Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 258-259

OLIVER F. KEENE, an old and well-known citizen of Lancaster, Grant county, and a valuable ex-soldier of the war of the Rebellion, was born in Vigo county, Ind., July 4, 1830, and was about four years old when brought to Wisconsin by his parents, Samuel B. and Lydia A. (SHATTUCK) KEENE.

Samuel B. KEENE was a native of Homer, Cortland Co., N.Y., born in 1796, son of Zebulon KEENE, a soldier of the war of the Revolution. The KEENE family came originally from Wales to America, in the early colonial days. Samuel B. KEENE left his native State when about twenty-four years old, located in Vigo county, Ind., and there married Lydia A. SHATTUCK, a native of Oneida county, N.Y., who was taken to Indiana when young by her father, Dr. Eliphalet SHATTUCK. Samuel B. KEENE brought his family from Indiana to Wisconsin in 1834, and located near the site of the present village of Darlington, for a year occupying the fort that had been erected in 1832 for defense against the Indians during the Black Hawk insurrection. The following year the family removed to Elk Grove, and two years later, in 1837, came to Lancaster township, Grant county, Mr. KEENE here purchasing a tract of wild land which he converted into an excellent farm, although he was a blacksmith by trade. He continued to improve his farm and to work at his trade until he was called away, in December 1879. For three years during his earlier residence here, he was engaged in hauling goods between Galena, Ill., and Mineral Point, Wis., and lead on the return trip. At the death of his wife he was left with five children, four sons and one daughter, whom he reared with great care; the eldest was but fourteen years old at the time of Mrs. KEENE's death, and Oliver F. was only about ten. Mr. KEENE was a remarkably industrious man, and no person was ever known to speak an ill word of "Uncle Sam," as he was familiarly called. Of the five children alluded to, two only now survive, Oliver F. and Rev. A. C. KEENE, the latter a Baptist missionary clergyman, now residing in South Dakota. The three that have passed away were Delia Ann, the eldest of the family, who was the wife of Nelson KISE; Eliphalet, the eldest son; and Hon. H. S., a member of the State Legislature, a lawyer of prominence, and for three years a member of the Wisconsin Battery in the war of the Rebellion, who died in July, 1898 in Seattle, Wash., where his surviving family still reside. Two other children passed away ere the death of the mother.

Oliver F. KEENE well remembers the appearance of the country when he arrived in Grant county, to which the family came overland with one team of horses and four yoke of oxen, and where he, like all the rest, endured the hardships and deprivations of pioneer life.

On June 24, 1858, Mr. KEENE married Miss Sarah SHAPPELLE, a daughter of Andrew and Sarah SHAPPELLE, the former of whom was born in Illinois, of French parentage; and the latter, born in New York State, was taken to Illinois when a child. Mrs. KEENE was born near Galena, Ill., April 3, 1836. In 1839 her father bought land in Potosi township, Grant Co., Wis., transformed the wild place into a fertile farm, and here he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, being buried on their own premises. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, of whom Mrs. KEENE is the eldest and Mrs. Margaret W. ROYSTER the youngest. Of the seven, three only now survive: Mrs. KEENE, Mrs. ROYSTER, and Charles A. The latter served four years in the war of the Rebellion.

Oliver F. KEENE and his father were working together at blacksmithing in Hurricane Corners when the Civil war broke out, and little over two years later Oliver F. enlisted, Aug. 11, 1863, in Company H, 25th Wis. V.I., and with his regiment was ordered to the frontier to subdue the refractory Indians. But Mr. KEENE contracted a severe cold, which culminated in rheumatism, and as a result he was transferred to the Invalid corps, with which he served until honorably discharged, for disability, in April, 1865. He has never fully recovered from the disorder that seized him during his army service, and after the war he engaged in agricultural pursuits, working when able to do so. He and wife are now living in quiet at their pleasant home in Lancaster, where they enjoy the respect and companionship of a host of friends. They have reared a family of thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters: Samuel A., Maggie A. (Mrs. WAYNE), Sarah Lydia (Mrs. CAMBELL), Mary (Mrs. WARMES), C. Frank, George L., William H., John S., Joseph A., Ollie J. (Mrs. SOCK), Albert E., Pearl Wright, and Ethel S. Six of the sons and four daughters are married, and are most worthy members of the communities in which they live.

Oliver F. KEENE is a member of the G.A.R. He has always been a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and also as hard-working and industrious at his trade and at farming as his infirmities have permitted, and he well deserved the high esteem in which he is universally held.



This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck