Thomas J. Keedy, a respected resident of Auburn, Nemaha County, Nebraska, was born on January 27, 1840, in Washington County, Maryland. Of German descent, he served in the First Maryland Infantry during the Civil War. In 1864, he married Sarah Snyder, and they had five children. In 1881, Keedy moved to Nebraska, where he successfully farmed before retiring to Auburn in 1893. His legacy includes significant contributions to his community and family, marked by his prosperous farming endeavors and independent political and religious views.
Among the well-known and respected citizens of Nemaha County, Nebraska, is Thomas J. Keedy, who has retired from his farm and is now living quietly in his pleasant home in Auburn.
Mr. Keedy is of German descent. His grandfather, Henry Keedy, was born in Germany about the year 1778, and when a young man emigrated to America, settling in Maryland, where he became the owner of a small farm, and where he passed the rest of his life and died, his death occurring in 1848. He reared a family of five sons and two daughters, namely: John J., Henry, Samuel, Jacob, Mattie, Rachael, and Alfred. All married, and all had families except Rachael, and all lived to advanced age, Rachael being the last to pass away, her death being in the summer of 1902.
John J. Keedy, the first of the above-named family, was the father of Thomas J.; he was born in Maryland in 1803 and died in that state in 1868. He was a miller and a farmer and owned both a mill and a farm. In Maryland, in 1826, he married Miss Mary Ann Middlecoff, a native of that state and one year his junior. They became the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, namely: Christopher Columbus, who was born in 1827, and who is now living in Keedysville, named in honor of grandfather Keedy, who was the founder of the town; Sophia, deceased, was twice married, first to E. Hecker, by whom she had one daughter, and, second, to J. Ebersoll, by whom she had one son; the third and fourth died in early life; George W., a farmer of Reno County, Kansas, has a family of eight children; the sixth born was a son, who died when young; next came Thomas J., whose name introduces this sketch; and the youngest, Mary Ann, died in early life. The mother of this family died in Maryland, in 1881, and her remains rest beside those of her husband and other members of the family in the Keedysville cemetery. They were members of the Reformed church.
Thomas J. Keedy was born in Washington County, Maryland, January 27, 1840; spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm and obtained only a limited education in the district schools. As a child, he was delicate, and his ill health frequently kept him from school. When he was nine years old he missed a whole winter’s schooling on this account. He remained at the parental home until his marriage, with the exception of three years and three months spent in the army during the Civil War. He volunteered, August 15, 1861, and was in Company A, First Maryland Infantry, which formed a part of the Army of the Potomac. During his army life he had a siege of typhoid fever, was sent home and was there nine weeks. At Harper’s Ferry he was taken prisoner and was paroled, being one of the thirteen thousand paroled at that time, and was in camp at Annapolis six months. Among the engagements in which he participated were those of Gettysburg and Winchester.
Mr. Keedy was married, December 27, 1864, to Miss Sarah Snyder, a native of Maryland, born August 17, 1841, daughter of David and Sarah (Hutzel) Snyder. In the Snyder family were five children, all of whom became farmers. David Snyder died in the prime of life and his widow was sixty-seven years of age at the time of her death. The children of Thomas J. and Sarah Keedy are as follows: Mary Ellen, wife of Dr. Long, of Lincoln, Nebraska, has one daughter and two sons; Ada May, wife of Henry Furrow, of Auburn, has two children living; Albert Lincoln, a farmer near Auburn, has a wife, two sons and a daughter; S. Elsworth, also engaged in farming near Auburn, is married and has two daughters; and Lorena, wife of Hugh Naysmith, a farmer of Republic County, Kansas, has one daughter.
Mr. Keedy inherited two thousand dollars from his father’s estate, has worked hard and managed well and prospered, and has been able to give his own children a good start in the world. Previous to his coming to Nebraska, Mr. Keedy was for several years engaged in the manufacture of lime at Keedysville. He came west in 1881, locating near what was then called Sheridan, now Auburn, and here he bought one hundred and sixty acres of improved land, upon which he carried on farming until the fall of 1893, when he sold to his sons, and bought two lots in Auburn. Here he built his present residence.
When a young man in Maryland, Mr. Keedy was initiated into the mysteries of Oddfellowship. Politically, he is what is termed an independent, and in religion he also holds independent views, and has never identified himself with any creed.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.