WI BIO - Dane Co - KEYES, Elisha W.
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol I, pp 295-299

Elisha W. KEYES was born 23 Jan 1828 in Northfield, Washington County, VT. 
He was the third son of Captain Joseph KEYES, one of the [p 296] earliest 
pioneers of the Wisconsin Territory, who came to the Territory in 1836 and 
made a settlement, and in the spring of 1837 moved his family here. [The 
Territory of Wisconsin existed from 1836-1848.] On 02 May 1837 the family 
left Northfield, VT, to meet the husband and father somewhere on the route to 
the Territory, proceeding by wagon to Burlington [Chittenden County, VT], 
thence by steamboat to Whitehall [Washington County, NY], and there taking 
the canal as far as Utica [Oneida County, NY], from which place they 
proceeded by stage to Binghamton [Broome County], NY, meeting Captain KEYES 
at that place, and were the family remained a short time. For there they 
removed to Buffalo [Erie County, NY] by wagon, whence the trip was made 
across Lake Erie, to Detroit, MI; and from Detroit overland to Milwaukee, 
passing around the head of Lake Michigan, through Chicago, IL, and arriving 
at Milwaukee [Milwaukee County], WI, on 17 Jun 1837, where the family took up 
quarters in a frame house on the corner of Broadway and Oneida Streets, which 
had been constructed previously by Captain KEYES. During the summer Elisha 
W. KEYES attended school in the old courthouse, a select school kept by Eli 
BATES, who was prominent in business circles before his death.

In the latter part of Sep 1837, the family removed to the township of Lake 
Mills, Jefferson County, WI, where Captain Joseph KEYES had made a claim the 
year previous. At the time of their arrival there was but one other family 
in the township. A log house was soon constructed, which sheltered the 
family for a number of years. Captain KEYES built the first schoolhouse in 
the township, at his own expense, and hired a teacher, who was Miss Rosey 
CATLIN, afterward the wife of La Fayette KELLOGG, of Madison [Dane County, 
WI]. This school was first opened in 1840, which Elisha W. KEYES attended. 
In 1841 a school was opened in Aztalan [Jefferson County, WI], two and a half 
miles distant, taught by Mrs. J. R. OSTRANDER, and Elisha W. KEYES attended. 
The next winter the school system of the Territory was organized, and our 
subject attended school in the new village of Lake Mills [Jefferson County, 
WI]. His education was received mainly in the common schools, although he 
attended several terms later at Beloit Seminary.

Previous to 1843, Captain Joseph KEYES had constructed a saw mill and grist 
mill at Lake Mills, but in 1843 he sold the same, reserving land for a large 
farm adjoining the village plat (now known as the PHILLIP's farm) to which 
the family removed. Until 1849, Elisha W. KEYES was engaged here breaking up 
the land, fencing, and doing general farm duties. It was his ambition to 
devote his life work to the business of farming. At this time, however, 
there were no railroads in the country, and there was a very poor market for 
every product of the farm. As a boy, Elisha W. KEYES had frequently drawn 
wheat to Milwaukee and sold it for 50 cents a bushel. Butter and cheese, 
products of the farm to quite an extent, were not worth over 6 to 7 cents a 
pound, and pork and beef in about the same proportion. Farming was decidedly 
unprofitable, and Captain KEYES, who for a few years, left the farm fully in 
the charge of his son, Elisha W., had built a saw mill and grist mill and 
started the new village of Cambridge [Dane County, WI]. Becoming discouraged 
at the prospect, and the Cambridge venture having proven a failure, Captain 
Joseph KEYES was obliged to sell out his farm in Lake Mills, in 1849, and 
removed thence to Menasha [Winnebago County], WI. Elisha W. KEYES and his 
mother, who had had charge of the farm almost from its commencement, 
consented to its sale with great reluctance, induced to do so only on account 
of the poor [p 297] prospects of profit on the farm. This was the turning 
point in the life of Elisha W. KEYES. Up to this time he thought farming 
would be his lifework.

In the spring and summer of 1850 Elisha W. KEYES again attended the Beloit 
Seminary, where he had previously been in the winter of 1847-1848, and in Dec 
1850 he came to Madison. On 06 Dec 1850, he was entered as a student at law 
in the office of Collins & Smith, the firm being composed of A. L. COLLINS, 
afterward judge of the circuit, and George B. SMITH, subsequently WI attorney 
general. Before this, Elisha W. KEYES had devoted some little time to 
reading law, and on 17 Oct 1851, he was admitted to the bar of Dane County, 
WI. He at once entered upon the practice in a small way.

