Kea's in Darlington County South Carolina
My father, Billy Joe Kea, born in 1941 was the baby of the family.His oldest brother, Wesley, died some years back, late 70s or early 80s.There is a brother, John, still living in NJ and a sister, Pat, still living in Darlington County SC near the family home on Oats Hwy.Ruth recently passed in the late 90s.Many of the family are still there and all swear that the story of our sir name is true.The story goes that Francis Scott Key's (known as the author of the Star Spangled Banner) brother wanted to make a name for himself and started by changing the spelling of his last name from Key to Kea and our branch began.Oddly enough, while in Jacksonville Florida on the Naval Base, I ran into a lady in the MWR center with the same spelling of the last name.She swears that her husband’s father said the same story.Unfortunately, we were on our way to Disney Resorts and the husband was studying for his M.S. finals so we could not meet and have never followed up.Is this story possibly true of the brother changing his name?If so, has that line been researched?