminda Evans, declined. John Henry made sure Arminda received nothing, and she had to live in a small outbuilding on Elbert’s property. She had 2 young boys by Elbert. Two years later she got pregnant by John Henry, and she bore a daughter. From the time she was so mistreated by J.H., with the pregnancy the last straw, John Henry was disliked by many family members. He remained married to Vanetta Timmons, and no one could understand why. He died in 1894 and the family made sure he was buried in an unmarked grave. Vanetta went to Texas. John Henry’s son, Samuel Benson, wanted a new start where land was cheap and easy to acquire. When he was 18 he got married in 1878, to Mary Elizabeth Taylor, and they had a son in late 1879. They named him Cicero, after Mary’s father. In 1885 they sold what land they did have and headed for Texas. They settled near the town of Graham in Young County, a hot, windy, flat terrain. They weren’t used to this. Georgia was lush and hilly. Trying to farm that country in Texas was very difficult. Droughts were common.

In 1898 their one year old son, Walter, was playing outside. Samuel was burning some trash. The wind came up and the fire moved to some grass near the house. Walter was quickly engulfed in flames and killed. The family was devastated. Mary didn’t leave her room for over a week. She cried for hours. Samuel stepped up his search for new land. That year some of the Indian reservation lands in Oklahoma were opened to settlers, but one had to apply for selection in a lottery. To qualify you couldn’t own any land anywhere else. Samuel applied but his name wasn’t drawn until 1901. The family packed up and moved about 100 miles north onto former Comanche land. They settled about 8 miles south east of the small town of Temple. Samuel, or "S.B" as he was known, had some teenage sons by then, but no other Keeter family nearby like in previous generations. They had to live in a dugout until they could build a house. When finished, the home was beautiful. A large barn, a well, fences and other buildings followed. They raised cotton and wheat, and had several cows, chickens and other animals. The older boys got married soon after and started their own farms.

Lester Amos Keeter was one of S.B.’s sons. He was a rough drinker and lacked manners. In 1910 he was 20 years old and he met a beautiful woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He fell head over heels in love with her, even though she was 2 years older. They saw a lot of each other, especially on weekends when he could get over to Hastings in Jefferson County, where she lived. She made it clear from the very start that he had to quit drinking, cussing and carousing. He did, but it wasn’t easy. To him this beautiful girl was worth it Her name was Etta Martha Ivy and she was born in Keene, Texas, in 1888. That’s in Johnson County.

Lester and Etta were not married when she got pregnant in early 1911. She had lost her mother in 1899 and she didn’t want to tell her father, but she finally had to. When she did he was not angry, but he did tell Lester in no uncertain terms he had better marry his daughter, and it better be quick. Lester went on a drunken binge and didn’t surface for 3 days. When he showed up at Etta’s house she told him to leave, go home and clean up, then come back to talk things over. Lester just didn’t want to settle down yet, and he didn’t really have a steady occupation. He hated farming. It was too much work and he couldn’t use the skills he seemed to come by naturally, building with tools. He liked carpentry but there wasn’t much need for that around there. Everyone seemed able to do it themselves.

He really did love Etta and he finally decided to marry her. By then she was 8 months along and she didn’t want to go down the aisle in that condition. They decided to wait until the baby was born, then get married as soon after as possible. She gave birth on December 3, 1911, and they got married December 18. There was a house available to rent about a half mile from his parents, so they moved in and started their life together. It meant Lester had to farm, and he disliked it even more on rented land. He finally set up his own black-smithing business in the barn. There was still a need for that, although automobiles and gas powered farm equipment were still on the horizon.

