Keith, Charles Fleming (1784-1865)
SENATE, 12th (1st Session) and 13th General Assemblies, 1817-21, representing Cooke and Jefferson counties; (replaced by William Moore in 13th Assembly); political affiliation not given. Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, on November 22,1784, son of Alexander and Mary Gallihue (Thornton) Keith. Studied law in Virginia with his cousin Charles Marshall, brother of Chief Justice John Marshall; began practice of law in 1805 at Dandridge, Jefferson County. Married in Greene County, Tennessee, on October 30, 1811, to Elizabeth Douglas Hale, daughter of Philip and Catherine (Douglas) Hale. Children: Susan Maria (Mrs. Reece B. Brabson), Elizabeth (Mrs. William S. Bell), Alexander Hume, Louise (Mrs. James B. Frazier), Charles, William, Philip, Thomas, and Katherine Keith. In 1819 he removed to Athens, McMinn County, and continued practice; judge of the 3rd and 7th Circuit courts. Member Presbyterian Church. Died in McMinn County in 1865; buried in family plot on the Keith plantation there. Great-grandson of Thomas Randolph, sometime member Virginia House of Burgesses; father-in-law of Reece C. Brabson, sometime member U. S. House of Representatives; of Dr. William S. Bell, mayor of Chattanooga, Hamilton County; and of James B. Frazier, sometime Governor of Tennessee; grandfather-in-law of Charles Keith Bell, sometime member U. S. House of Representatives, and of John J. Littleton, sometime member Tennessee General Assembly.
Sources: Wooten, History of Bradley County, 145; Hamer, Tennessee, A History, 18; Whitley, Hale Family Records, .32; Armstrong, History of Hamilton County, 304; Goodspeed, History of Jefferson County, 858-860; Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers, 950; D. A. R. Lineage Books; Randolph, The Randolphs of Virginia, passim.