public schools of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the family for a time lived. Returning with them to Illinois she completed her High School studies in East Dubuque. Later, when the family removed to Sterling, Ill., she entered the Sterling Business College, mastering the theory and practice of shorthand in about four months, so that she was competent to accept a position. After spending the winter in work for private individuals and for the courts she accepted in the following spring a position with the De Kalb Fence Company as stenographer to their secretary, taking full charge of his part of the business each year during his absence on his vacation. This po

Mrs. Myrtle Frisbee Holmes

sition she held until her marriage. On June 17, 1903, at the home of her parents in Sterling Ill., she was married to Burton Darwin Holmes, of De Kalb, Ill., a son of George Richard Holmes and Frances M. Hinkley. On April 9, 1910, a son, named after his grandfather, Eugene Frisbee, was born to them, but lived only a few days. This was a great shock to the mother, from which she never fully recovered. Mrs. Holmes, true Christian woman that she was, said that she was ready to go. She had made her peace with God at an early age, and was a prominent member and worker in the Congregational church and Sunday-school. None knew her but to love and respect her, and her counsel was often sought by older people. One who knew her said to her parents and sister: "You have it to remember that Myrtle was always a ray of sunshine and that her life was a mission of good cheer and kindness; that she was greatly

beloved by the church, and we feel her loss keenly; that everybody felt cheered by her bright and cheery greeting and that her constant good cheer will long be a helpful memory to all who knew her, and her influence will go right on even though she has crossed the bar. I am glad I knew her even a little." Mrs. Holmes was deeply interested in our association, being a member of the Central Chapter Council, and having been able to attend most of our annual meetings. She had signified her intention of attending the reunion of 1910 at Roxbury if her health would permit, being anxious to see the town where her grandfather was reared and its surroundings, as well as the many cousins. She is survived by her husband, her parents and her only sister, Mrs. Pearl Frisbee Waters, of Wyanet, Ill.

MRS. JANE KEATOR BURHANS.
1824-1908.

532. Jane Elizabeth Keator (Burhans), (290), was born August 31, 1824, at Roxbury, N. Y., where she resided with her parents until her marriage. She was the daughter of Jacob C. Keator and 53. Elizabeth Smith, (56), granddaughter of John More, (1).

On July 1, 1845, she was united in marriage with Alexander Hamilton Burhans, son of John E. and Hannah Burhans, of Roxbury. The cermony was performed by her uncle, the Rev. George Frisbee. She remained with her husband in Roxbury until 1864. The period from 1864 to 1872 was mostly spent in Kingston, N. Y., with short residences in Phoenicia and Meadville. In 1872 they removed to Cleveland, O., which was their home until their deaths.

Two daughters were born to them-Mary, who, subsequent to the death of her husband, Samuel Davis Barr, has resided in Cleveland, O., and Elizabeth, who died in Cleveland at the age of twenty-nine.

Mrs. Burhans died in Cleveland, November 11, 1908, at the age of eighty-four. She was a member of the Dutch Reformed church up to the time of her death.

She was a woman of great strength of character, an affectionate wife, a devoted mother and a helpful and considerate friend. She was possessed, to an uncommon degree, of sterling good sense, which, added to a quaint and penetrating humor, made her a power with all who came in contact with her.

She lives in the memory of her friends for her many kind acts, her ever-ready helpfulness and for her good cheer that was always manifest through her life.

THOMAS BARRETT KEATOR.
1826-1906.

533. Thomas Barrett Keator (291). died at Roxbury, N. Y., May 18, 1906, from paralysis, after an illness of four years. Rev. N. H. Demarest, pastor of the Jay Gould Memorial church, of which Mr. Keator was a member, conducted the funeral service, which was held May 22, 1906. The interment was in the cemetery of the Memorial Reformed church.

