David Graham's 
History of the Graham Family (1899)
[ The descendents of Samuel and James Guinn ]

We will now note briefly some account of the descendants of James Guinn, the brother of Samuel, and who located here at the same time. The first cabin of James Guinn, according to tradition, was located one and a half or two miles up Keller’s Creek from Lowell at which is now known as the Laban Guinn place. Our Information is [49] that he had four sons, Robert, James, Joseph and Samuel and possibly there were daughters also of which we have no account. He died many years before his brother, Samuel. The writer remembers to have seen the house in which he lived and the door was constructed with some kind of heavy bolt fastenings so that it could not be broken into by the Indians. His son, James, was appointed Ensign at the first court held in Monroe county. Joseph settled about a mile farther up Keller’s Creek, on what was afterwards the Red Sulphur Turnpike, and brought up a large family, among whom were John, Sylvester, James, Augustus and Joseph. 

The daughters were: Nancy, who married John Meadows; Balissens, who married Robert S. Huffman; Pauline, who married a Mr. Jarrett; Patsy, who married James Graham, son of Wm. Graham; and Miriam, who married J. W. P. Stevens. We might here add that Mr. Stevens was a very noted man, being, as was called in the vocabulary of his day, a “schoolmaster”. He [50] was called upon far and near to execute legal writings, such as wills, deeds, bonds, contracts and, perhaps did more of such writing than any other man of his locality. His handwriting, much of which is still extant, was perfect, and looked more like the cut of a type, rather than the work of hand. He it was who was called upon to count out the $12,000 of silver belonging to Samuel Guinn, Sr., and to see that each son got his share thereof. Three of his children, John and Joseph of Greenbrier county, and Mrs. George Alderson of Alderson, Monroe county, are still living. 

Robert, son of James Guinn, Sr., settled near what is now the Riverview Cl,.urch and had several children, among whom were James, Thompson Salathiel, Betsy and perhaps others. Robert was an elder in the Presbyterian church. 

After his death, his son, James, lived upon the old farm and died there at an advanced age about the year 1884. Several of James Guinn’s children are nox4 living, among whom are Addison R. [51] of Wolf Creek, Monroe county; Oliver, William and Edwin S., of the vicinity of Lowell. Thomas Guinn moved to Roane county several years ago and Salathiel settled on Horse Shoe Creek in Fayette county about the year 1835, and his descendants are still to be found in that locality. 

Samuel, son of James Guinn, Sr., married Magdalene Johnson and to distinguish him from his uncle and his uncle’s son of the same name, he was known as “Maglen” Sam. He settled on what is known as the James Boyd farm on Greenbrier river about five miles from its mouth. He moved to the west near the year 1830. 

Conrad Keller, one of the early settlers of the Lowell settlement and of whom previous mention has been made, had four sons and four daughters, namely: Philip, John, Henry and David; Elizabeth, who married James Farrill, who lived in the Big Bend of Greenbrier river; Rachel, who married Ephriam Guinn, youngest son of Samuel Guinn, Sr., and who died at her [52] home on Lick Creek on the 8th day of May, 1889, in her 86th year. Two other daughters, whose names cannot now be recalled, married two brothers by the name of Hanger. Of these the writer remembers to have seen Philip, David, Elizabeth and Rachel. Philip moved to Indiana about the year 1840. Two of his sons, David, Jr., and Madison, married two sisters, daughters of Enos Ellis, who lived at the mouth of Griffith’s Creek on the Greenbrier River and moved to Indiana with their father. David Keller, Sr., lived and died near Lowell on a part of his father’s farm. His children were Henry, who now lives on a portion of the old homestead, and Eliza, who married Andrew Guinn of Lowell. Eliza died but a few years ago. Henry, the father of George Keller, who now lives at the old Keller homestead, on a beautiful elevation overlooking the village of Lowell, died about seventy-two years ago, having dropped dead in the harvest field while cradling wheat. Mr. George Keller, who is now nearing his eightieth year, but re- [53] cently informed the writer that he was so small that he can but dimly remember the event of his father’s death.