Henry Virtner Keep was an Issaquena County planter. During 1860, his plantation with 45 slaves was located in the Skipwith Landing community. Henry Virtner Keep was born 30 May 1830 in New Orleans, Louisiana and died on 23 November 1883 on his plantation in Issaquena County. Henry Virtner Keep was the son of Imla and Leah Hannah Terry Keep. Imla Keep was born in Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts on 31 July 1785 and died in Vicksburg, Mississippi on 13 June 1855. While in Massachusetts he studied medicine and had a good practice. He felt the south would offer better opportunities and eventually settled in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, where he was listed as a physician in the 1850 census. Children of Imla Keep included Edwin Sylvester, Edward Sylvester, Calvin Williams, Henry Virtner, Oliver Hildreth and Evelyn Hamlin. Wives of Imla Keep included Leah Hannah Terry (married during 1828 in New Orleans), Susanna Sylvester (married on 13 March 1808 in Townsend, Massachusetts), Harriett Williams (married on 30 June 1817 in Marion County, Mississippi) and Ann Bulloch (married on 20 December 1810 in Liberty County, Georgia).

Henry Virtner Keep married Caroline Matilda Lum on 2 October 1856. Caroline Matilda Lum was born January 14, 1834 and died March 10, 1859 in Issaquena County. She was the daughter of Samuel and Anna Maria Owings Lum. Samuel Lum was born in Adams County, Mississippi and died in Vicksburg. He married first, on December 31, 1818, Catharine Rohelia (born 28 September 1801, died 29 September 1819). They had one child who died at birth. He married second, Anna Maria Owings (born 29 November 1796, died 30 March 1879, daughter of Rosanna Owings who died on 24 January 1850 in her 93rd year) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania on 1June 1820. During the Civil War, General Grant made his home while at Vicksburg in the home of Widow Ann Lum for nearly a year. The children of Samuel and Anna Maria Owings Lum included: William Samuel (born 4 December 1822, died 30 May 1899), Helen Ann Maria (born 16 January 1825, died 26 January 1825), Ewing Ivy (born 16 January 1825, died 16 January 1825), Isaac Erastus (born 19 March 1827, died 13 October 1827), unnamed child (died 21 December 1829), Mary Katharine (born 6 October 1831, died about 1871) and Caroline Matilda, wife of Henry Virtner Keep.

Henry Virtner Keep and wife Caroline Matilda Lum had one child, Annie Lum Keep (born 26 November 1857). Annie Lum Keep married on 21 February 1887 to Maxwell Smith of New York City, a book publisher, who died 22 May 22 1902.

After the death of Caroline Matilda, Henry Virtner Keep married Sallie B. Collins on 1 January 1865 in Issaquena County. They had three sons: Henry (Harry) Virtner Keep (married Alice Kellogg, died February 11, 1938, Pelham, Westchester County, New York), Oliver Hildreth Keep and Charles Collins Keep (resident of Yonkers, Westchester County New York in 1938). The three sons later owned and operated the Keep Shirt Company in Manhattan, New York City.

Henry Virtner Keep was a Civil War veteran who served as a Major and Lt. Colonel in the Third Mississippi Infantry.

1860 Issaquena County US Federal Census
Page 5, 46-46
H.V. Keep: 30, Planter, $50,000, $50,000, Louisiana
L.H. Keep: 46, Female, Louisiana
A.L. Keep: 2, Female, Mississippi
Rich'd G. Bunn: 24, Male, Overseer, $2,000, $3,000, North Carolina

1870 Issaquena County US Federal Census
Page 31, Skipwith Landing, 310-317
H.V. Keep: 39, Male, Farmer, Louisiana
Sarah B. Keep: 27, Female, Keeping House, Kentucky
Henry V. Keep: 4, Male, Mississippi
Oliver Keep: 2, Male, Mississippi
Polley Keep: 60, Female, Virginia
J. Welk: 30, Male, Laborer, Prussia
Jane Kean__: 50, Female, Black, Domestic Servant, Virginia
Phoebe Hughes: 45, Female, Black, Domestic Servant, Virginia
Zac Harrison, 20, M, Black, Farm Laborer, Virginia

1850 Warren County, Mississippi US Federal Census
City of Vicksburg, Page 186-A, 255-264
Keep, Imla: 63, M, Physician, Mass.
Keep, Leah H.: 37, F, La
Keep, Oliver H.: 18, M, Clerk, La
Keep, Eveline: 10, F, La

1850 Warren County, Mississippi US Federal Census
City of Vicksburg, Page 208-B, 634-657
Lum, Samuel: 54, M, Planter, $58,000, Miss.
Lum, Ann: 53, F, Penn.
Lum, Mary C.: 18, F, Miss.
Lum, Caroline M.: 16, F, Miss.
Lum, William: 27, M, Planter, Miss.
Lum, Mary A.: 26, F, Miss.
Lum, Ann: 3, F, Miss.
Lum, Mary C.: 1, F, Miss.

Sources:

Lum, Edward H., Genealogy of the Lum Family, Unionist -Gazette Association, Somerville, New Jersey, 1927

Harry V. Keep Obituary, The New York Times, February 13, 1938, Page 49