Mr. Keator, son of Jacob C. Keator and 53. Elizabeth Smith, (56), was a grandson of Jean, the only daughter of John More. Like many

of this branch of the Mores he always kept his residence in the town where the family first established itself. He was born in Roxbury, N. Y., October 28, 1826, and grew to manhood on his father's farm, which was situated one mile from the village. (See the Plan in the History, after p. 32). His schooling was had in his home town and in Fergusonville, N. Y. After his marriage in 1862 he took a farm adjoining his father's and occupied it until 1868. He then took the so-called Preston farm in Pleasant Valley, two and one-half miles out of Roxbury. There he lived until 1888, the year of his father's death. He then returned to the homestead, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Mr. Keator was married on January 14, 1862, to Sarah Maria Sturges, at the home of the bride in Stamford Township. Their wedding journey was by carriage to Rosendale and Kingston, where relatives lived. Mr. Keator at one time visited his sister, Mrs. A. H. Burhans at her home in Cleveland, O., stopping to see Niagara Falls on the return

journey.

Mr. Keator is survived by his wife, his two children, Eugene Thomas Keator and Mrs. S. Lee Decker, of Roxbury, and by one sister, Mrs. Robert S. Smith, of Roxbury. He was from the first a loyal member of the John More Association, and attended all the reunions of the Family to the time of his death.

HON. JOHN FRISBEE KEATOR.
1850-1910.

Our Association has lost one of its most prominent and most loyal members in the death of Hon. John F. Keator, senior member of the legal firm of Keator and Johnson, Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Keator was present at all of the reunions from the first, and by his oratorical gifts notably, and in other ways as well, he contributed much to the success of the family gatherings. In 1890 he took part in the after-dinner speaking, responding to the sentiment, "Our Obligations to the Future." In 1895, on a similar occasion, he spoke on the topic, "Our Solid Business Men.' He was one of the speakers at the special family service held on Sunday, September 2, 1900, and in 1905 he gave the principal address at the Memorial Day exercises. He attended the fifth reunion in 1910, but the condition of his health was such as to forbid his usual active participation in the affairs of the Association. Mr. Keator's honorable record in professional and public life, and the sterling traits of his character are presented to the readers of the JOURNAL in the following tribute, specially prepared for this purpose by his partner, Lester B. Johnson, Esq.

The death of John Frisbee Keator occurred November 17, 1910. There was much in his life of interest to his kinsmen and of aid to his fellowmen.

He was born in Roxbury, N. Y., April 16, 1850, the second of three sons of Abram J. Keator and 542. Ruth Frisbee Keator, (297). His mother was a daughter of John Frisbee and 54. Anna Smith, (57), daughter of 5. Jean, (6). who was the only daughter of John More. His early paternal ancestors came from Holland. The old homestead, an extensive dairy farm, still retained in the family and known as "Delaware Vale," lies picturesquely among the foot hills of the Catskills, but a little ways north of the village of Roxbury.

To one familiar with the refinement and the quiet, calm demeanor of the churchman, legislator and counsellor of mature years, it seems

strange to class John Frisbee Keator among those rugged, self-made men who hew their way, almost unaided, to the higher positions in life. But such is the interesting story, for the boy John was a mere farmer's lad-an attendant at the "Old Red School House" in More Settlement. His greatest heritage was strong sinews of character from an able father and a noble mother, and upon these he builded well the lovable and useful life he lived. In those days the old school stood sixty miles from the railroad; nevertheless, while still a student there, ambition was beating strongly within his breast to work out a path for himself in the world that lay beyond the mountains. At seventeen he had been offered an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and eagerly sought to gain his father's permission to go. The course of his life would undoubtedly have been fixed in radically different channels had not his

to

parents persuaded him from this desire, and, instead, he was sent for three months to Andes Academy, twenty-five miles distant from Roxbury. This first step was rapidly followed by others of progress towards his ambition for a higher education and greater opportunities. From Andes he went Ulster county, obtained a first-grade certificate and taught, though still a mere slip of a boy, a school of sixty scholars in the town of Rosendale. In the spring of 1868 he returned to his father's farm and in the fall attended school at Stamford Seminary, about twelve miles from Roxbury. In the two winters of 1868-'69 and 1869-'70 he taught the district school at Moffit Settlement above Moresville. During the summers of these two years he was back on the old homestead helping his father with the farm, but quietly engaged, meanwhile, in more extended studies, and persistently holding before his parents the feasibility of acquiring the liberal education afforded by the great colleges.

