William D. Keaton
Mr. Keaton has an enthusiastic interest in his business and he does not scorn that close attention to detail without which the highest degree of success can never be obtained. He has many characteristics which have gained for him the warm regard of those with whom he has had dealings.
William D. Keaton was born on the farm where he now lives, October 29, 1851, the son of William and Kezar (Selby) Keaton. William Keaton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he emigrated to the West, locating in Hanover township, Shelby county, Indiana, being the first settler in this neighborhood. He entered eighty acres of land, all in the woods. He soon began cutting away the timber and erected a cabin, and he lived to see all the land cleared and ditched, and improved in general. He purchased the first tile in this locality. His death occurred in 1874. He was twice married, five children having been born to his first union, and nine children by the last marriage. Out of the fourteen children there are now living, A. H.; Laura, the wife of Elmer Gunning, of Morristown, Indiana; Effie, wife of Vernon Wagnel; William D., our subject.
William Keaton’s father was a cabinet maker, of Philadelphia, but owing to ill health moved from that city to Fayette county, Indiana, where he began farming. He brought his children, six sons and two daughters, with him and they soon had a good home in the then western wilds. His wife was a descendant of a Welsh family and a native of Maryland. She was a small woman, physically. William Keaton was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he was known as one of the founding pioneers of this township.
William D. Keaton was reared on the farm and his education was obtained in the district schools. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years old. Thomas and Oliver Keaton, brothers of the subject, saw service in the Civil war as members of the Sixteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Mr. Keaton married Sarah Addison October 30, 1873. She was born and reared in Shelby county, the daughter of a well known family. This union has resulted in the birth of two children -- Bertha, who received a common school education, and Pearl, who married Charles Racer, a railroad man.
Mr. Keaton is making a good living on a neat little farm of forty acres which is well drained and well kept. He is a member of the Morristown Lodge No. 193, Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he is a Republican, but has never aspired to office. Mrs. Keaton is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Keatons are among the best known families in this part of Shelby county, and they have always borne an excellent reputation, being both honest and industrious.
From Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, B.F. Bowen & Co, Publishers: Indianapolis, IN, 1909, pp 650-2.
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