James' commanding officer was not happy with his performance as Clerk of Works in Ile aux Noix. Rather than just dismiss him and leave him and his family with no means of support, he arranged to have him granted 300 acres of land and to "retire" with a year's pay. A military auditor caught this pretense and raised a serious alarm. James' separation pay was withdrawn. The letter can be seen here: pg 1, pg 2, pg3.

The family returned to Prescott and on 26 Nov 1826, James wrote the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor in Chief of Canada, begging for money for his "Large Young helpless family which are at this moment in penury and want". This letter can be seen as a .jpg file or as a Word document.

Just then, however, the Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston was about to be built under the supervision of Colonel By. James and his family moved to Bytown (Ottawa) and he took a position with the Commissariat Department which was responsible for obtaining, storing and distributing supplies for the construction of the canal. The building in which he worked still stands and is now the Bytown Museum (photo).

A second child, John Leslie Keays was born 30 Jul 1823. (baptismal certificate) Then, on 24 Jan 1829 a third child and second son, William Jeremiah Keays, was born in Bytown. By this time, James' health was declining rapidly. The family was poor, its only asset being the land back in Augusta and a promise of 300 more acres of land. The 1825 letter authorizing a grant of 300 acres had not been "activated" and in time, would become worthless. But, for his work on the Rideau Canal, he was entitled to a further grant of land.

The 1829 McCabe Lists of Irish immigrants to Canada states of James:

"KEAYS, James from near Tullamore in the parish of Rahan on Co. Kings. Mr Keays is a very respectable person residing at the Rideau Canal;  he has a wife & 3 children; is rather reduced in circumstances and requests to be allowed a grant of Land."

The family left Bytown and returned to Augusta Twp. in 1829. In 1830, the 1825 letter granting the unclaimed 300 acres was returned and a formal request for a new grant was submitted. In 1832, James' illness worsened and he died leaving his wife Eliza, daughter Eliza and sons John and William with virtually nothing except their 100 acres of land. His second land grant application was successful and 300 acres of land were granted posthumously. In his will, James left his land to his sons but it was to be used to (a) support Eliza and the family until she re-married and (b) support daughter Eliza until she married. Only then could the sons take full unencumbered title to the land.

Eliza and her family are shown in records of the day as a widow occupying their 100 acres of land with only 6 acres being cultivated. They struggled along in very difficult circumstances until 1837. Emily Wright-Mylks, grand-daughter of James and Eliza, stated that during this period, son John died although I have been unable to find any record of his death.

Then, everything changed for the better for this widow and her two young children. On 8 Sep 1837, Eliza married Samuel Josephus Bellamy, a wealthy widower with 6 children of his own by his first wife Anna Blanchard. A witness to this marriage was Matthew Link who was, no doubt, a member of the Link family who accompanied Eliza from Ireland. The Keays' 100 acres of land was subsumed under Bellamy's extensive holdings as he worked the land and paid the appropriate assessments. Eliza used her annuity money from her mother's estate to send her son William to school in Toronto.

Little is known about the lives of the family between 1837 and 1848. William's sister, Eliza Keays was married to Isaiah Wright in 1846. In 1847 William turned 18, finished school and was entitled to have clear ownership of both the original 100 acres of Keays' land and the grant document for a further 300 acres of land.

James Burwash, a local merchant and family friend, advised the family and acted as its representative to the government to have the Keays' land transferred to William and to have William receive a formal scrip for the land granted to his father posthumously. The first step in this process was to register James Forbes Keays' last will and testament.