Charles Edward Keil was born November 3, 1978 in a log cabin on a 160 acre family farm in Moniteau County, Missouri. He was the second son of William and Louisa Keil. They had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. Of those, five sons and one daughter eventually migrated to Washington and settled in South Tacoma where they all lived until their deaths.

Ed Keil, as he was known, first came to Tacoma at the turn of the century with his older brother, John F. Keil, Cousin Henry Wallenmeyer and a friend John Batty. All four went to work as blacksmiths for the Northern Pacific Railroad shops in South Tacoma. Ed stayed until 1906 when he returned to Missouri to marry Caroline Miller on October 18th of that year. Caroline was born September 16, 1881. They returned to Tacoma, lived on South Fife Street and Ed returned to the railroad shops. Shortly after, tragedy struck. Their first child and only daughter, Stella Georgia, was born February 22, 1908 and died in October 1908. Caroline soon insisted on returning to Missouri in late 1909 as she wanted to be near her folks. They had three more children, all sons, Herbert William, August 8, 1910, Raymond Harold, July 13, 1913, and Chester Charles, November 14, 1918.

Ed and Caroline stayed in Missouri and farmed until the crash. At the insistence of their son Raymond, in late August 1932 Ed and Ray came to Tacoma along with some friends. The winter of 1932-1933 was a little rough for them. They cut wood for $3.00 a cord, but it had to be divided four and sometimes five ways. The crew included three other neighbors. When the Ed Keils decided to make Tacoma their home again, Caroline and Chester soon joined them. This was March 1933. It was a hard winter with so little income. Hamburger was 10 cents a pound, bread 10 cents a loaf, canned milk 3 cents a can. If you didn't have money you went hungry.

In the summer of 1933, eldest son Herbert, along with Ed's brothers Frank P. Keil and Louis G. Keil and their families all permanently moved to Tacoma. In 1937 they were joined by a sister Wilhelmina (Minnie) and her husband, George W. Strickfaden and their two children, making the Keil migration to Tacoma complete.

~ by Raymond H. Keil