1774
1892
1902
1905
1906
1907
1909
1910
1912
1913
1915
Thomas and Mary Keillor emigrate to Canada from Yorkshire, England, as part of a larger Yorkshire migration to Nova Scotia and other Maritime provinces. They eventually make a claim on a 100-acre farm, 7 miles up a winding mountain road in the tiny village of Lumsden, New Brunswick.
1841
June 10, James Wesley Powell is born in Clearfield, Penn., to father David Powell and mother Martha Ann. He is a triplet, but the oldest dies shortly after birth, leaving James and Llewellyn. David and Martha Ann pack up the new little family and move over the next several years, eventually with 7 more children, to Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and eventually Illinois.
1859
1860
1880
David Powell, who disliked staying put, recruits a group of farmers and heads from Malta, Ill., for the gold fields of Colorado. He reasons that his sons Lew and James Wesley, now 18, were strong enough to handle the farm work for their mother and siblings. He stays in Colorado for 4 years, is elected president of the town of Canon City in 1861 as its first county clerk in 1862 and then as a member of the first Colorado State Legislature before returning to Illinois and to Martha Ann and their children.
July 4, James Crandall Keillor is born in Kingston, Ontario, to William Evans Keillor and Mary Jane Crandall. Besides James, William and Mary had 6 other children: Mary, Rebecca (Becky), Elizabeth (Libby), Thomas, Amelia and Alfred.
October 1, Dora Edith Powell is born along with twin sister Della in Franklin, Iowa to James Wesley Powell and Sarah Jane Leaman. They had 7 other children: Frank, Leora (Dora), Mary (Mamie), Ray, Roy, Lew and Eva.
1881
1918
1921
1925
1933
1938
1942-45
1948
1964
Timeline, Keillor & Powell Families
James Keillor helps move his sister Mary and her children from eastern Canada to Anoka, Minn., where her husband Jim Hunt and his parents have bought a farm. When Jim dies, James takes over managing the farm and assisting Mary in caring for her children: Rozel, Gertrude and Sarah (Sadie).
William Evans and Mary Jane Keillor buy a farm near James and Mary in Anoka, and move from eastern Canada to Anoka. Children Becky, Amelia and Alfred join them there. William and Mary’s house eventually serves as a meeting place for the group of believers at Trott Brook.
Dora Powell, her parents and siblings move from Thornton, Iowa to Anoka, Minn., where Frank and his family have settled.
January 14, James Welsey Powell, Dora’s father, dies in Anoka. He is 63. Also this year, James Keillor meets Dora Powell. He was on the school board, and she was hired to teach in the one-room school across the road from where he lived with his sister, Mary. Dora rents a room from the brother and sister.
October 11, James, 45, marries Dora, 25. Mary Hunt sells the farm to the newlyweds, and moves in with her parents, William Evans and Mary Jane who live nearby.
December 14, Ruth Della Keillor is born to James and Dora.
February 26, Robert Everett Keillor is born.
November 11, James William Keillor is born.
February 22, Josephine Eva Keillor is born.
October 12, John Philip Keillor is born.
October 11, Lawrence Powell Keillor is born.
March 13, Elizabeth Ann Keillor is born.
June 19, Eleanor Jeanette Keillor is born.
James and Dora Keillor’s house burns down in January. The cause was a defective chimney, something James had intended to rebuild. James began building the new house in the spring as soon as the crops were in. The new house, in the same spot as the old, was built of concrete.
November 4, James Crandall Keillor dies at home at the age of 73. Mr. Ames officiated at the funeral where James’ favorite song, “Fairer Than Canaan’s Land,” was sung. The pall bearers were his four sons.
James and Dora’s first grandchildren are born. Philip to John and his wife Grace, and Marilyn to Lawrence and his wife Franny.
World War II. John, married and with 3 children, is drafted. His brother James, who is single, offers to go in his place, but the draft board won’t approve the request. Lawrence, also with 3 children, is drafted to serve.
The meeting in Anoka, which had since moved to the schoolhouse across the street from the Keillor home, splits from the Plymouth Brethren assemblies in Minneapolis and other parts of the U.S. and Europe.
July 26, Dora dies at the age of 83 at the hospital in Onamia, Minn., after suffering a stroke. She had been living with daughter Eleanor and her family in Isle, Minn. Her twin sister Della died two years earlier in Moorhead, Minn.