Keedy, John A.

Born: 1800-XX-XX Maryland

Died: 1854-09-27 Springfield, Illinois

John A. Keedy was an alderman, merchant, distiller, and bank director. Keedy spent his early years in his native Maryland. In 1830, Keedy married Susan Wolgamot, with whom he would have three children, two in Maryland, and one in Illinois. In 1838, Keedy and his family moved to Springfield, Illinois, traveling all the way in wagons. They brought with them the first carriage ever used in Sangamon County. Keedy entered into partnership with Stacy B. Opdycke and S. M. Tinsley & Company in a dry goods, hardware, and grocery business. Keedy and S. M. Tinsley & Company dissolved their partnership with Opdycke in March 1842, and Keedy remained partners with S. M. Tinsley and Company until May 1844, when the parties dissolved the partnership. Keedy established a distillery and flour mill, which he operated until it was destroyed by fire in April 1848. In 1846, Keedy won election as alderman for Springfield's First Ward. In 1850, Keedy was a distiller and owned real property valued at $11,500. In 1852, he was a director of the Mechanics’ and Farmers’ Bank. Keedy was active in the Democratic Party, serving as a delegate from the first ward to the Springfield Democratic Convention in 1852.

Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 25 March 1842, 2:6; 30 May 1844, 3:3; 23 April 1846, 2:3; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 27 April 1848, 2:2; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 8 April 1852, 2:2; 30 October 1852, 3:2; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 422-23; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 73.