WILLIAM W. KEENAN. This prominent and successful agriculturist, and highly esteemed citizen of Donegal township, where he owns one of the finest of the many excellent farms to be here seen, deserves more than a passing notice in the pages of this Biographical Record. He was born March 19, 1832, in Donegal township, Washington Co., Penn., on the farm he now owns. Henry Keenan, grandfather of the subject was a native of Belfast, Ireland, where he was twice married, his first wife bearing him two children: James and Samuel, and his second wife also two children: John and Martha. The father of this family, some time prior to the year 1800, came to this country with his wife and some of his children, settling in Independence township, Washington Co., Penn., where he passed the rest of his days. His son James was one of these pioneer immigrants, and the first record we can find of him in Washington county is of his working as a day laborer on a farm in Independence township. In 1812 he married to Elizabeth Smith, a native of Washington county, who bore him eight children, the following being their names and the dates of their birth: Jane, January 20, 1813; Henry, June 15, 1815; Mary Ann, September 11, 1817; John, February 7, 1819; George, September 14, 1822; Forgus, February 10, 1824; Samuel, June 25, 1828, and William W., March 19,1832. After his first marriage Mr. Keenan settled on a tract of land he had purchased in Donegal township, near the confluence of Buck run and Buffalo creek, and here he followed agriculture all of his life, meeting with hard-earned success, and increasing, year by year, his possessions. He died April 24, 1853, on the farm he had first located on, and was followed by his wife March 2, 1854. He was a prominent member of and liberal contributor toward the Dutch Fork Disciple Church, and in politics he was a lifelong Democrat.
William W. Keenan early learned the practical lessons of farm life on his father’s farm his literary education, such as it was, being received at the schools of the neighborhood. His parents were for many years almost helpless, requiring no small amount of care and attention, a great portion of which fell to the lot of our subject, and as a consequence his attendance at school was much circumscribed. He remained with his parents as long as they lived, and after their decease took charge of the home farm, which he has since successfully conducted. On April 3, 1866, Mr. Keenan was married to Amanda Wallace, who was born February 3, 1832, in Ohio county, W.Va., a daughter of Robert Wallace, of Brooke county, W. Va., who was born Ma 5, 1805, in Westmoreland county, Penn. He went to West Virginia with his parents when a lad, and there married Hannah Arthur, who was born in 1810, in Independence township, Washington Co., Penn. They removed to Licking county, Ohio where the mother died August 15, 1846. They had seven children as follows: Amanda M. (Mrs. Keenan); Robert A., teaching in a commercial college at Topeka, Kans; Mary Jane (deceased at the age of three years); Samuel B., who died at the age of four years; William A. (a farmer in Kansas); David M. (who died in infancy), and one who died unnamed. Mr. and Mrs. Keenan have no children of their own, but have adopted two, a boy and a girl, for whom they provided a good home; the girl, now grown to young womanhood, is married to Henry C. Anderson; the boy, now a young man, is yet living with his foster parents. Mr. and Mrs. Keenan are members of the Disciple Church. In political sentiments he was originally a Whig, and since the formation of the party has been a straight Republican. He justly enjoys the respect and esteem of his friends and neighbors, and his success in life is marked to day by a pleasant home and one of the finest farms in Donegal township.
Text taken from page 544 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed May 1997 by LuShelle Fletcher of Grand Island, NE as part of the Beers Project.
Published May 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]