Our information on the Keene family is quite limited. Thomas Keene Sr. married Elizabeth Gosnold (1570-1665) of England in the late 1500's. Elizabeth Gosnold was the daughter of Sir Robert Gosnold III (abt. 1545-abt. 1615) and Ursla Nauton. Elizabeth Gosnold was a first cousin of Bartholomew Gosnold, one of the first settlers of Jamestown in 1607. It is possibly his skeleton that was recently unearthed at Jamestown. He was the captain of the ship HMS Goodspeed picrured on the 2000 Virginia quarter. She was also a second cousin twice removed of Edward Maria Wingfield another first settler of Jamestown and its first president.
Thomas Keene and Elizabeth Gosnold had two sons that we know of, Henry Keene and Thomas Keene Jr. It was Thomas Keene Jr. (abt. 1593-1652/53) who immigrated first to Kent Island Maryland and then to Northumberland County, Virginia, about 1642. His son Matthew Keene (1569-1730) settled in Stafford County, Virginia.
Matthew Keene's daugheter Elizabeth Keene (abt. 1682-1769) married James Withers (1681-1746) also of Staford County, Virginia, in about 1706. It was their daughter Elizabeth Whithers (1706-1746) who married Capt. Abraham Field (1669-1774) of Culpeper County, Virginia. That brought together the Gonsold, the Wingfield the Keene and the Field family lines of Virginia. Both the name Withers and the name Keen have been used as first and middle names in the Field family many times. Keen is still in the family surving in a person in Washington State today.
Links to information on the Keene family:
Descendants of Thomas Keene Sr. (about 1560-aft. 1615) & Elizabeth Gosnold (1570-1665)
