Husband John Martin Keck 1 2
AKA: Johann Martin Keck 3
Born: 7 Jan 1836 - Würtemberg, Germany 3
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Christian Keck (1806-1881) 4 5 6
Mother: Rosanna Schwartz (1809- ) 1 3
Marriage: 29 Jun 1859 7
Other Spouse: Margaret Ann Overly ( - ) 7 8 - 11 Dec 1860 7 8
• Additional Image: J. M. Keck.
Wife Christina Hunker 7
Born: - Würtemberg, Germany
Christened:
Died: 1859 7
Buried:
Children
• They had no children.
General Notes: Husband - John Martin Keck
He was born in Wittenberg, Germany. [BHCWC, 476]
He learned the trade of weaver and followed farming and weaving in his native land until 1857 when he came to Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Soon after his arrival he engaged in salt boiling at which he worked for three years, then leased the salt works and operated them for four years. He next rented the Paintersville gristmill and the succeeding year opened a hotel at Ludwick, which he soon closed in order to remove to the site of Kecksburg, where he purchased five acres of land and laid out that town. In 1866 he opened a store in an 8x10 feet room, with only $500 worth of goods. His mercantile establishment grew to be worth $15,000, and his stock of goods amounted to nearly $30,000. He also owned fourteen houses at Kecksburg besides three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land and was a stockholder and president of the Woodland Cannel Coal Company of Clearfield County. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he was one of the trustees, a democrat in politics and was postmaster at Kecksburg for more than twenty-four years. In 1886 he associated his two sons, William G. and Harry E., with him in the mercantile business under the firm name of J. M. Keck & Sons. [BHCWC, 479]
He spent the years of his childhood and early youth in his native country and there obtained his education in the local Volkeschule. There also he learned the trade of weaver and became familiar with agricultural pursuits under the tuition of his father. He was the first of the family to leave his native land and came to the United States, as early as 1857, when twenty-one years of age and fully twelve years before his father came. One of the factors which pursuaded him to take this step was the fact that a schoolmate of his, Jacob Hauser, had already come to America and wrote to him glowing reports of the opportunities awaiting the young man of enterprise here. Upon his arrival in the United States, Mr. Keck came to Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and at first met with considerable hardship and difficulty. He had never even seen a coal mine, but secured a position with one of the coal operators in the region and began to dig coal in the somewhat primitive manner then employed. He continued in this occupation for about two years, and then went to New Stanton, where he secured work in the salt manufacturing plants, and shortly afterwards removed to Painterville. He was occupied in the manufacture of salt for about eight years, and shortly after beginning the work he became a partner of the men who employed him. He then rented the salt works, which he continued on his own account, the operation of getting out the salt being that of boiling the salt in pans. He met with a high degree of success in this line, but the price of salt was afterwards depressed considerably and he gave up the work and removed to Ludwick, Pennsylvania, and there opened the Eagle Hotel, where he remained for about two years. It was in 1866 that he finally came to Mount Pleasant township, and there settled in the place where afterwards grew up the community that is called in his honor, Kecksburg. He purchased about five acres of ground in that location and laid out the town, which rapidly developed until it was a small but flourishing community. So rapid indeed was its growth that in the same year he was able to engage in the general mercantile business there and opened a small store in a room measuring only eight by ten feet. His stock, however, represented a capital of about five thousand dollars and his business rapidly increased. He also set up a blacksmith's establishment at Necksburg, and in this, as in both the other enterprises, met with a most gratifying success. The business is at the present time one of the largest in the region, and the store at Kecksburg is the most complete and well equipped in Mount Pleasant township. In the year 1868 he was appointed postmaster of the town, and it was in the year following that his father and other members of the family came from Germany and joined him in the New World. He was the first postmaster of the town and continued to act in that capacity for some twenty-six years. Another activity of Mr. Keck was that of purchasing farm lands in the immediate neighborhood until he became one of the largest owners and active operators of farms in Mount Pleasant township. He owned approximately nine hundred acres of the best pasture and timber lands. In 1903 he rented most of his farms, but continued to keep one where he operated a dairy with a herd of about forty cows, the milk of which he shipped daily to Pittsburgh. How large his operations were may be seen from the fact that he frequently sold as many as one hundred and fifty hogs in one season from his farms. He continued actively to manage his store at Kecksburg until 1914 and finally retired from active business. He then lived in retirement at Kecksburg and enjoying a well-earned leisure. The business, which eventually became known as J. M. Keck & Sons, remained in the one place for many years and became an institution in the community.
He also dealt largely in coal lands thereabouts. He was associated with the Gem Coal Company, and it was estimated that there was as much as twenty thousand dollars worth of capital invested in his mercantile business alone.
He was a Democrat in politics, and although averse to taking public office of any kind occupied a very influential place in the politics of the region. In addition to the office of postmaster, Mr. Keck also served the community as school director for two terms.
In his religious belief he was a Lutheran and for many years attended St. Paul's Evangelical or Hill Church of that denomination, which was situated near Trauger. He was a trustee of the church.
On March 15, 1915, he divided his large property among his heirs and thus freed himself of all business and financial responsibilities. There was discovered on his land a number of mineral springs, which were shown by chemical analysis to possess the same ingredients as the famous Suwanee Springs of Florida and a new business was engaged in, namely, that of manufacturing soft drinks from this water and shipping them to various local markets.
General Notes: Wife - Christina Hunker
She was a native of Würtemberg, Germany, and came to the United States with John Martin Keck from that place on the same vessel the year before their marriage.