JOHN BIRDEN KEITH was born Abt. 1786 in Bedford County, Virginia, and died Aft. 1850 probably in Hunt County, TX. He was the sixth child of NICHODEMUS KEITH and MARGARET BORDEN. He married POLLY ANN CRANE Aft. 1812 in White, Bledsoe County, Tennessee. She was born Abt. 1790 in White, Bledsoe County, Tennessee, and died Bef. 1840, probably in Arkansas.
John Birden Keith served as a volunteer in the War of 1812. He applied for federal pension for this service in 1850 when he lived in Hunt County, TX. The family moved to Carroll County, Arkansas sometime before July of 1835, as evidenced by Crooked Creek Baptist Church records. In the 1840 census, they were in Marion County, Arkansas, but no female the age of Polly Ann Crane Keith was enumerated. It is not known when or where she died.
Polly first was married to John’s brother, WILLIAM KEITH. He was born about 1784 in Virginia and died about 1812. They were married probably in the latter part of 1804 or the early part of 1805.
Children of WILLIAM KEITH and POLLY ANN CRANE
| WILLIAM BIRD KEITH | b. Nov 14, 1805, Bedford County, Tennessee; d. Apr 8 1860, Benton County, Arkansas; m. SARA RUTH MAY. |
Children of JOHN BIRDEN KEITH and POLLY ANN CRANE
| NANCY KEITH | b. Abt. 1814, Tennessee; d. Aft. July 03, 1834; m. TOM LANKFORD. |
| ELIZABETH ISABELLA KEITH | b. Abt. 1815, Bedford, Tennessee; d. Aft. 1831. |
| ABIJAH BIRDEN KEITH | b. January 24, 1817, Missouri; d. April 10, 1877, Goldthwaite, Mills County, TX; m. DELILAH ADELINE JONES |
| RHODA KEITH | b. Abt. 1819, Alabama; d. Aft. August 08, 1864; m. ASHER GARNER HARDIN |
| MARY RUTH KEITH | b. February 23, 1821, Jackson County, Alabama; d. September 14, 1912, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California; m. GREEN CLAY ELY |
| JOHN JACKSON KEITH | b. May 04, 1823; d. April 14, 1907, Eastland County, TX; m. ISABEL W. ELY |
| CYRENA KEITH | b. December 19, 1824, McNairy County, Tennessee; d. September 11, 1879, Hunt County, TX; m. STEPHEN MARSHALL |
| GREEN WOOD KEITH | b. Abt. 1828, Missouri; d. Aft. 1880, Texas. |
| GEORGE WASHINGTON KEITH | b. December 08, 1830, Missouri; d. May 15, 1877, Erath County, TX; m. NEOMA BRUMBALOW |
| MARGARET JANE KEITH | b. June 28, 1832, Missouri; d. Aft. December 25, 1872; m. DAVID RILEY BANTA |
| REBECCA M. KEITH | b. September 25, 1835, Missouri; d. May 12, 1878, Brown County, TX. |
| MATILDA E KEITH | b. Abt. 1837, Missouri; d. Aft. 1880, Texas |
Born of Texas 
Does anyone know if John B. Keith was in Texas by Feb. 19, 1846?
I believe he was, but so far, I have been unable to substantiate that. I can put him in Hunt County in 1850, and in Marion County, AR in 1840. But so far, no records to indicate when he and his family arrived in Texas.