It was in September of 1871 that the son secured the permission and the means of taking his first step towards the desired goal, and he started by stage for Richmondville, where he took the Albany & Susquehanna R. R., his first ride by rail, to Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Mass. Here he took quarters in North Hall, and soon had obtained fair rank among his classmates. In 1872 he took the Williston Prize in Oratory and the Ellwell Medal, first prize for excellence in oratory. In 1873 he completed his course at Williston and entered Yale in the class of '77, which numbered many of the successful men of today on its roll. President Taft was a student there during part of Mr. Keator's college days.

A successful debater, and ambitious for public service, it was natural that he should choose the profession of the law, and, upon graduation from Yale in 1877, he entered the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1879 he received his degree of LL.B., and was admitted to practice in the Courts of Pennsylvania. Thus it was that the future course of his life was laid in the City of Philadelphia. In 1890 he was admitted to the United States Supreme Court. He early developed a conservative and lucrative legal practice, chiefly in corporate and estate matters. For some years he was a member of the Board of Law Examiners, appointed by the Courts to pass upon the qualifications of applicants for admission to the bar.

He was

a member of the Law Academy and of the Law Association of Philadelphia, of the American and of the Pennsylvania Bar Associations and of the Lawyers Club of Philadelphia.

In early life Mr. Keator took a strong interest in religious work. It was an important feature of his college life, and an interest consistently maintained throughout the later years. It was while still a young man at the bar that he became interested in the founding of St. Matthews Methodist Episcopal Church, Fifty-third and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, and was superintendent of the Sundayschool there for a number of years. At the

close of his efforts, the church was housed in a splendid stone edifice, was clear of debt, and had a substantial surplus in the treasury as a result of his astute management of its affairs. His interest in the incorporation and progress of the Methodist Episcopal Orphanage of Philadelphia and in the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Philadelphia Conference, for whom he was counsel and a trustee, and his work upon the boards of the Methodist Episcopal Hospital, the American Sundayschool Union and the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Germantown, of which church he was a member at the time of his decease, afforded large opportunities for the service which he loved to render to his Master.

But his public services were by no means confined to purely religious and charitable work. In politics he was a Republican, but of strong independent tendencies; in his State he was spoken of as having been in the vanguard of the modern wave of reform which insists upon a higher plane of service in public affairs. In 1896 he was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania from the Germantown District of Philadelphia upon the Republican ticket. In the following election, his ideals apparently not having met with the approval of the powers controlling the organization of the regular party, they did not intend that he should be returned to the Legislature; but Mr. Keator was taken up as the standard bearer of the Business Men's League, and was returned by a substantial majority and served his district until 1899. Though independent in his legislative career he had, nevertheless, the respect of all parties, as was shown by his appointment as attorney for the House in the investigation of the cause of the fire which destroyed the State Capitol.

Mr. Keator's interest in politics was further evidenced by his support of many political clubs, for he was one of the founders of the Young Men's Republican Club and of the Pennsylvania Club, and was also a member of the Young Men's Republican Club of Germantown and of the City Club.

It is unnecessary, in talking to kinsmen and friends, to dilate upon the delightfully attractive personality enjoyed by all those who had acquaintanceship with Mr. Keator. Besides the numerous legal and political organizations mentioned, he was a member of many social organizations, among them the Psi Upsilon Society, the University Club of Philadelphia, the Yale Club of New York City, the Lincoln Club, the Academy of Fine Arts of Philadelphia, the National Geographic Society, the Civil Service Reform Association, and was a member and Past Master of Harmony Lodge, No. 52, F. & A. Masons, and, of course, was ever an interested and diligent worker of the John More Association.

