Individual Details

1. Robert (1) and Sarah:
a. (prob.) Solomon b. 1624?, m. Frances Grant of Newbury, MA, d. 3/28/1702 
b. Sarah b. 5/26/1633, m. Samuel Buswell of Salisbury, MA
c. (prob.) Peter b. ca. 1635, m. Elizabeth _________ 
d. Rebecca b. 3/17/1637/8, m. William Smith of Topsfield, MA 
e. Phebe b. 6/17/1639, m. John French of Topsfield 
f. Mary b. 2/1641/2, d. young (buried 7/20/1642) 
g. Elias b. 5/20/1643 at Watertown, MA, m. Sarah Blandford of Sudbury, MA 9/11/1665 
h. Mary b. 6/16/1645 at Newbury, MA, m. Benjamin Gage (her stepbrother) of Andover, MA

Robert is believed to have arrived from England abt. 1630. The earliest record of Robert is with the birth of his first child, Sarah, in 1633. We do not know his wife's maiden name. It is believed that Robert was also the father of Solomon Keyes found at Newbury, MA in 1653. The will (dated 4/9/1704) of his daughter Sarah's husband, Samuel Buswell, mentions his "brother-in-law Solomon Keyes of Chelmsford".

According to one family genealogist (Paralee Keys-Simpson Hoot, The Family Keys), Robert was of County Kent and m. (1st) Elena Coke, the daughter of William Coke of Trusley and his wife Dorothy (Fitzherbert). As authority, Paralee cites Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (Vol. 4, Pages 268-9). Therein it is stated that Elena Coke m. a Robert Key, Keyes, or Kays. Paralee believes that Elena probably died in England after giving birth to Solomon (and a second son, Joseph) and Robert and the two boys then emigrated to America (bef. 1632), where Robert married (2nd) Sarah. While this sounds appealing, 1. there is no evidence that Elena's Robert is our Robert and 2. Elena's father, William, was b. before 1518 and d. 1576. He and his wife had eleven children (five boys and six girls), Elena being the second daughter. It is safe, then, to assume that Elena was born ca. 1560 and was, therefore, unlikely to have borne children in the 1620s when she would have been over 60.

In a later work, More Keys, Paralee speculated that Robert may have been related (perhaps a cousin) to Grace Saltonstall, wife of Sir Richard Saltonstall, the founder of Watertown. Grace was the daughter of Robert and Anna (Flowers) Kaye of Woodsome (Almondbury), Yorkshire. She was aunt to Sir John Kaye, created Baronet by Charles I, 2/4/1642 (The Baronetage of England, by E. Kimber & R. Johnson, Vol. the First, 1771).

Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. in his article William Godfrey and Robert Keyes of Watertown, Mass., and Elsewhere (The American Genealogist, Vol. 46, Pages 150-4) theorized that Robert may have been the the son of Peter and Susan (Nawe) Kaye of Woburn, Bedfordshire, bapt. 9/22/1617. As reflected above, Robert had a son named Peter. Sheppard opined (for no apparent reason) that it was more likely that Peter was the eldest child, born before Robert's arrival in Watertown. Sheppard has since withdrawn (Vol. 65, Page 12) this unfortunate conclusion. If our Robert was the Robert Kaye of Woburn and the father of Peter born in England before 1633, he would have been a very young husband and father, indeed!
Robert Key, son of John Key of Woburn, was christened 22 Sep 1617 in Woburn, which would make him improbably young to be the husband of Sarah and father of any children born before he went to Massachusetts about 1630.

The New England Historic Genealogical Register (Vol. 8, Page 135, et seq., 1854) carried an article entitled "New England", Orders in Council from 1630 to 1641, when the troubles of Charles I commenced with his Parliament, Transcribed from the Original Books of the Privy Council by Geo. Allard, Esq. Feb. 1852. Therein we find the following: "At Hampton Court 29th September, 1630": Samuel Aldersley, Matthew Cradock and others on behalf of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay petitioned, "by reason of the increase of the number of Planters lately come thether, who tooke no provision with them, And for that divers of their cattle perished ….. they are in great danger to perish this winter ….. the Board did upon their suite think fitt to transport the provisions …." (here is set forth a description of wheat, meal, beef, pork, cheese, etc) (Co. Regr. Chas. I, Vol. 6). Then we find – "Sixth of March, 1630, An order for ye Licencing Capt. (Henry) Keyes to transport into New Englande to Pascatoway 30 quarters of meal and 20 quarters of pease for the relief of the planters there who, through want of supplies, are not able to proceed to a farther discovery of those partes" (Co. Regr. Chas. I, Vol. 6, 382). Henry Keyes was Captain of a boat called the "Pied Cow" which transported supplies to settlers at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, near present day Portsmouth, NH. Perhaps Robert (and his family) came on the "Pied Cow"?

