The birth of John Key of Wake county North carolina in 1731 is the earliest record we have of our family. At that time the name was spelled with a "y" and remained that way until sometime after the death of Holloway Key in 1877 and before the death of his wife in 1911. This is reflected in the fact that their headstones which are side by side on their Cotton Creek farm reads "Holloway Key" and "Catherine Kee"

We have not been able to determine for certain the name of John Keys wife. We know they had at least two children, Holloway(1777-1885)and Rhoda. We know that Holloway Key came to Tennessee in the early 1800's. He settled with his wife Elizabeth Williams(1799-?) in what was then Humpheries county, was later divided and became Benton county. Holloway and Elizabeth are buried on their old home site in Benton county.

Holloway and Elizabeth had at least one son, Holloway Jr.(1818-1877) who married Mary Catherine Hale(1825-1911) in 1840 are pictured at left. To view more genealogy pictures, click here. They farmed a tract of land in Benton county that was bisected by Cotton Creek. They had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. All lived to marry and raise families except George Washington, their youngest. George died at age 20 and is buried with his parents in the family cemetery on Cotton Creek. Today the headstones of Holloway, Catherine and George are all that is left to mark the spot where They lived, farmed and raised their family. The site is always a point of interest to family members visiting Benton county.

Their fourth child and third son,Young Caber(1849-1929) or Y.C. as he was known, became a Missionary Baptist preacher and was active in Western Tennessee, Southern Illinois and Northeast Arkansas. Y.C. married Lucy Walker(1852-1885) of Williamson county Illinois in 1869. Their union produced five children before her death in 1885

Hattie Francis Sommersett (1863-1943) also of Williamson county Illinois became the second wife of Y.C. in 1887. They had three children; my father Fred(1888-1972), Pearl and William Frank. Fred married Pearl Eulena Jones(1891-1927) in Hundingdon, Tennessee in 1910. Their children were; Beulah Marie(1911-), Naola Grace(1914-1996),Opal Modene(1915-1934),Willard Fred(1918-1986),Docia Francis(1920-), Leonard Savale(1922-1954), Lottie Lee(1924-),Helen Arena(1926-1927)

By 1919 Fred had moved his family to Craighead county in northeast Arkansas and settled in the Rock Hill community north of Jonesboro. In 1931 he married Zora Lavada Wharton(1889-1982). Their only child, Noah Afton, (that's me) was born in 1932.

My marriage to Ola Fern Cooper ended in 1982. I have one son, Jack, a product of that marriage. Jack was born in 1962 and is married to Susan Grant. They have two children a girl, Jessica Daniel and a boy, Jacob Tyler.

In 1985 Betty Farley Raby became my wife. She had three children from a previous marriage; Brenda Chester, Eddie Farley and Debbie Turpin. Brenda and husband Carol Chester have twins; a boy, Matthew and a girl, Brittanie. Eddie and wife Carla have three children; two girls Stacey and Amanda, and one boy, Ethan. Debbie and husband Mike Turpin have two girls; Rachael and Lauren. Photos of all the grandchildren can be viewed by pressing the "FAMILY PHOTOS" button on the home page of this web page.