My friends - Today is our usual point in the week for non-data posts. I am bringing the second biography from the 1922 five volume work, "History of Kentucky" to the List today. Our subject is Dr. Ben Butler Keys, a member of one of the pioneer families of Calloway County, and a distant kinsman of mine. His brother, Dr. Richard Keys, was the first doctor I had as a child. As is now customary, there will be no data posts tomorrow or on the weekend. If time permits, however, I will return at some point with another miscellaneous file. Since tomorrow is Friday, our booksellers may have some offerings to present. Just as a follow up, you may recall last Thursday's posting was concerned with a KY Court of Appeals case related to the Thompson family and the validity, as a Will, of the contents of a letter A.P.Thompson had written to his parents before his death. Our friend Lucy Manson, who descends from this family, supplied us with additional material about this case, which has led me to further investigate whether the case files are extant on this interesting appeal. The case files do exist, with 810 pages of documents associated with them. I have requested copies of all of these documents, and I will bring some additional facts to the List about this unusual case in the days to come, as an example of what court case files can tell us. -B ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BEN BUTLER KEYS, MD Calloway County, Kentucky Nowhere is the value of thorough preparation in professional life more evident than in the medical calling; in the medical field the university is vital necessity, and still further training is advisable if the young man reasonably hopes to reach the plane of a broad practice. "Be sure you're right; then go ahead," is a maxim which needs not be posted in business houses only. Hurry, feverish haste without forethought, is fatal to the physician as well as to the merchant. Still a young man, Dr. Ben Butler Keys prepared himself with patience and thoroughness before he entered into the activities of his profession, with the result that in the few years of his actual practice he has made notable strides toward the acquirement of fortune, recognition and reputation. In the meantime, he has also found much to interest him in business and financial affairs at Murray, where his practice is centered, and is president of the First National Bank. Doctor Keys was born on a farm in Calloway County, Kentucky, June 3, 1880, a of John H[ulon] Keys, The family, as the name might indicate, originated in Ireland, hut has been in this country since Colonial times, when the progenitor of this branch settled in North Carolina. John Keys, the great-grandfather of Dr. B. B. Keys, was born in North Carolina, and became a pioneer in Calloway County, Kentucky, where he passed the rest of his life as a farmer. His son, Isaac Keys, was born in 1824 in Calloway County, and followed farming for the most part, although during the Civil war period he conducted a general store near Shiloh. He was the first sheriff of Calloway County after the close of the struggle between the states, and was serving his second term as the incumbent of that office when, in 1869 he was killed by the accidental discharge of his own pistol, the wound passing through his abdomen. He married Mildred Curd, who was born, spent her life, and died in Calloway County. John H. Keys was born in 1852 in Calloway County, and there passed his life, dying in 1915 near the Town of Almo. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he early showed ability as a farmer, and his operations became increasingly successful until he was accorded to have about the best farm in Calloway County. He was a democrat in politics and was active in public affairs serving as clerk of the County Court for two terms, from 1898 to 1906, and being prominent in the ranks of his party. Mr. Keys was the western division manager of the Peoples Protective Association, an organization of tobacco growers. His only fraternal connection was with the Masons. Mr. Keys married Miss Ella Peters, who resides at Murray, where she was born in 1861 To this union there were born children as follows: Hattie, the wife of Treman Beale, a member of the firm of A. B, Beale & Son, a leading hardware concern of Murray; Ben Butler; Richard, a physician and surgeon of Amarillo, Texas, who formerly served as an interne at the City and Vanderbilt hospitals, Nashville, Tennessee, and is a Mason and Shriner; Eileen, who is unmarried and lives with her mother; Erie, stenographer, with the First National Bank, at Murray, who also is unmarried and resides at home; Isaac, who graduated from Vanderbilt University, class of 1915, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and received the founders' medal, the highest honor awarded a graduate, was elected county attorney 0f Calloway County, in 1917, subsequently resigning to go to Wichita Falls, Texas, where he has a splendid position with the law firm of Cox & Keys; and Alice, stenographer at the First National Bank, at Murray, who resides at home with her mother. Ben Butler Keys attended the rural schools of Calloway County, Kentucky, and in 1900 graduated from the high school at Murray. He then taught school in the country districts for three years, after which he worked in the Citizens Bank of Murray as assistant cashier for two years, and in 1904 entered the University of Louisville, where he spent two years of study n the medical department. He next entered Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and after a course of two years was graduated with the class of 1908, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. With the completion of his college studies, Doctor Keys did not give up being a student of his calling, for he has taken post-graduate work in the Chicago Polyclinic, in 1910, and with Mayo Brothers, Rochester, Minnesota, in the same year. In 1908 Doctor Keys associated himself with Dr. W. H. Mason, at which time he entered active practice in Murray. In 1910 they established the Mason and Keys Hospital, which later was known as the Murray Surgical Hospital. Doctor Keys has built up a large general practice in medicine and surgery, having offices in the First National Bank Building and is local surgeon for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad He is a member of the Calloway County Medical Society, the Southwest Kentucky Medical Society, of which he was president in 1919, the Kentucky State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has made rapid strides in his profession and justly considered one of the headers of his calling in Calloway County. Aside from his professional responsibilities he has other important interests, being president of the First National Bank of Murray and stockholder in the Murray Sewerage Company. He owns a modern suburban residence, situated just west of the corporate limits of Murray, equipped with hot water, a lighting system, heat, and all other up-to-date conveniences, and surrounded by six acres of well-kept grounds, the whole forming a charming estate. He likewise is the owner of two farms in Calloway County. Doctor Keys took an active part in all local war activities and made speeches throughout Calloway County in behalf of the Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other drives. A staunch democrat in his political one, he was an alternate to the National Democratic Convention held at San Francisco in 1920 and is now serving as chairman of county committee. As a fraternalist he is associated with Murray Lodge No.105, A. F. & A. M.; Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M.; Paducah, Commandery No. 11, K. T.; Paducah Lodge No. 217, BPOE; and Murray Lodge, KP. In 1911,a Doctor Keys was married at Murray to Miss Polly Graves, daughter of Dr. T. M. and Nannie (Harding) Graves, the former was a physician and surgeon, a pioneer of Murray, where he practiced for sixty years, and was one of the best-known and most greatly respected men in his profession. Mrs. Keys is graduate of Bethel Female College of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She and the doctor are the parents of one child: Winifred, born January 7, 1916. -History of Kentucky in Five Volumes W.E.Connelley & E.M.Coulter Charles Kerr, Editor Chicago: American Historical Society, 1922 ==========================================================================