It should be noted that a Robert Keyes was a participant in the "Gunpowder Plot" of 1605. He was the son of the Rector of Staveley, Derbyshire and 40 years old at the time. Might he have been our Robert's father?

We do know that Robert and Sarah settled on a three acre "homestall" at Watertown which adjoined the lands of Sir Richard Saltonstall (nephew of Sir Richard Saltonstall, Lord Mayor of London during the time of Queen Elizabeth), who came with The Winthrop Fleet in 1630. Robert's "homestall" is in the vicinity of what is now Brattle St. at Harvard Square, Cambridge (much of original Watertown was ceded to Cambridge in 1754). On June 26, 1638, Robert was sentenced by the court in Salem to sit in the stocks for "one hower" at both Lynn and Cambridge for "unseemly behaviors & actions" toward Goody Newell (Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. VII, No. 4, Page 186, Aug., 1865). 

Robert and Sarah later removed to Newbury, MA, where Robert died 7/16/1647. Sarah m. (2nd) John Gage of Ipswich, MA on 11/7/1658. Sarah d. 7/7/1681 in Newbury, MA. Robert's name ("Robert Keies") is to be found at the base of the monument to Sir Richard Saltonstall at Watertown.

-- MERGED NOTE ------------

UID: 9D02C638A25BEB479422D4C121C481A01D85
Note: Robert Keyes and family was not resident in Watertown, MA in 1635 and perhaps 1634 and 1636 per Anderson. He proposes that perhaps they returned to England for a brief period or lived in another town. Robert Keyes did not receive any town grants in Watertown. 1
Birth: ABT 1606 _SDATE: 1 JUL 1606 2
Residence: 1632 _SDATE: 1 JUL 1632 Watertown, Middlesex, MA 3
Residence: ABT 1643 _SDATE: 1 JUL 1643 Newbury, Essex, MA 4 Death: 16 JUL 1647 in Newbury, Essex, MA 2Marriage 1 Sarah [KEYES] b: 1605 Married: BEF 1631 in England 5 6
Children
Solomon KEYES b: ABT 1631 in England
Joseph KEYES b: in England
Sarah KEYES b: 26 MAY 1633 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA
Peter KEYES b: ABT 1635
Rebecca KEYES b: 17 MAR 1637/8 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA
Phebe KEYES b: 17 JUN 1639 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA
Mary KEYES b: FEB 1641/2 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA
Elias KEYES b: 20 MAY 1643 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA
Mary KEYES b: 16 JUN 1645 in Newbury, Essex, MA
Sources:
1. Abbrev: Great Migration BeginsTitle: Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins; Immigrants to New England 1620-1633; Great migration study project (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)Page: pp. 1128-1131
2. Abbrev: Great Migration BeginsTitle: Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins; Immigrants to New England 1620-1633; Great migration study project (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)Page: p. 1128
3. Abbrev: Great Migration BeginsTitle: Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins; Immigrants to New England 1620-1633; Great migration study project (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)Page: p. 1130
4. Abbrev: Keyes FamilyTitle: Messamore, J. K., A History and Genealogy of One Branch of the Keyes Family (aft 1967)Page: p. 3
5. Abbrev: Great Migration BeginsTitle: Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins; Immigrants to New England 1620-1633; Great migration study project (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)Page: v. 2, p. 1128
6. Abbrev: Torrey - New England Marriages Prior to 1700Title: Torrey, Clarence Almon with a revised introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore, MD, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1985)Page: p. 435

Christen	22 Sep 1607	Woburn, Bedfordshire, England
Marriage	Bef 1631	England - Sarah Blanford Allen
Death	16 Jul 1647	Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts
Burial		Newbury Neck Cemetery, Essex County, Massachusetts

Spouse	Sarah Blanford Allen (1605 - 1681)
Child	Solomon Keyes (1628 - 1702)
Child	Peter Keyes (1629 - 1702)
Child	Sarah Keyes (1633 - 1707)
Child	Rebecca Keyes (1638 - 1696)
Child	Phoebe Keyes (1639 - 1701)
Child	Elias Keyes (1643 - 1665)
Child	Mary Keyes (1645 - 1668)

Father	John Keyes ( - 1641)
Mother	Susan Nawe (1585 - )
Sibling	Beatrice Keyes ( - )
Sibling	Elizabeth Keyes ( - )

Notes