John Key was the youngest of the four children of William and Hannah Key whose birth records I have found. His parents, with breath-taking chutzpah, had their first son Matthew baptised on the same day as their marriage.
Jane came along the next year, and then there is a gap in the records for seven years. Elizabeth was baptised in 1721 and John three years later.
The family lived at Broxholme near Lincoln but on his marriage to Phoebe Green, John settled at Hackthorn. Probably work was available there: John would most likely have been an agricultural worker of some sort.
In the first seven years of their marriage, the Keys had five children, only two of whom survived infancy. They went on to have a total of twelve children. Two of them, Anne and Lot, both died at the age of five. The youngest child, Josiah, was born in the summer of 1768.
John Key died in the October of that year. Causes of death were not recorded at this time so we do not know if he met with an accident or illness. He was forty-four years old and left seven children.
Father of Kezia Kee and son of William and Hannah Key
Baptised on 11 June 1724 at Broxholme, Lincolnshire
Married Phoebe Green on 21 November 1749
Buried 11 October 1768