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Pickens County Progress
June 20, 2024
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A look at local history
The Keith’s Plantation and eccentric family member
By Chris Feldt
According to local sourc
es, the Keith Plantation
near Canton, in present-day
Keithsburg during the Civil
War held over 3,300 acres
along the Etowah River.
It sat two miles north of
Etowah. (Note: At one point
in the past, Canton was
named Etowah). The planta
tion had a large brick house
made from a kiln with red
clay from the Etowah River.
A story recounts how
the owner of the planta
tion, Mackey A. Keith Jr.
hid food supplies from the
Union when Sherman’s men
binned more than half of
nearby Etowah down. The
food was hidden in the trees
of the plantation. When the
Union soldiers discovered
this, they hung him in re
taliation. In one recounting,
the rope broke, in others,
the slaves of the plantation
cut down their master out of
their regard for him.
Archaeologist Robert
Wauchope investigated the
Keith property in the 1940s.
In his report, he claimed
The gated entryway to the Keith Cemetery,
Canton, near the Walmart and a Waffle House on
Riverstone Parkway.
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The overgrown entrance to the Keith Plantation.
Note the main house in the background
evidence of pottery from
the Early Woodland Period.
There was a village site on
the property a half mile past
the Keith Plantation home
along the river. Arrowheads
and various stamped and
checked pottery types were
found at the site. At the time
of the excavation, one of the
jugs found at the site had
only ever been found at one
other site in Georgia.
In 1935, the Keith fam
ily sold their land to Pierce
Cline. The Cline family
passed it on Clyde Teague.
His daughter, Marjorie,
married Dutch York after
meeting him at the Univer
sity of Georgia. Eventually,
the ownership passed down
to the York family after
Marjorie and Dutch moved
there in 1952.
The York family added
modifications to the prop
erty: an in-ground pool and
a half dozen outbuildings.
Many of the windows and
doors were replaced in the
home as well. According to
sources, there was a fire in
the property sometime in the
80s that ravaged the interior
of the home. Maijorie and
Dutch York’s son Michael
currently own the property.
In 2006, there was a push
by the Cherokee County
Historical Society to pre
serve the property as a his
torical site. However, the
York family asked not to be
on the society’s list of prop
erties to be saved.
Currently, the plantation,
outbuildings, and 256 acres
of land, many of them along
the Etowah River, are for
sale.
Today, there are claims
of lineage by the descen
dants of the Keith fami
ly slaves. It appears that
Mackey A. Keith, Jr. donat
ed 40-acre parcels to many
of the intermingled mem
bers of the Keith, Bates, and
McMickens family lines.
Most of those families lived
in an area that was known as
Keith’s Ridge, which later
changed to Pearidge.
Phillip Keith donated the
two acres for the original
Hickory Log Church. His
wife Aggie was a slave on
the Keith Plantation. He is
buried at the Hickory Log
Cemetery along with his
wife.
Heirs of the Keith family
dispersed across the country
after they left the plantation.
Two of the most enigmatic
were the sons of Mackey
Keith, John and Amos.
John Matthew Keith,
bom in Lumpkin County,
upon turning 18 years old,
moved to California around
1850. He didn’t strike it rich
in the gold rash but he got
involved in the lumber busi
ness in Calaveras County.
After that venture didn’t
pan out, he took his hand to
farming and raising sheep.
As luck would have it,
one of his farmlands was
rich with oil. He partnered
with J.J. Mack and began
buying lots of land with oil
rights.
Shortly before his death,
he and Mack sold their land
to a wealthy English com
photo/Canton History page on Facebook
The Keith Plantation as seen from the sky fac
ing north in 1952.
MAIN OFFICE: 15 Sammy McGhee Blvd. • Jasper, GA 30143
COVE ROAD OFFICE: 65 Cove Road • Jasper, GA 30143
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would be the right woman.
One of the letters read
“Dear Mr. Keith, I have
been reading about you in
the paper, and have been
thinking how lonely you
must be, living all alone in
the country. I have just fin
ished reproving my sister,
who made an unkind remark
about you. I told her she
should be ashamed of her
self for saying such things
about a good man who has
reached the mellow years of
life and who should be treat
ed kindly by all the world. I
wish we could meet some
time, as I am sure I could
bring comfort and solace to
your declining years. I shall
be anxiously awaiting to
hear from you. Yours, very
sincerely.”
Amos explained to his
attorney, “You know John,
I never believed any of
these. I love them all, but I
know they are only after my
money. I have read Shake
speare all my life, and I have
learned a good deal about
human nature. Shakespeare
was the greatest student of
human nature among all the
writers and thinkers, and I
owe a great deal of my suc
cess in life to his teaching.
All this has been fun, but I
knew there was nothing real
in it,” according to an article
in the San Francisco Exam
iner Dec 13, 1915.
Amos’s will had 48 rel
atives divide up each a 2
percent interest in his estate.
Much to the surprise of ev
eryone, they each received
a small amount compared to
what they were expecting.
Amos’s will called for
his remains to be returned
by train to the Keith Family
Cemetery in Canton. With
in a week of his death, he
was interred in Georgia.
The Keith Cemetery in
Canton sits on the former
land of the plantation across
the highway from the Su
per Walmart (on top of the
Cherokee Village named
Hickory Log) on Riverstone
Highway.
Located directly be
side the Waffle House, the
cemetery is gated and still
watched over by stewards
of the Keith family. The
cemetery is beautiful and
well-maintained. It is on
private property and is not
open to the public.
[Chris Feldt is a local
history buff who has recent
ly published a book, Trag
edy and Triumph, A North
Georgia Flistory Compen
dium.
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pany named Imperial for
$3,500,000. When John
Matthew died in April 1914,
his estate was besieged by
fraudsters. Even John’s
business partner, J.J. Mack
sued the estate and lost.
Amos Keith, eight years
younger than John, and after
serving in the Confedera
cy, left Canton in search of
adventure in 1875. At first,
he tended to sheep that his
brother owned.
Later he began working
for a Sacramento bank deal
ing with land investments.
Amos was a shrewd trader,
buying properties at low
prices, and became a well-
known landlord in the China
Alley section of Selma.
Photo/Fresno Daily Re
publican Dec 11, 1915
The eccentric Amos
Keith, of the Keith
Plantation family who
spent most of his time
in California.
A kind and eccentric
man, Amos had many
would-be suitors, especially
after inheriting money from
his wealthier brother John
when he passed away.
John had people from all
over the country come out
of the woodwork pretend
ing to be heirs. The craziest
instance of this was when
Doctor Susan Tedford from
San Francisco challenged
the estate, claiming that she
was the guardian of a lost
heir of John’s - a child, now
a grown woman, from Alas
ka who was illegitimate.
The courts eventually saw
through the rase and dis
missed all of the fictitious
claims.
Shortly before his death,
to humor himself, Amos
instructed his attorney to
read the missives of desper
ate and conniving women
looking for an easy meal
ticket. The death and poten
tial fortune of his brother’s
estate were popular in the
news. Women from all over
the country would mail him
letters explaining why they
