Thomas Keelor    

THOMAS KEELOR, lumber merchant, Wetmore, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832. He was reared and educated in his native city, remaining there until thirty years of age. In 1862 he came to Pennsylvania, located on Oil creek, and became engaged in the oil trade. In 1864 he made large purchases of timber land near Wetmore, McKean county, and erected a steam saw-mill, and dwelling-houses for his employes. He has been successful in this business, and now has another mill on the Tionesta. His mills are connected by a steel-track road, stocked with his own cars. By perseverance and indomitable will, Mr. Keelor has made from the heart of the forest the thriving town of Wetmore, which is now one of the pleasant towns of the county. He has made all the improvements, even to the cutting of the roads. He has 100 men in his employ, and both the mills have a capacity of turning out 100,000 feet of lumber daily. Mr. Keelor is one of the able men of the county, and one of the representative lumbermen. In addition to his large lumber interests he is engaged in the mercantile business, and also is farming to a large extent, owning considerable available farming land, and in all his varied interests he ranks among the foremost men in the county. Four of his sons are employed as heads of as many departments in their father’s business. Mr. Keelor is descended from an old American family, his paternal grandfather having served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. This patriot moved from Camden, N. J., in 1812, to Hamilton county, Ohio, which was then a dense wilderness, but is now the most populous county in the State.

History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania with biographical selections, including their early settlement and development, a description of the historic and interesting localities, sketches of their cities, towns and villages, portraits of prominent men, biographies of representative citizens, outline history of Pennsylvania, statistics.. Chicago. J.H. Beers & Co.. 1890, page 560. Read this book on line - Free Trial Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.