Bartholomew County IN Archives Biographies.....Keyes, Nelson R. 1849 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 4, 2007, 5:02 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

HON. NELSON R. KEYES.

   Judge Nelson R. Keyes was a native of Fayette county, Kentucky, and son of
John L. Keyes, who was born in Otsego county, New York, in the year 1817. John
L. Keyes was for many years a farmer, but in 1865 engaged in the mercantile
business at Lexington, Kentucky, where he remained until 1867. In the latter
year he removed to Winchester, Kentucky, where he afterward resided. The mother
of Judge Keyes was formerly Mary A. Coons, a native of Kentucky, born in the
year 1814. Judge Keyes was born near the city of Lexington, March 1, 1849. His
boyhood days were spent with his father on the farm, and attending the common
schools until his seventeenth year, when he became a student of the University
at Lexington, where he pursued his studies during the years 1866, 1867 and 1868.
At the end of the college year, 1868, he began teaching, and was thus engaged
until 1872, pursuing his legal studies in the meantime. In the summer of 1872 he
came to Columbus, Indiana, and August 5 of the same year was admitted to the bar
of the circuit court. Immediately after this he entered the clerk's office as
deputy clerk for S. W. Smith, then clerk of the Bartholomew circuit court, and
on quitting this position he opened an office and began the active practice of
his profession. The legal career of Mr. Keyes presents a series of continued
successes and from his admission to the practice he was an important factor in
the Columbus bar. Standing deservedly high among the successful jurists of
southern Indiana, he possessed much more than ordinary legal ability, and during
the period of his practice he ranked among the most thorough and logical lawyers
of the county. Endowed with quick and keen conception, he was a skillful manager
of cases in court, while his habits of industry and thorough knowledge of the
details of his profession eminently fitted him as an able advisor and safe
counselor. His eminent merits were recognized and appreciated by the public, and
in 1884, then a young man of thirty-three, he was nominated by the Democratic
party for judge of the ninth judicial district. In the election which followed
he had no opposition, having been indorsed by the Republican party, and of the
five thousand five hundred votes cast in the district he received five thousand
three hundred, a fact which attests his great personal popularity with the
people, irrespective of political affiliations. In June, 1885, he was appointed
to fill out the unexpired term of Judge N. T. Carr, and the following year
entered upon the duties of his regular term. As a judge few acquired so high a
reputation for soundness in the knowledge of law, and for careful application of
principles in the investigation and determination of questions submitted for his
consideration and disposal. Mr. Keyes was married May 5, 1875, to Miss Lizzie
Mooney, of this county, daughter of William W. and Eliza (Berryman) Mooney. Mrs.
Keyes was born February 5, 1853, and was the mother of these children: Mary,
born April 15, 1876; Eliza, born August 24, 1877; Katie L., born June 9, 1882,
and Carnelia, born September 9, 1887.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


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