In 1916 his father, S.B., got a bleeding ulcer and died. He was only 56. Lester and his family moved in with mom and helped her run the farm. Etta was a big help too, although she had 3 children by then. It was about that time that Lester got into running liquor into Oklahoma from Texas. They were only 30 miles from the Texas border and Cotton County was "dry", which meant no booze. It became a lucrative occupation, but it was illegal. His brother, Carl, went in with him and they tried to get their other brother, Lonnie, to join in, but he refused. One moonlit night in 1917 they got caught. The sheriff had staked out the bridge coming from Texas into Oklahoma over the Red River. Lester was driving and he spotted the officers. He turned off the lights and tried to back up. The officers sped onto the bridge and opened fire at the car. Fortunately no one was hurt and the Keeter brothers were arrested. They went to trial and got suspended sentences in exchange for testifying against the higher ups in the area bootlegging business. That was a dangerous thing to do, but it kept them out of jail.

Two years later, in 1919, one of those "higher ups" was released from jail. He didn’t forget Lester and Carl Keeter. He tracked them down one night and drove them off the road. He got out and shot Carl in the chest, men he shot Lester through the shoulder. Lonnie was with them, but he was spared because this "businessman" knew Lonnie had nothing to do with it. Besides, he only wanted to wound them and send out a warning. After he left, Lonnie got the car back on the road and rushed Lester and Carl to a hospital in Lawton. Carl died the next day, but Lester survived.

After that close call Lester settled down. Well, sort of. He still hated fanning and he wanted out of Oklahoma. His reputation was well known and he wanted a fresh start. Besides, maybe a move would give him a chance to work in construction. In 1923 he got that chance, landing a job in Boulder, Colorado. He worked for a contractor building houses. He became especially skilled at stone masonry. He moved his family and started over. Besides, prohibition was in effect and it was hard to get booze. He figured if he was doing what he liked he wouldn’t have any desire to drink, at least not to excess. By 1925 he and Etta had 5 children— Elmo, born back in 1911, Harley Ivy in 1913, Mary Louise in 1915, Carl Owen in 1920 and Cecil Elza in 1925. Lester was doing quite well in construction. He built their house with his own hands, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He wasn’t drinking, but he still liked his cigars. Etta let him have at least one vice. Besides, if he fell asleep on the couch while listening to the radio at least she knew it was her couch.

In 1928 Etta got her usual cold in the winter. This time she didn’t get well. The cough got worse, her temperature was around 103 and she had a hard time breathing. The cold had developed into pneumonia Lester tried to help her get well, but for some reason never took her to the doctor until it was too late. She died and he was left with the children to try and raise alone. He had to work, and he couldn’t afford child care. Lester contacted his brother and sisters in Oklahoma. He needed their help. They all agreed to raise the kids, but Lester didn’t want to move back there. He packed everyone into his old Ford and they went to Cotton County. After a brief stay Lester returned to Boulder and rejoined his 2 oldest boys—Harley, 14, and Elmo, 16. A year later Elmo contracted tuberculosis. He died a few days later. Lester Keeter never remarried. He started drinking again and he died of cancer in 1960.

Carl Owen Keeter was born in 1920. He was named for his uncle who was shot and killed a year earlier, and for New York Yankee catcher, Mickey Owen. In 1927 he went to live with his Aunt Eula and Uncle Lonnie across the road south from the S.B. Keeter farmhouse. School was a one-room building straight east down the road about a half-mile and it had grades one through eight It was named Keeter School because S.B. donated the land it was built on. Carl sort of liked life on a farm, with the open air, lots of room to run and play, and he did the little jobs he was assigned with enthusiasm. His grandmother lived across the road and she doted over him and his cousin Lucille. He liked her big old house and he felt real secure there. However, his grandmother was taken from him only a year after he arrived, dead from a stroke out in the yard. He wondered why she was so still, lying there in the sun with the wind blowing through her white hair.

When Carl’s oldest brother died later that year he began to wonder who would be next Within one year he had lost three people he had really cared about Carl started craving attention and he showed off so everyone would notice him. Aunt Eula tried to reign him in and Uncle Lonnie thought he was just fine the way he was. Carl was a natural athlete. Excelling in every sport he tried was easy, and he was blessed with the skills needed to be real good. He could run like the wind, throw a ball with speed and accuracy, hit a ball hard consistently, and that was just in baseball. He could play all the sports and he wanted to be the best. School was something he tolerated. He would rather be outside, playing ball.

