Video by Ashley Humphrey
Keyes Script:
TRT: 2:48
Lead: An anonymous donation to a library in eastern North Carolina helped uncover one North Carolinian’s family history. Ashley Humphrey has the story.
Track 1: When William Augustus Keyes IV’s grandson, William Augustus Keyes VI, was born in 2023, he knew it was time to discover more about his past. Although being named after three generations of Williams, Keyes the Fourth didn’t know much about his ancestry.
William Augustus Keyes IV SOT 1: “Being named William IV, it begs the question, who are the other Williams who came before you?”
Track 2: His grandson’s birth marks the first time that three William Augustus Keyes are alive at one time.
William Augustus Keyes IV SOT 2: “I thought wouldn’t it be great if I was able to get to the bottom of some of this ancestry to share it with my grandson”
STAND-UP: Keyes IV was researching with librarians at UNC-Chapel Hill when he received a call from a 252 number.
Track 3: That call was from Stephen Farrell, the Genealogist at Brown Library in little Washington, North Carolina. On a late summer day in 2023, Farrell was told about a book that had been dropped off in a donation box. That book was William Augustus Keyes I’s bible dating back to 1886. It was filled with a handwritten ancestry.
Stephen Farrell SOT 1: I’ve never heard of a bible being donated to a book sale and it cultivating into finding out who the patriarch of the family was and then finding a sixth named individual.
Track 4: After their call, they decided to hold a ceremony for friends and family to see the Bible and dedicate it to the library’s archives.
Natural: “‘My friend that I went to kindergarten with!’ ‘How about that’ ‘That I’m still Speaking with!’”
Track 5: On what would have been Keye’s father’s 98th birthday— Keye’s finally laid eyes on the bible.
William Augustus Keyes IV SOT 3: “There was something about wanting to savor the moment, savor that moment of being there in that room with the Bible, with my family, with my friends.”
William Augustus Keyes V SOT 1: “I don’t want to like oversue the word special, but it’s just a really wonderful occasion that is unexpected..it’s always really cool seeing my dad light up like that”
Track 6: Parts of the Bible have been digitized for online viewing and the print version will be stored in the library’s archives as the First African American Bible in its collection. Both Ferrell and the Keyes hope to discover who donated the Bible as the Keyes continue to research their history.
William Augustus Keyes IV SOT 4: “I’m hoping a news article might get someone to say ‘Hmm maybe I’m the one who donated that box of books to brown library’”
Stephen Farrell SOT 2: “We’re hoping that this will really bring some light and really have someone come forward so we can thank them.”
Until then, the Keyes will continue to savor the moment. I’m Ashley Humphrey reporting.
Lowers:
00:19 – William Augustus Keyes IV
1:09 – Stephen Farrell
1:53 – William Augustus Keyes V
