Almost certainly among the people sheltering in David Troxell’s basement during the battle was Rebecca Keefer. Rebecca Rosenberger (later known as Rebecca Markey or Rebecca Keefer) was born March 7, 1802, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Abraham Rosenberger Jr. (1754–1821) and Catharine (Catherine) Keefer (1778–1863). Rebecca’s family was part of the large Pennsylvania German community in Franklin County’s Path and Horse Valley region. Through her mother’s Keefer line, Rebecca was actually related to one of her future husbands (as detailed below).

Rebecca grew up in a sizeable family. Her known siblings included:

• John Abraham Rosenberger (later “Rosenberry”) – born 1803, died 1891. He eventually settled in Virginia.
• Joseph Rosenberger – born 1809, died 1881, remained in Pennsylvania (buried in Fannettsburg, Franklin Co.).
• Susanna Rosenberger – born 1812, died 1892, married a man surnamed Everett and lived in Franklin County.
• Peter Keefer Rosenberger – born 1814, died 1888, (his middle name “Keefer” reflects the maternal family). He lived in Path Valley, PA.
• Mary Catharine Rosenberger – born 1817, died 1853, married into the Geyer family.
• Abraham Rosenberger – born 1821, died 1901. In later life he migrated west and died in Pawnee City, Nebraska.

This large network of siblings and extended family meant Rebecca was connected to many local families in Franklin County. Her maternal Keefer relatives were particularly prominent, and it was through them that Rebecca’s life would intertwine with the Keefer family line again in marriage.

First Marriage: John Isaac Keefer (1822–1830)

In 1822, around age 20, Rebecca married John Isaac Keefer of Franklin County. John Isaac Keefer was actually a member of Rebecca’s mother’s family – sources indicate he was the younger brother of Rebecca’s mother, Catherine Keefer (making him Rebecca’s maternal uncle, though close in age). This marriage within the extended family was not uncommon in early 19th-century rural Pennsylvania, and it reinforced Rebecca’s ties to the Keefer lineage.

John Isaac Keefer was born about 1793 and was roughly nine years older than Rebecca. The couple lived in Franklin County (in Letterkenny or Metal Township) and had at least two sons and one daughter during their brief marriage. Their children included:

• Stephen Abraham Keefer (Sr.) – born in 1823 in Metal Township, PA, and later a farmer. Stephen married Mary M. Rosenberger (a relative from Rebecca’s paternal side) and lived to 1906.
• Abraham Keefer – born 1825, died 1914, who later married Ruhanna Rosenberger. Abraham lived a long life to age 88.
• (Possibly one daughter) – Some records suggest John Isaac and Rebecca had a daughter as well, though details are scarce. One family genealogy indicates a daughter Catherine “Katie” Keefer, who may have married a man named Weaver, but this is not well documented in the primary records.

Tragically, Rebecca’s first marriage was cut short. John Isaac Keefer died in 1830 at about 37 years of age. According to family and local accounts, his death was accidental – John Isaac reportedly shot himself in the foot (or toe) in a mishap, and died from gangrene that set in from the wound (as noted in his Find-a-Grave memorial and family lore). This sudden loss left Rebecca widowed at only 28 years old, with two small sons (and possibly an infant daughter) to care for.

How To Die from a Toe Wound

John Isaac Keefer was buried in the Keefer’s Cemetery in Upper Horse Valley, Franklin County – a small family burial ground associated with the Keefer family. Years later, Rebecca too would be laid to rest in this plot. But in the meantime, the young widow had to forge on, and within a couple of years she remarried.

Second Marriage: John Markey (1832–1843)

In 1832, Rebecca married John Markey, a young man from Bedford County, PA. (John Markey was born in 1808 in Loysburg, Bedford County, making him about six years younger than Rebecca.) This marriage is often referred to as Rebecca’s “second” marriage – although some later sources mistakenly list it as her first, likely because Rebecca used the surname Markey for the rest of her life and is buried under that name. In fact, Rebecca’s Find-a-Grave entry names her “Rebecca Rosenberry Markey” and lists both husbands. John Markey became stepfather to Rebecca’s Keefer children, and the couple went on to have a large family of their own.

John Markey and Rebecca made their home in Franklin County, not far from Rebecca’s kin. Between 1831 and 1839, they had several children. Their children (from Rebecca’s second marriage) included:

