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| The genealogy of the Keasberry family |
| » Chapter C Benjamin Peach and the descendants of his son John Palmer Jr |
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After the death of his father, John Palmer Keasberry Sr., Benjamin Peach Keasberry left Tegal (Central Java) together with his older brothers, William Henry Keasberry and John Christopher Nathanial Keasberry, to continue studying in Mauritius, and they finally completed their studies in Madras (India). Benjamin Peach settled in Singapore and opened a store, which did not flourish and he then left for Batavia (Jakarta). He became a clerk at a firm and made the acquaintance of Dr. Medhurst, of the London Missionary Society, who taught him about printers, bookbinders and lithograph work, which later would be of use to him.
In 1834, when he received his share of the inheritance from his father, he left for America and studied three years at a college. In 1837 he married Charlotte Parker from Boston, and went with her to Singapore as a missionary for Malaka, for the 'American Board for Foreign Missions'. In 1839 the mission was dissolved and moved to China.
Benjamin Peach stayed in Singapore and served with the London Missionary Society (see photo ). He learned Malaysian form Munshi Abdulla and opened a small school for Malaysian boys, where he taught them printing and bookbinding etc. In 1843, with all his resources, he opened the newly built church in the jungle, the 'Malay Chapel', now in Prinsep Street (The Presbyterian Church). In 1930 this church was demolished and rebuilt in its present modern from.
Beside his teaching activities, he also preached. The Keasberry's lived on the site where the Raffles Hotel now stands. During their visit to the family in Surabaia, his wife Charlotte Parker died. In a letter to the L.M.S. in London, dated July 1845, Benjamin wrote that he had returned to Singapore with his two daughters, Eliza and Sara. Five months later, September 1845, he married for the second time with the still under-aged Ellen Luisa Scott, daughter of Robert Scott, theologian, born 26 January 1811 in Bondleigh, Devonshire. Benjamin devoted himself to the school training of the Malaysian boys and to spreading the Christian faith and he was highly regarded by the people, among whom was the Sultan Abubakar of Johore. He wrote several books in Malaysian and also translated the Bible into the language. He died suddenly during a sermon in the Malay Chapel, at the age of 64, on 6 September 1875, and was buried in the Bukit Timah Cemetery. Apart form John Palmer Jr. (see chapter C1), Benjamin and Ellen Louise had more children. It is not possible to continue working on a genealogical tree page of the Benjamin Peach branch, because of lack of information.
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