LeRoy Keys- Family History and Rogers County Oklahoma Highlights

Family Names

LeRoy Keys

Leroy Keys was the son of an Irish father (Isaac Keys) and a 1/2 Cherokee, 1/2 Irish mother (Elizabeth Riley). His maternal grandfather, Samuel Riley, was the American interpreter to the Cherokee throughout the Revolutionary period. Samuel Riley was married to two Cherokee women, sisters, at the same time. He fathered 15 children. Leroy Keys' maternal grandmother was Gu-lu-sti-yu. The union between Isaac Keys and Elizabeth Riley produced 16 children. Riley Keys, Leroy's brother, was a signer of the Cherokee Constitution of September 6, 1839, Judge, Tahlequah District, 1843, Circuit Judge, Northwestern District, 1845, Justice, Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, 1851-1876, Chief Justice, Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, 1857-1876, President, Cherokee Nation Constitutional Convention, November 28, 1866, and Delegate, Agreement of Incorporation of Delaware Nation into Cherokee Nation, April 8, 1867. Leroy Keys married Jennie Gunter, daughter of Cherokee leader Edward Gunter, and had two children: Letitia Victory Keys (born 1843) and Riley J. Keys. The birth date and death date of Leroy Keys is not known, but he was likely born in the 1810's. His father Isaac (with 11 persons total in family at the time) emigrated from Gunter's Landing, Alabama on January 16, 1829. Thus they were Old Settlers, removing from the East several years before the forced Removal.

Leroy Keys' known biography is as follows:
Solicitor, Tahlequah District, Cherokee Nation, 1841 and 1842
(Chosen by a joint vote of both houses of the National Council for a term of 1 year and commissioned by Principal Chief John Ross)
Circuit Judge, Northwestern Circuit, Cherokee Nation, 1859
(Elected by the National Council pursuant to Article 5, Section 5 of the Cherokee Constitution, and allowed a salary of $200 per annum)
Delegate, Cooweescoowee District, Confederate Cherokee Convention, 1862 and 1863
(In session for 11 days during August 1862 at Tahlequah and from May 22nd to June 1st 1863 near the mouth of Coody Creek in the Canadian District. Stand Watie presided. The other two delegates from the Cooweescoowee District were Clem Vann Rogers and John Gunter Schrimsher, first cousin by marriage and first cousin, respectively, of Leroy Keys' wife, Jane Gunter)

Leroy Keys was my paternal G,G,G Grandfather.