Dr. William and Fanny F. Rucker moved from Alabama to Tennessee in the early 19th century. Their daughter Fanny M. Rucker married Walter Keeble in the 1840s. The Keebles were farmers and owned general stores in Mufreesboro and Smyrna, Tennessee. During the Civil War, Walter Keeble fought for the Confederate Army in Nashville and Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the early 1870s, the Ruckers, Keebles, and related Savage family members purchased land in Texas, where the Keebles continued to farm and operate general stores until the turn of the century.
Correspondence, account records, legal and land papers, literary productions, pamphlets, and clippings compose the Keeble Family Papers, 1810-1904, documenting the social and business affairs of the Keeble and Rucker families in Tennessee, Texas, and Lauderdale County, Alabama. The correspondence of Walter and Fanny Keeble, William and Fanny Rucker, Ann E. Rucker, Sam Keeble, A. H. Ralston, Sam Savage, and others, 1824-1904, discusses agriculture, the Civil War, business activities, illness, visiting friends and family, and other topics. The account records, [ca. 1820s]-1887, contain account books, bills, receipts, checks, and a slave record book. One account book describes the estate values for individually listed slaves, along with accounts for general store purchases. The slave record book of the Keeble family lists the names and birthdates of numerous slave mothers and their children as well as a few Keeble family members. The legal and land papers, 1810-1883, include deeds, contracts, indentures, wills, surveyors maps, and estate papers for the Keeble, Rucker, Savage, and related families. The undated literary productions consists of biography of Henry Longfellow and recipes. Additionally, poems, an obituary, a book catalogue, and newspaper articles comprise the undated pamphlets and clippings.
This collection is open for research use.
Keeble Family Papers, 1810-1904, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s