John Shepard Keyes was born on September 19, 1821, in Concord, Massachusetts, to John and Ann Keyes. His father earned a living as a lawyer. He attended the Concord Academy before enrolling at Harvard University in 1837. He graduated four years later, and he began practicing law around 1844. He married Martha Lawrence Prescott, and they had at least four children: Annie, born around 1847; Florence, born around 1850; Alice, born around 1855; and Prescott, born around 1858. By 1860, he owned $5,000 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property.

 

He supported the Republican Party, and he was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention. He served as a United States marshal during the Civil War, and he acted as President Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard during his visit to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

 

He remained in Concord after the war, and he earned a living as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $4,000 of real estate and $25,000 of personal property. He became a District Court judge in 1874. He was an active member of Concord society: he served as president of the Concord Antiquarian Society, a director of the Concord Bank, and a director of the Middlesex Mutual Fire Insurance Company. His wife died in 1895, and he married Mary Lambert on November 23, 1898. He died of pneumonia in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1910.

SOURCES