EFFIE V. CRAVER SMITH HARKINS

Effie was born in 1855. (I got this date from a family group record, and a 1860 census in Elizabeth City, Virginia saying she was 5 years old at the time.) Her mother was Angelina Craver and her father was Fowler R. Smith. She had a brother named Fowler F. Smith and a sister, Anni S. Smith. (again I got this from the family group sheet Grandpa had). In an 1870 census, her and her mother, brother, and sister are found living with a Keen family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is a two year old Keen named George, (he comes into the story a little later, although I'm not sure how important he is to our story.) In 1873, William was born, Effie would have been 18. Five years later, in 1878, William's brother, Clarence, is born. If Effie is indeed their mother, they would be living with her, but if she is not, we don't know if they were living with Effie by this time or not. Just a year after that Effie marries a Thomas Harkins. Thomas was a soldier in the Civil War and had his leg shot off, so there is a lot of information on him. After he died, Effie applied for a pension. I have a copy of an affidavit stating that Effie and Thomas were married on September 5, 1879 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and swearing that Thomas was the only man Effie was ever married to. Now this is where George Keen comes in again. He a signer on this document, and it says that he is Effie's BROTHER. On Clarence's death certificate his mother is listed as Effie Keen, and they were all living with them in 1860, so I think that Angelina Craver must have remarried to Mr. George Keen (Sr.). Another important person is on this document, Louisa Smith as Effie's SISTER-IN-LAW. She comes into the story in just a second with William.