Anderson County Biographies
"Portrait and Biographical Record of Southeastern Kansas"
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1894
GEORGE W. KELLER, a real-estate dealer
and farmer and stock dealer of Colony,
came to Kansas on the 19th of February,
1879. He located in Linn County, and the following November came to Anderson County settling in what is now Lone Elm Township, at the
bead of Deer Creek. Mr. Keller was born in Newark Township, Licking County, Ohio, June 11,
1846, and is a son of Henry M. and Anna (Henton) Keller. The family is of German extraction,
and was founded in this country during early Colonial days. As the country became settled further
west, they emigrated to Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Kentucky.
Our subject is a descendant of the Pennsylvania
branch. The grandfather, Jacob Keller, removed
from the Keystone State to Ohio in the early settlement of Licking County, and became one of
the pioneers of Newark. He improved a farm in
the forest and became the owner of a large tract
of land in the Licking Valley, where is some of the
most fertile and valuable land in the Buckeye
State. This property, inherited by his descendants, has made many of them well-to-do. The
grandparents lived to a good old age. They had
six sons and three daughters who grew to mature
years: Benjamin, now of Bates County, Mo.; Abraham and Daniel, who died in Ohio; Eli, who was
a prominent breeder of Merino sheep and died in
Ohio; Jacob, who died on the old homestead;
Henry M., father of our subject; Elizabeth, wife
of Peter Holler, of Ohio; Diana, who died in
childhood; and Sarah, wife of Richard Jones, of
Franklin County, Ohio.
Henry Keller was reared on a farm and acquired
a good education in Dennison College, of Granville, Ohio. He then engaged in leaching for
some years, after which he worked in wood for
some time. He possessed considerable genius in
that direction, and has invented and patented
several articles. He owns a highly cultivated and
valuable farm of two hundred and thirty acres
near Newark, on which he still makes his home.
He is an earnest and faithful member of the
Methodist Church and an untiring laborer in the Master's vineyard. He married Anna, daughter of
Capt. John Henton, of Fairfield County, Ohio,
and she has since been his faithful companion and
helpmate. Their family numbers three sons and
three daughters, of whom George is the eldest;
Rachel A. is the wife of Samuel Kinney, of Newark, Ohio; Abraham is a farmer of Carson, Iowa;
Henry C. is a farmer and merchant of West Plains,
Mo.; Sarah became the wife of Charles Dickson,
and after his death married John Shepherd, of
Oklahoma; Minerva is the wife of David W.
Sanders, of Burlington, Kan.
The schools of Newark afforded our subject his
educational privileges. He remained at home until
he had attained his majority and then removed to
Illinois, being employed as a teacher in the schools
of Cole, Moultrie and Shelby Counties until 1870.
In Moultrie County he married Lydia Rale, who
died in McLean County a year later, leaving a
son, Frank. Mr. Keller improved a farm of one
hundred and sixty acres in Martin Township, McLean County. In 1873 he returned to Newark,
Ohio, and in November wedded Eliza J., daughter
of David T. and Elizabeth Black. She was born
in Newark. Their union has been blessed with
five children: Belle, Day, Guy W., Elsie J. and
Clinton T.
In February, 1879, Mr. Keller came to Kansas
and purchased four hundred and twenty-six acres
of land in Lone Elm Township, where he carried
on general farming and stock-raising. He now
owns three farms in this county and one in Allen
County, comprising seven hundred acres, all highly cultivated and improved. Removing to Colony,
he there made his home for five years, but is now
living on one of his farms, which lies near the village. He conducts a real-estate, loan and insurance business, having an office in Colony, and also
deals in live-stock. He is one of the original
stockholders and a director in the People's Bank,
of Colony, and is a stockholder in the Eastern
Kansas Telephone Company. He takes an active
part in local politics, supports the Republican
party, is a member of the Central Committee, and
has frequently served as a delegate to the county,
district an state conventions. He is connected
with the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias, and ever since he was a young man has been
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He
possesses a generous and kindly spirit, gives freely
to benevolent and charitable interests, and never
withholds his aid from any enterprise that is calculated to promote the public good or advance
the general welfare.
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