The Keller family likely had its start in the United States of America when George Adam Keller (died 1794) immigrated to South Carolina likely in the late 1740s and made his way to Savannah as early as 1761. His decendant George Adam Keller (August 8, 1821-September, 1900) "was born into a family of planters in northwest Chatham County in 1821 and continued the tradition, cultivating crops, especially rice, and livestock, all the while building up his land holdings, such as with the purchase of Drakies plantation in 1871. He probably bought Coldbrook plantation in 1852 and was active in the Democratic Party, the County Road Commissioners, and seved as clerk of the Northern Salem Baptist Church for almost 50 years. He had at least 17 children by his first wife Martha Jane Wisenbaker (April 22, 1823-December 18, 1886; married October 1844) and subsequently Mary "Bessie" Jarrell, and died at Coldbrook in 1900, a well-respected gentleman planter" (excerpt from the abstract of "George "Adam Keller 1821-1900: And How His Family Came to be Established in Northern Chatham County").
Keller's son, George Adam Keller Jr. (May 18,1855-November 20, 1932), born at Coldbrook Plantation, owned property in Port Wentworth, Georgia, which was passed down to his descendants. He married Alice Cooper Oliver (December 4, 1858-December 28, 1905; married January 31, 1877).
Margaret Henderson Jenkins (August 14, 1938-) and Keller Henderson Barron (February 20, 1932-) were born to Gertrude Louise Keller Henderson (August 26, 1905-August 12, 1979), granddaughter of George Adam Keller Jr., and George Walter Henderson (March 30, 1902-November 9, 1977). Jenkins is a former hospice worker and served as vice president of the South Carolina Mental Health Association.
The following excerpt regarding Barron was taken from the Women in Leadership website.
A strong woman known for her activism in Columbia [South Carolina], Keller Barron focused on many issues: women’s rights, voters’ rights, improving racial relations, and education reform. For her efforts she was the first female recipient of the Christian Action Council Citizenship Award, the E.A. McDowell Award for Distinguished Christian Service, and the Modjeska Simkins Prize. Barron served on the League of Women Voters as the local and state League president. For the national board, she was the Chair of Voter Service, the Election Systems Project, and the Individual Liberties Project of the League of Women Voters Education Fund. In addition, she chaired the campaign for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment Fund. Her career in state politics was furthered when Governor John West appointed her to the State Reorganization Commission, and the Human Affairs Commission. From 1977 to 1979 she served as the first woman chair of the SC [South Carolina] Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights.
In 1890, George Adam Keller gave ten acres of land to a man he enslaved, Zeike Quarterman, as a gift of reparations. Today the Reparations Project seeks to narrow the wealth gap, promote equity, and heal generational harm of the descendants of enslaved people and those who enslaved. The Reparations Project was created by the Quarterman & Keller Fund, a charitable public fund created by Randy Quarterman, a descendant of Zeike Quarterman, and Sarah Eisner, a descendant of George Adam Keller.
The following excerpt was pulled from the About Us webpage of the Reparations Project:
“The Reparations Project is a multifaceted redress initiative created by the Quarterman & Keller Fund that seeks to narrow the wealth gap and promote equity by centering descendants of those who were enslaved and supporting descendant families of enslavers to pursue ancestral healing through repairing generational harm. We created The Reparations Project because we believe that we cannot wait for the government alone to provide programs for redress and healing, though we believe our government must also do the work of truth telling and begin the work of paying reparations in a multitude of ways. We want to create new models for individuals, descendant-families, and the nation to repair racialized, caste-based injustice against Black/African-American communities that began in 1619 and continues today.”
The collaboration between Zeike Quarterman and Sarah Eisner is featured in an episode of PBS’s television series America Reframed. The episode, “The Cost of Inheritance: A Reparation of Land,” can be found here.