Sacramento County
Biographies
HENRY C. KEYES
Among
the men who have accomplished much in the development of Sacramento and
environs, is Mr. Keyes, organizer, secretary and manager of the Sacramento
Natural Gas Company, who, in all his labors, has evidenced an executive ability
and far-reaching business judgment unexcelled by his associates.
Born
in London, Ontario, Canada,
May 12, 1852, Mr. Keyes received his education in the schools of his native
section and at an early age displayed the perseverance and high ambition which
have characterized his career. His father, Henry Keyes, a native of London and
a well-known writer of ability, contributing articles chiefly on the Canadian
Northwest to different magazines, owned and operated a fine farm near London
for many years and actively conducted his duties until he reached an advanced
age, his stirring poem on the Northwest having been published after he entered
his eighty-third year. His wife, formerly Martha Taylor, was a woman of
exceptional culture and shared every joy and sorrow of her husband and children
with the spirit of abnegation characteristic of the true wife and mother.
In
1868 Henry Keyes left Canada
for the states, joining a surveying party as rodman
on the Alabama & Chattanooga, now the Alabama & Great Southern
Railroad, with whom he worked for two years. Subsequently he secured a
situation in the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company,
running out of Chicago, and he remained with them until
1876, when he came to Placer county, Cal.,
and spent three years in following mining, at the end of that time locating in Stockton,
where he started in the real estate business. So well did he succeed in this
venture that for twenty years he conducted a real estate and insurance business
there and also organized the Citizens Natural Gas Company of Stockton,
the affairs of which he managed for fifteen years. In
1896 he started the organization of the Sacramento Natural Gas Co., and in 1899
he located his residence here. He developed natural gas in Sacramento
City and nine wells have been put
down by the company, which is incorporated with a capital stock of $500,000. It
has fifty-five miles of gas mains and is conceded to be one of the most
perfectly constructed and controlled systems of its character in the state.
Mr.
Keyes is affiliated with Charity Lodge No. 6, I.O.O.F., of Stockton.
He is a member of Morning Star Lodge No. 68, F. & A.M., of Stockton Chapter
No. 8, R.A.M., and the Sacramento Commandery No. 2,
K.T. He is also a member of all the Scottish Rite
bodies of Sacramento up to the thirty-second degree,
and is a member of Islam Temple,
N.M.S., of San Francisco. Socially
he is a member of the Sutter Club, his comprehensive knowledge of all public
matters of interest playing an inconsiderable part in his popularity among his
associates.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 880-881. Historic
Record Company, Los
Angeles,
CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.