Janis' Genealogy Site
Oliver B. Keeley
Summary
- Born: 30 April 1835
- Died: 14 January 1882
- Father: Joseph Keeley
- Mother: Anna Markle
- Spouse: Mary Elizabeth Stauffer
Biography
Biographical and Portrait cyclopedia of Chester County, pg 796
Oliver B. Keeley was a man of such versatile talent and positive business ability that he had already climbed the heights which lead to eminence, and stood bathed in the golden sunlight of substantial and honorable success, when removed by the pitiless hand of death from a career whose brilliant opening left its closing chapters alone with imagination. He had won his way to position side by side with the foremost business men of Pennsylvania, and his reputation as a manufacturer was co-extensive with the State. Yet he who accomplished this, and crowded a few brief years with achievements brilliant enough to crown a long career, never lived to reach manhood's noon, nor feel the full development of his power. He was a son of Joseph and Anna (Markle) Keeley, and was born April 30, 1845, at Spring City, this county, which afterward became the theater of his operations, and witnessed his wonderful success. Even as a boy he gave evidence of unusual talent, rapidly acquiring education and reaching out in every direction for new facts and additional information, which by the chemistry of intellect were transmitted into actual knowledge, and became a part of his working capital in practical business. While yet a lad he took and held a position as draughtsman with his father's firm, Keeley & Brownback, one of the largest contracting, building and lumber dealing concerns in the city of Philadelphia.
While still young Oliver B. Keeley became a partner with his brother-in-law, Mr. Shantz, in the stove foundry at Spring City, under the firm name of Shantz & Keeley. Here he found ample scope for his great ability and that spirit of intelligent enterprise with which he was gifted, and it was not long till their nodest business began to feel the quickening effects of his superior management in every department.
At the flood tide of their new prosperity, July 5, 1880, a disastrous fire destroyed their plant, and left ashes alone to mark the seat of former activity and wealth-producing industry. In the autumn of that year Mr. Shantz sickened and died. Mr. Keeley immediately re-organized the business under the firm name of O. B. Keeley & Co., rebuilt the works, and with the calm assurance that marks the masterful mind, started to retrieve the misfortunes he had sustained. With that steady push and trained energy which characterizes the practical man of affairs in his native element, he threw himself into the business with a vim and vigor that challenged the admiration of men and discounted failure before its paper could be drawn. Once more the enterprise felt his electric touch, and as trade increased the shops were enlarged, until the stove works of O. B. Keeley & Co. became the most important industrial enterprise at Spring City, and were recognized as the bone and sinew of the business life of the town.
This was the condition of affairs on June 13, 1881 [actual date was January 13, 1882], when Mr. Keeley met instant death in a railway accident near Spuyten Duyvil, on the Hudson River road. He had not yet reached life's meridian, being only in his thirty-sixth year, but his wide reputation and the universal respect and esteem in which he was held was well attested by the genuine sorrow everywhere displayed, and the tremendous out-pouring of people to attend his obsequies. The funeral was conducted by his Masonic Lodge, assisted by delegations of Masons from Philadelphia, Norristown, Pottstown, and other points in this and adjoining counties, and was perhaps the largest ever held in Spring City. All the men from his shops and stove works attended the service in a body, wearing black satin badges upon which was inscribed "Employees of O. B. Keeley & Co." The press of his own county and of the city of Philadelphia paid eloquent tribute to his distinguished business ability and great personal worth. Mr Keeley, although young in years, had won his way to prominence in the Masonic circles of the State, being a member of Spring City Lodge, No. 553, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was a charter member and the first worshipful master after its organization; and also a member of Phoenix Chapter, No. 198, Royal Arch Masons, at Phoenixville, and of Jerusalem Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar.
Oliver B. Keeley was united in marriage to Mary E. Stauffer, a daughter of John and Mary (Beary) Stauffer, of East Coventry township, this county. They had only one chld, a daughter, named Clara Stauffer, who is now living with her mother in their commodious and elegant home at Spring City, which was erected by Mr. Keeley just prior to his death. Mrs. Keeley is an intelligent, cultivated and refined lady, and extremely popular in the social circles of her city and wherever she is known.
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