Clark Keysor was born on May 23, 1826, in Luzerne (present-day Lake Luzerne), New York. He married a woman named Amy around 1851, and they had at least six children: William, born around 1852; Eva, born around 1857; Fanny, born around 1860; Eliza, born around 1866; Amy, born around 1873; and John, born around 1874. They moved to Wisconsin in the 1850s and then to Mankato, Minnesota, in May 1858. Keysor earned a living as a sawyer and carpenter.

 

In August 1862, he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in Company E of the 9^th Minnesota Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with sandy hair and gray eyes. He was promoted to captain on February 13, 1865, and he mustered out on August 24, 1865.

 

Keysor returned to Mankato after the war and resumed his work as a carpenter. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $250 of personal property. He supported the Republican Party, and he served in the state legislature in the early 1870s. He also severed on the local Board of Education for several years. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and he attended at least one veterans’ reunion. He applied for a federal pension in January 1891 and eventually secured one. He remained in Mankato for the rest of his life, and he died there on August 11, 1917.

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