Santa
Clara County
Biographies
PETER G.
KEITH
Prominently
identified with the upbuilding of the commercial
interests of Campbell, and one of the foremost promoters of fruit culture in
the vicinity of the town, Peter G. Keith has won his spurs in such manner as to
inspire renewed appreciation of integrity, practical common sense and
perseverance. As aid to worthy endeavor this popular pioneer had the example of
successful Holland ancestors, one of whom, his paternal great-grandfather, was
sufficiently ambitious to emigrate to America about fifteen years before the
Revolutionary war, bringing with him a mastery of the blacksmith trade. He
settled on a farm in Lancaster, Pa., and when the demand for soldiers was
created by the exasperated condition of the colonists, he left his play and
enlisted as a master mechanic, serving through a large part of the war as
repairer and blacksmith. Returning to his farm in Lancaster county,
he knew many years of peace and comparative plenty, his death occurring in
1810. With him from Holland came his son Peter, the grandfather of Peter G.,
who learned from him his useful trade, and combined the same with farming
during his active life. In time Peter the older was hampered by conditions in
Pennsylvania, and with the migratory spirit of his sire, emigrated to Ohio in
1811, taking with him his son Lewis, the father of Peter G., who was born in
Huntingdon county, Pa., March 22, 1901. Still discontented, the blacksmith
moved yet further west, arriving in La Porte, Ind., July 6, 1832. As yet that
part of the state was a stranger to the ways of civilized man, and the newcomer
erected a cabin in the wilderness, and proceeded to make his family as
comfortable as circumstances would allow. Many years were vouchsafed him after
his last removal, and he lived to see his land cultivated, and his family enjoy the benefits of his fair agricultural and trade
success. His death occurred in the spring of 1879.
Peter G. Keith was born in Morgan county, Ohio, February 8, 1828, and in 1832 accompanied his
father and grandfather’s family to near La Porte, Ind., where he lived until
twenty-four years of age. His mother, Mary (Spencer) Keith, was his father’s
first wife, and her death occurred when Peter was about three and a half years
old. He was the third of four sons, who, added to the ten children of Lewis
Keith’s second marriage, made a family fourteen children. The resources of a
small Indiana farm were hardly sufficient to maintain so many occupants, and
all were obliged to put their shoulder to the wheel and develop their latent
possibilities. Necessarily, the education of the children was limited in the
extreme, yet in the case of Peter Keith, the deprivation would seem to have
spurred him on to later effort along educational lines. In 1846 he married Sara
Jane Thornton, a native of Switzerland county, Ind., and who died in
California. She was the mother of eight children, of whom six reached maturity.
Flavius Vandevor is a resident of San Francisco; W.
L. is deceased; Parker Wesley is an orchardist of this vicinity; Richard Lester
is deceased; Austin Hernden is a bookkeeper in New
York City, and Walter Hazen is deceased.
After his marriage Mr. Keith bought a
farm in La Porte county, Ind., within three miles of the town of that name, and
while engaged with its tilling was disturbed by persistent reports of gold on
the coast. However, he waited until receiving positive confirmation of these
reports, and in the spring of 1850 he left his wife and child in Indiana, and
with his brothers Joseph and Elijah and a brother-in-law, L. F. Parker, started
out with mule teams and accomplished the long journey to the coast with
comparative ease. Of this little body of ambitious relatives who had every
intention of being counted among the wealthy ones of the world, Joseph engaged
in mining for a time, later settled down to business in Redwood City, and spent
his last days in Seattle, Wash.; Elijah died in Watsonville, Cal.; L. F. Parker
died in California. Peter G. alternated between success and failure at Georgetown,
on the middle fork of the American river, for a couple of years, but seems not
to have been seriously impressed with mining as a means of livelihood. In the
fall of 1851 he came to the Santa Clara valley, and the following summer bought
a squatter’s right to a quarter section of land, which proved a Spanish claim,
and resulted in continuous litigation for fifteen years. However, the
persistent settler won out in the end, and by the time the courts granted him
entire control of the property he had developed it from practical worthlessness
to a garden of plenty. After many years of activity as a general farmer and
fruit raiser he disposed of some of his land and thus lessened his
responsibility, at the present time owning thirty-two acres, twenty-nine of
which are under prunes, apricots and a few peaches.
Mr. Keith is by no means a
self-centered farmer, but on the contrary is known as a public spirited and
exceedingly progressive man, lending his influence to educational and general
advancement, and particularly encouraging scientificially
(sic) conducted fruit growing. In the latter capacity he is a stockholder in
the Campbell Fruit Growing Union, and a member and stockholder in the Santa
Clara Fruit Exchange. Also he is a member of the Farmer’s Union. Mr. Keith is
one of the organizers and incorporators and a director of the Bank of Campbell,
and is also one of the directors and promoters of the Campbell Water Company.
He is a Republican in politics, and has been a school director for many years. The
Methodist Episcopal Church profits by his membership and financial support, and
by his active service as a trustee and holder of other church offices. He is a
man of strong convictions, strict integrity and sound business judgment, and
has the beneficent faculty of winning and retaining friends.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 292-293. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.