• Susanah Markey – born January 6, 1831, died 22 Jan 1902. (Susanah’s birth in early 1831 slightly precedes the documented 1832 marriage; it’s possible the marriage to Markey occurred about 1830 or 1831 per some records.) Susanah never married and is buried in the Reformed Church Cemetery in Fannettsburg, Franklin County.
• Joseph Markey – born Oct 16, 1833 in Franklin Co., died June 29, 1917 in South Woodbury Twp, Bedford Co. Joseph served as a Private in the Civil War and lived into his 80s.
• Mary Jane Markey – (birth circa 1834**?**). Mary Jane married a man with the surname Shirk in adulthood. Details of her birth and death are less documented, but she is recorded in family genealogies as a daughter of John and Rebecca. She likely survived to adulthood and married, taking the last name Shirk.
• Rebecca Markey – born 1835, died 1932. This daughter (named after her mother) married Alfred John Kent and lived a remarkable long life of 97 years. As Rebecca Kent, she raised her family in Fannettsburg, PA (having at least four children) and was widowed young when Alfred Kent died in 1871. She remained in Franklin County and is buried in the Fannettsburg Reformed Church cemetery.
• Nancy E. Markey – born 1837, died 1906. Nancy married into the Fleagle family of Franklin County (becoming Nancy E. Fleagle). She died at age 68 and was buried back in the Keefer’s Cemetery in Horse Valley, not far from her mother.
• John Markey (Jr.) – born 1839, died 1928. The youngest son, John Jr., served in the military and lived through the turn of the century. He settled in Franklin County (he is buried at Lower Path Valley Cemetery near Fannettsburg). Later accounts note that he operated a shoe and hat store and had a long military career serving in multiple conflicts (likely the Civil War, and possibly later militia service given his longevity).

Rebecca’s years with John Markey were busy with raising this large family. The 1840 U.S. census shows a household in Franklin County consistent with John and Rebecca Markey and their young children (though individual names aren’t listed in that census). John Markey’s life, however, would also be cut short. In 1843, John Markey died at just 35 years old. Family sources do not record a cause of death; he may have succumbed to illness or an accident. His death left Rebecca widowed for a second time – now around age 41 – with a house full of children ranging from infancy to early teens.

John Markey was laid to rest in the Keefer’s Cemetery in Upper Strasburg alongside Rebecca’s Keefer relatives. It’s notable that although John was not a Keefer by blood, he was buried in the Keefer family plot. This suggests how closely intertwined the families had become, and perhaps that Rebecca intended to be buried there as well. Indeed, Rebecca would eventually be buried in this same cemetery, listed on her tombstone under the name “Rebecca Markey.”

Later Years in Gettysburg (1860s)

After John Markey’s death, Rebecca’s older children gradually grew up and many established their own households in Franklin County. By the late 1850s, Rebecca’s situation had changed – most of her children from the Markey marriage were marrying or moving out, and her two eldest sons (from the Keefer marriage) were adults with families of their own. For example, by 1850 her son Stephen A. Keefer had married and her son Abraham Keefer was also married and farming. It appears that Rebecca no longer had minor children at home by the end of the 1850s (her youngest, John Jr., would have been about 20 in 1859).

At some point in the 1850s, Rebecca relocated to Gettysburg in Adams County, PA. The exact reason isn’t documented, but by 1860 she was living in the borough of Gettysburg as a widow. In the 1860 U.S. Census for Gettysburg, Rebecca is listed in the household of David Troxell, a local harness maker. The census indicates David Troxell (age ~50 in the census) was single, living with his mother Catherine and with “Rebecca Kiefer” as another member of the household. (The census taker spelled Rebecca’s surname as Kiefer, a variation of Keefer – likely recognizing her by her late husband’s name.) This entry shows Rebecca, age 57, born in Pennsylvania (one source mis-read it as Maryland) residing with the Troxells on Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg. David Troxell was about 10 years Rebecca’s junior (his exact birth year is a bit unclear due to varying sources, but he was roughly in his late 40s in 1860).

Why was Rebecca living with the Troxell family? This is a fascinating question with no definitive documented answer, but historians and genealogists have offered a few likely explanations:

• Economic Necessity: As a twice-widowed woman with no husband’s support, Rebecca may have needed a place to live and an income. By keeping house for David Troxell, she could have been exchanging domestic work (cooking, cleaning, etc.) for room and board. David was unmarried and working as a harness maker, likely glad for a housekeeper. Rebecca’s own children were grown and establishing their own homes, so she may not have wanted to burden them and instead maintained some independence by working in Gettysburg.
• Family/Community Ties: It’s also possible that there was a family connection or friendship between the Rosenberger/Keefer clan and the Troxell family. Interestingly, the census notes “his mother, Catherine” living with David Troxell in 1860. This Catherine was not Rebecca’s mother (Catherine Rosenberger was living in Franklin County with other relatives in 1860 and died in 1863), but the coincidence of name is notable. The Troxells were a longstanding Adams County family; it could be that the Troxell family were old acquaintances of Rebecca’s family, and they took her in (or she moved to Gettysburg and boarded with them) through church or community connections.
• Relocation after Losses: Another factor might have been the desire for a fresh start. By the late 1850s, many of Rebecca’s closest family members in Franklin County had passed away or moved. Her mother was elderly (and would die in 1863), her siblings were scattered, and her children were grown. Gettysburg, a larger town, may have offered her a new community and perhaps better prospects for work or support in her later years.

Whatever the reason, by 1860 Rebecca had established herself in Gettysburg, and she would remain there through the tumultuous Civil War years. In the 1870 census, she appears to still be in Gettysburg, likely in the same household, although her name was again mis-recorded (one index transcribed it under a garbled spelling like “Rebecca Koral”). David Troxell was still unmarried in 1870, so it is very plausible Rebecca continued as part of the household through that time.