Carl knew his older brother, Bud, was an outstanding athlete at Boulder High School. It came naturally for him, too. Carl watched high school games in Temple and he saw his cousin, S.B. Junior, excel but not get much publicity. Carl wanted his name in the big papers someday, and he couldn’t have that happen in Temple, Oklahoma He wanted more and more to go back to Boulder and be with his brother Bud. He had mixed feelings about his father. He blamed him for his mother’s death and he felt his father had abandoned him by sending him to Oklahoma. He began to distrust people.

During the summer after his eighth grade year he talked his Aunt Eula and his father into letting him go back to Boulder. He would live with his father and he could hang around with Bud. He was so good in sports he played on the varsity his sophomore year on all 3 major teams-football, basketball and baseball. Just for good measure he tried his hand at track, and he was great there too. In football he was a fullback and defensive back. He watched his idol, Byron "Whizzer" White, play for the University of Colorado. He learned from him how to set up real deep for a punt return and catch it running full speed, often for long gains. Whizzer White later became a Supreme Court Justice and was a Rhode’s Scholar. In basketball Carl could shoot and consistently make a hook shot from the corner, something unheard of today. In baseball he was an outstanding pitcher, developing a sharp curveball and deceptive change up to go along with his hard fastball that had movement. Scouts were taking notice when he was still 16.

For the last year of high school he lived with Bud and Bud’s wife, Mildred. His father wouldn’t cook for him and the house was always dirty. His father drifted from job to job and he drank a lot. He never attended any of Carl’s games and he gave him little attention, which he desperately needed. Carl got that attention through athletics. He also liked a pretty little girl with big green eyes and dark hair. Her name was Marda Cram. He tried to get her to like him , but she really wanted to "play the field". Carl didn’t give up. His competitive nature took over and he just wouldn’t leave her alone. He did silly things to get her to notice him. She went to ball games, not to watch him, or the games, but to be with her friends. He was jealous of any boys she had anything to do with. One in particular hung around like a puppy dog and Carl got fed up with it. He was walking to Marda’s house one day and there was this guy walking up to her front porch. Carl was about a block away and he hollered at him "Hey, get away from that house and don’t ever come back." He ran toward him and the guy took off down the street with Carl close behind. He let him go after some choice words, and the guy never came back. He knew Carl Keeter was tough and meant business. His name was Denver Pyle. He moved to Los Angeles and became an actor, and his most famous role was the feisty old Uncle Jessie on the Dukes of Hazzard.

After Carl and Marda graduated they drifted apart. That was 1938. Carl heard about a summer baseball league in Kansas where they got jobs for the players during the day and they played their ball games at night. He went down there and was the best pitcher in the league. He enrolled at Dodge City Junior College in the fall. He played football until he tore up his knee when he was tackled just as he caught a punt. He didn’t do very well academically and he dropped out. He signed a contract with the St Louis Cardinals for 1939. After spring training he was assigned to Class D Fostoria. He was homesick, not for Boulder, but for Dodge City. It wasn’t for the baseball. He could have had that in Fostoria, and gotten paid for it. He had a girl friend in Dodge City, and he wanted to be with her. He asked the Cardinals for his release, and, amazingly, they gave it to him. He returned to Dodge City and played another season with the same semi-pro club.

Carl was the best pitcher in the league again, and the thing with the girl in Dodge City didn’t work out. He returned to Boulder and worked with Bud that winter. When he started working out for baseball that spring, with the idea of returning to Dodge City, he hurt his arm. He decided to stay in Boulder and play softball with Bud. He renewed his relationship with Marda and things got pretty serious. In the spring of 1941 he was contacted by Brooklyn Dodger scout Bert Wells. He asked Carl if he’d come to Wichita and pitch in a workout. He was promised a contract if his arm was sound. He went to Wichita and impressed everyone there. The Dodgers signed him and sent him to spring training in Georgia. He really impressed the Dodger minor league staff and they assigned him to Class D Newport in the N.E. Arkansas League. He was the best pitcher in that circuit, which he seemed to have a habit of doing. He led the league in earned run average, wins and innings pitched. During one stretch he threw a no-hitter, a one-hitter, then another no-hitter. The Dodgers brought him to Brooklyn in September. He threw batting practice then changed to his street clothes and sat in the dugout during games. They wanted him to be around for Big League games, to get that experience. The Dodgers were in a pennant race with the Cardinals and they didn’t want to go away from the pitchers who had been with them all season.