It was in 1879, just before Mr. Keator entered upon practice in the City of Philadelphia, that he met Miss Anna Walter Sweatman, one of the two daughters of Virtue C. Sweatman, a well-known manufacturer of that city. It was on February 10, 1885, that they were married. This union has been blessed by the birth of five children, three of

whom are now living-Rachel Keator, born June 22, 1891, now a Senior at Wellesley College; John Frisbee Keator, Jr., born March 28, 1895, now preparing for Yale at the Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.; and Clement Sweatman Keator, born October 26, 1899. Part of Mr. and Mrs. Keator's married life was spent at No. 1508 Green Street, Philadelphia, but in 1891, they moved into the Germantown district and by 1894 had built a new home there at No. 218 West Walnut Lane, which is still the residence of the family.

Mr. Keator was fond of travel, but always in the good company of his wife, and together they have taken many trips. Their first journey to Europe was in 1889. In 1906 they travelled through Ireland and Scotland,

of his grandfather, John Frisbee, which he named "Frisbee House." February 10, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Keator, with their hosts of friends, celebrated at Roxbury, their Silver Wedding Anniversary, and, on April 16th, Mr. Keator's sixtieth birthday. He was also able to thoroughly enjoy the Reunion of 1910. It seems so appropriate that this last year was spent among the old hills, with the old friends, and was marked by the rounding out of so many periods of his life. In the fall of the year he journeyed, with his wife, to Newton Highlands, near Boston, to be under the care of two of his old college classmates, Drs. S. L. Eaton and F. B. Percy. Nothing could be done, however, to stay the inroads of disease, and it was here, on November 17th, with his

with special interest in a journey to the birthplace of John More and Betty Taylor at Forres and Elgin, also through England and Germany. In 1907 another trip to Europe was made, with special interest in Switzerland; in both years a month was spent at Bad Nauheim, where Mr. Keator took the baths in an attempt to arrest the arteriosclerosis condition from which he was already suffering. During three winters they visited Florida, and later travelled west, visiting the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, and California.

The disease from which he suffered continuing its inroads upon his health, Mr. Keator was prevailed upon to spend the winter of 1909-'10 at the Roxbury he loved so well, and where he must, of necessity, be free from business cares. He had purchased, and during this winter enjoyed remodelling the home

wife and daughter at the bedside, he was called away.

Purity in thought, independence in decision and fearlessness in action were the strong elements of John Frisbee Keator's character. With a knowledge of the presence of this strength, his career is best understood, and it is seen why his entire life was a consistent and successful stand for what was right in school, in politics and in his profession.

On November 30, 1910, a memorial service was held in the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Germantown, which was attended by members of his old Yale class, political and social friends, and members of the corporate bodies upon whose boards he had served; and words, there spontaneously spoken, may well be recorded here both for their portrayal of events in Mr. Keator's life,

as well as a demonstration of the esteem in which he was held by all.

