Born
Aurelia was born April 12, 1836, Blenheim, Schoharie, NY., the daughter of John H. Keyser and his wife Catherine.
Marriage and Children
Aurelia was married to Simon Campbell, (b.August 1, 1832 – d. August 1, 1904) perhaps in 1856 as their first child was born in 1857. Their children were:
- Hannah S. Keyser, b. January 4, 1857
- Anna May Keyser, b. April 21,1858
- Ida Keyser, b. 1860
- Jane E.Keyser born November 10, 1862
- Adele Keyser, b. 1867.
Died
September 18, 1920. She is buried in the Barton Hill Cemetery in Gallupville, Schoharie Co., NY and their records have her listed as "Aurelin". Aurelia was the name used by my mother.
Research Notes
I don’t really have a great deal on Aurelia but she has fascinated me as I was under the impression that she was full blooded Indian, probably Mohawk. My mother told me we had full blooded Indian in our line and that is what began my genealogy journey. I was led to believe it was in my Wilday line but found that it was really in my Cross/Campbell line.
The story came to me from Douglas Perreault about "Aurelia/Aurelin" being the full blooded Indian as his mother who came from the Humphrey/Secor/Campbell line talked about her. She said that Aurelia had great knowledge of plants and each night after her hard day’s work, would sit in her rocker and smoke her clay pipe. When she finished, she would throw it into the fireplace to have the ashes burnt off for the next night.
Douglas Perreault has since had two DNA tests taken for his genealogy studies. He had the Y-DNA test tracing his father’s side and the MT-DNA test done for tracing his mother’s side. The results of the MT-DNA were quite surprising. The T1 haplogroup was assigned to the mother’s side. This means that Aurelia/Aurelin Keyser could not have been full blooded Indian as her birth mother would have been of European descent, most likely from Ireland, the UK, Germany or Scandinavia. Maybe her father was full blooded Indian. We simply don't have the answers at this point.
Biography & research notes by user: dnkclark