Experiencing the Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

Rebecca’s residence in Gettysburg placed her in the midst of one of the Civil War’s pivotal events – the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. She was about 61 years old when the battle came to the town. David Troxell’s house on Chambersburg Street (also known as the York Road) was in the western part of town, an area that saw shelling during the three-day battle. On July 2 and 3, Confederate artillery bombarded Gettysburg, and many civilians sought shelter in cellars.

According to later accounts, neighbors from the adjacent buildings took refuge in David Troxell’s basement for safety. One of those neighbors was Sarah “Sallie” Broadhead, a Gettysburg woman who kept a famous diary during the battle. Sallie Broadhead wrote of huddling in a cellar with about twenty people as shells whizzed overhead. In fact, “Sallie spent most of the daylight hours with her family and immediate neighbors, huddled in the safety of the large basement of the David Troxell house” during the shelling. It is almost certain that Rebecca was among the group sheltering in Troxell’s cellar, since she lived in the house. One can imagine the terror and commotion – Rebecca, an elderly widow by then, comforting younger neighbors as cannon fire shook the town. Notably, an artillery shell actually struck the Troxell house during the battle (lodging in a wall without exploding). The fact that everyone in the cellar survived uninjured would have been a small miracle. This experience placed Rebecca at the heart of an event of great national significance.

After the battle, Gettysburg was thrown into chaos with hospitals and recovery efforts. There’s no specific record of Rebecca’s personal experiences in the aftermath, but as a resident she likely assisted in whatever ways she could (feeding soldiers or tending the wounded), or at least she witnessed the town’s ordeal. Gettysburg was permanently changed by the battle, and many civilians like Rebecca bore the memory of those three days for the rest of their lives.

Death and Legacy

Rebecca spent her final years in Gettysburg. By 1870, most of her children lived elsewhere, and it appears she did not return to Franklin County to live, possibly because she had a support system or work in Gettysburg. She died on July 28, 1873, at the age of 71. It’s not recorded whether she died in Gettysburg or while visiting family, but given her burial arrangements, it’s likely she died in Gettysburg and her body was transported back to Franklin County for burial.

Rebecca Keefer (Rosenberger) Markey was buried at Keefer’s Cemetery (Horse Valley) in Upper Strasburg, Franklin County, alongside many of her kin. Her grave transcription recorded her age precisely as 71 years, 4 months, and 27 days, which was used to calculate her birthdate. Both of Rebecca’s husbands are also buried in that small cemetery – John Isaac Keefer (d. 1830) and John Markey (d. 1843) have resting places there. This suggests Rebecca had long ago arranged to be laid to rest near her parents and first husband in the family plot. Her tombstone and the Find-a-Grave entry list her as “Rebecca Markey,” the name by which she was known in her later decades.

Rebecca did not leave behind a written diary or personal letters (at least none that have surfaced in public archives), so much of what we know about her comes from public records – census lists, church and cemetery records, and her mention in relatives’ documents. We do not have a published obituary for her in surviving newspapers. The local Gettysburg papers of 1873 were somewhat sporadic in recording every death, and none explicitly mentioning Rebecca has been found in available archives. It’s possible a notice was placed in a Franklin County paper (since she was buried there), but again, no clipping has yet been discovered in online archives.

Nonetheless, Rebecca’s legacy lives on through her many descendants and the historical footprint of her life. All of her eight children survived to adulthood, which was no small feat in the 19th century. They married into other local families – Fleagles, Kents, Shirks, etc. – linking the Rosenberger/Keefer line to numerous other Pennsylvania families. For instance, Rebecca’s daughter Rebecca Kent (Markey) lived until 1932 and had children and grandchildren in Franklin County. Her son Joseph Markey, a Civil War veteran, lived until 1917 and likely had his own family in Bedford County. Even Rebecca’s first two sons (the Keefer boys) had large families; Stephen A. Keefer became a patriarch in Franklin County (and interestingly, his **middle name “Abraham” and his brother’s name “Abraham” reflect both Rebecca’s father’s name and the shared naming traditions of the Rosenbergers and Keefers).

Through these lines, Rebecca is an ancestor to hundreds of people alive today. Many of them may not realize it, but their family story traces back to a resilient woman who twice rebuilt her life after losing her husbands, who saw her community torn by Civil War, and who lived in both the remote valleys of Franklin County and the bustling town of Gettysburg.

Rebecca’s life illustrates the hardships and perseverance of 19th-century American women. She navigated complex family relationships (even marrying within her mother’s kin), reared a large family largely on her own, and survived war and upheaval. From the quiet Horse Valley where she was born, to the war-torn streets of Gettysburg, Rebecca Keefer’s journey was remarkable in its own right. Her grave in the Keefer cemetery is quiet now, but the records and memories pieced together give us a vivid picture of a life well-lived through extraordinary times.