The Rev. Charles Sumner Mervine, of Philadelphia, spoke of his "fellow-classmate, Keator As we have known Brother Keator during the years of his life, we see him in the very morning of his career at college. His bearing before the classmates so impressed them with the religious character of his life that when it came time to elect two class deacons, representing the religious work of the class, he was one among those who were elected. So faithfully were his duties performed during the first two years of his college life, that when it became the privilege of the class to elect church deacons, whose privilege it was, as well as duty, to meet with the President of the college and some of the faculty in the regular two weeks' meeting and go over the religious affairs of the college, the same sense of fitness was manifest to the class, and they chose John Frisbee Keator to be the church deacon, in which office he served the last two years of his college course. During those years John F. Keator was Superintendent of the Bethany Mission in New Haven, conducted by the members of the University, meeting nine o'clock Sunday morning a large, healthy, vigorous work. We might almost feel sure that the father, who had been a founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church in his old town, might develop such an intrinsic character in his son, and such was the character John Keator manifested . . . He became during the course of the years a valuable exponent of thought. It is not easy to be independent in the early college days. There is a certain kind of independence in the first year that will be sure to attract attention that is hostile to other members; but there is another kind, the kind that John Keator possessed, quiet but assertive, and at the same time as firm as the adamant. As a result, by the end of the third year, when it became necessary to elect an independent editor of the School Courant, John Keator was the one selected to fill that office, and well he did as the editor of the independent paper of the college life."

And the Rev. Dr. Frank P. Parkin, in speaking of the political side of Mr. Keator's life, said: "I came to know him during those five years when I was his pastor, when he came to tell me of the things happening at Harrisburg. I never knew him to flinch or utter an insincere word. . . Brother Keator used to confide in me with reference to his desires in the political world. He used to tell me of the peculiar stress he found himself under, the temptations to do this and that, the bids that were held out to him if he would only join the forces that wanted things to continue as they were. But there was something in his nature that rebelled at wrong and injustice, and so he joined himself to the little company, that gradually grew larger, and he determined to fight for what he considered to be right in the halls of the capitol of his State. That story was never written; if it were, we would find that the man that we honor deserves vastly more credit than has ever been

given to him for having been one of the leaders in that movement.'

His fellow members at the bar and the Judges before whom he practiced unconsciously attested to the same purity and sincerity of spirit. On the day the funeral was held, business was suspended in each of the Courts of Philadelphia County, while formal announcement of the death was made and a minute spread upon the records of the Courts.

In Common Pleas Court No. 1, before Judge Magill, Alexander Simpson, Jr., Esq., said, in part: "Something over thirty-one years ago John F. Keator was sworn in as an officer of this Court, and a member of this Bar. During all the years that have passed since that date he has faithfully kept the obligation which he then took, and has been going in and out among us, living a life, personal, professional and political, void of offence towards God and towards man. For him, last Thursday, the vail was rent in twain, and he passed over to the other side just a little while before us, to await our coming. When such a man dies it is eminently fitting that a record thereof should be made in the minutes of the Court of which he was an officer. I, therefore, move you that a due and appropriate entry thereof be made in the minutes of the Court."

In Court No. 2, Judge Barrett presiding, Frank P. Prichard, Esq., said: "This is not the time or place for any extended eulogy of Mr. Keator, but I may say briefly, that during the whole time of his long and honorable service at the Bar, he served his clients with fidelity, with industry, with ability. He not only followed the written and unwritten rules of ethics which govern the conduct of members of the bar in their relation with the Court and with each other, but I have never heard of a single instance in which in his intercourses with his fellow-members of the Bar, he departed from those rules of courtesy which in the strenuous conflicts of our profession, we are so prone to forget.'

In Court No. 3, Judge Davis, presiding, Owen B. Jenkins, Esq., a former partner of Mr. Keator, announced the death; in Court No. 4, Judge Wilson presiding, John S. Freeman, Esq., also a former associate, made the announcement; and in Court No. 5, William R. Fisher and George R. Van Dusen made the announcement, in reply to which President Judge J. Willis Martin said: "I regret exceedingly to hear of the death of Mr. Keator. He was a man of sterling integrity, of high character-kindly and cultured. He was a graduate of Yale, and of the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania. It is such men as he who have maintained the reputation for intelligence and character of the members of the Bar of Philadelphia County, a Bar held in high esteem throughout the world. It is a subject of personal sorrow when such a man, in the prime of life, passes away, and his faithful and loyal services are lost to our Order.

"Let a minute be placed upon the records of this Court of the decease of John F. Keator, Esq., one of its trusted officers."