This
clock has been passed down through the Keister family for generations. Family tradition is that it was brought with
the family as they traveled down the Shenandoah Valley from Pennsylvania to Montgomery
County, VA in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
The
presumed line the clock has passed through (since it ended up with my
grandmother) is Philip Keister (c. 1730-c. 1814), Peter Keister, Sr. (c.
1765-1839), Peter Keister, Jr. (1802-aft. 1870), David P. Keister (1830-bef. 1910), Walter Henderson Keister
(1869-1938), Harry Price Keister (1902-1954) and finally Harry Keister’s wife,
Margaret Howell Keister
(1908-1992). In Peter Keister’s will
of 1839, a clock is mentioned among his
possessions which may be this same clock.
This was a working clock for perhaps 200 years. As late as the 1980s it was on the mantle at
my grandmother’s house and the last thing she did before going to bed each
night was to wind this clock.
The clock shows two soldiers sitting on tree stumps around what appears to be a drum. The one on the left has just rolled dice on the drum. The metal has “U. S. A.” stamped on the inside of the base while the clock face has “Liberty” (a brand name or maybe a sentiment) and “Wurtemberg” written
on it.