He spent the winter in Boulder. The United States declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbour, and Carl didn’t know what the future held. He went to spring training with the Dodgers at their Big League camp in Vero Beach, but was sent down just before they broke camp. During that season he was on and off the disabled list with back and arm problems. The Dodgers brought him to Brooklyn again but he still couldn’t wear the uniform during games. He was about to be drafted into the Army that fall so he joined the Army Air Corps.

In September, 1943, while on leave in Boulder, he married Marda Cram. Marda gave birth to Gary Lynn Keeter in October of 1944. While he served in the Air Corps he played baseball. He hurt his arm while throwing too hard too soon in the early spring. He couldn’t throw without pain after that, and ended up playing second base. In early 1945 Carl was sent to Bakersfield to prepare for the invasion of Japan. He went to radar school and missed his son and wife terribly. He wanted to be back with his family. First he had to live through this war. Fortunately it was over in August, 1945. Carl had to wait 4 months before he was discharged because all the guys who had been overseas got to go home first.

The Dodgers still had Carl under contract, and they offered him a new one for the 1946 season. His arm had hurt most of the time playing ball in the Air Corps. He had one child and another on the way. He had a job offer from a growing beer company called Coors. They wanted him to be a salesman in Denver and to organise an athletic program. He would have a basketball team in a good semi-pro league (pro basketball had not been introduced yet) and a baseball team, both of which he would coach. It was an ideal job and he accepted. The Dodgers placed him on the voluntary retired list, and would not give him an unconditional release until 1952.

Carl seemed to have two lives: the first as a talented athlete and the second as a guy who could no longer excel in athletics and tried to figure out what he wanted. Most good athletes have to go through this when their playing days are over. The first life had come easily. He had all that God-given talent and he gained publicity and attention. When that ended he tried to relive that first life through his sons. He pushed them to excel in athletics and they were all talented in their own way, but not like Carl was in every sport he tried. He was quick to find fault, and it started to carry over into every day things. He was unhappy with his job because it took him away from his family. He had to be on the road 5 days a week. He quit his good paying job at Coors in 1958 and sort of drifted after that. He tried selling insurance, then automobiles. He finally took a job with another beer company, doing the same thing he had done with Coors, with less security and less pay. With each job change came a move, and that was unsettling for his family. Marda stood behind him but it was hard for her. He became more and more negative. He seemed to blame others for his situation, and expected relatives with money to bail him out

His distrust of people in general grew worse and worse. He became more of a loner. Marda tolerated it and his children tried to accept the way he was. In 1996 Marda died from a heart attack. Carl was devastated and fell into deeper depression than ever before. He had lost his one and only true friend. His daughter, Ginger, lived nearby and she tried to help him. It was very hard for her but she persevered. He was living alone in the same small Senior Housing apartment he and Marda had lived in. Ginger finally convinced him to come live with her and her husband and daughter.

On the following pages are copies of additional information:

1. Oath of allegiance signed by Andrew N. Keeter (A. N. Keeter) after he was wounded at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, during the Civil War.
2. A map of the Antietam Battlefield. The approximate spot where Andrew was wounded is probably where the 23^rd GA is positioned.
3. Confederate dead after the battle of Antietam. Below that photo is the same scene in modern times.
4. Two photos of the same scene: Union field hospital for Confederate prisoners 3 days after the battle of Antietam.
5. Discharge paper of William Brown, my great grandfather, after the Civil War. He served for one year after the war ended, and was discharged at "Denver City", Colorado Territory, in 1866.
6. Playing record for Carl Keeter in the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league system.