In the spring of 1852, Elisha W. KEYES was appointed Special Agent of the 
Post Office Department by Postmaster-General N. K. HALL, under FILLMORE's 
administration, a position which he filled for several months. His duty was 
to collect money from postmasters by drafts drawn in his favor by the 
Postmaster-General, and to deposit the money so collected in the sub treasury 
at St. Louis, MO. These collections were made primarily in IL and WI; the 
travel was almost wholly by stage, although the trips to St. Louis were made 
mostly by steamboat. After this employment was finished and the business 
closed up, he opened an office and more especially devoted himself to his 
profession.

In 1853 Elisha W. KEYES was offered a partnership in the firm with which he 
had studied law, and the firm became known as Collins, Smith & Keyes, and 
continued until its dissolution, by the election of the senior partner, Mr. 
COLLINS, to the bench of the Circuit Court, a position he entered upon 01 Jan 
1855, leaving the firm from that time on, as Smith & Keyes. From then until 
1862, when the firm of Smith & Keyes was dissolved by mutual consent, the 
firm did a very large business, by far the largest in Dane County, WI, or in 
the interior of the State.

During the years 1859-1860, Elisha W. KEYES was District Attorney of Dane 
County, having been elected to that office in the fall election of 1858. Up 
to the time of the organization of the Republican party [1854], in which our 
subject participated, he had always been Whig in politics. In Apr 1861 he 
was appointed by President Lincoln, Postmaster at Madison, WI, and was 
reappointed by Presidents Johnson, Grant, and Hayes, having served 
continuously in that office over twenty-one years. In 1865 he was elected 
the first Republican Mayor of Madison, WI, and was re-elected without 
opposition in 1866. In 1877 he was appointed a Regent of the university, 
which position he held for twelve years. He was elected to, and served in, 
the Assembly of the State in 1882, and was again re-elected Mayor of Madison 
in 1886.

Elisha W. KEYES had been active in politics, strongly supporting the war and 
the suppression of the Rebellion, had been a member of the Republican State 
Central Committee several years, when in 1868 he was appointed by the 
convention, Chairman of the committee, serving as such ten years. In 1872 
Mr. KEYES was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which met in 
Philadelphia, and was Chairman of the WI delegation. He was also a delegate 
to the Republican Convention which met in Chicago in 1884, and at that time 
was also Chairman of the WI delegation. At these last two conventions [p 
298] he was a strong supporter of the nomination of Mr. BLAINE for the 
presidency.

In 1879 there was a memorable senatorial contest in WI. The candidates were 
T. O. HOWE, the incumbent, Matt H. CARPENTER, who had been defeated for the 
place in 1875 by Angus CAMERON, and Elisha W. KEYES was very strongly 
supported by the members and the Republicans of the State. For over 100 
ballots of this triangular contest he was in the lead, receiving as high as 
33 votes in caucus. Finally he withdrew from the contest, and his friend, 
Matt H. CARPENTER, was nominated by acclamation, and duly elected by the 
Legislature.

In 1881 Elisha W. KEYES was again a candidate, and his opponent was Hon. 
Philetus SAWYER. It was thought when the campaign first opened that Mr. 
KEYES would be elected without much serious opposition; the party 
organization was strong for him, and he was supported by a large majority of 
the Republican press of the State, but the corporate powers within the State, 
backed by a lavish expenditure of money, encompassed his defeat. In this 
last contest Elisha W. KEYES received 33 legislative votes.

In 1871 Mr. KEYES was appointed Attorney by the Secretary of War to represent 
the U. S. in the arbitration between the Government and the Green Bay & 
Mississippi Canal Company. The arbitration consisted of Hon. Paul 
DILLINGHAM, of VT; ex-Governor William LARRABEE, of IA; and ex-U. S. Senator, 
James R. DOOLITTLE, of WI, the latter having been selected by the canal 
company, Mr. LARRABEE by the Government, and Mr. DOOLITTLE having been 
selected by the other two arbitrators. This was a very important matter to 
the Government, and to the people of the State. It consumed a good part of 
the summer of 1871, the Board of Arbitration going over the whole route from 
Green Bay [Brown County, WI] up the Fox [River] to the Wisconsin, and down 
the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, afterward holding session in the Federal 
courthouse in Madison, where testimony was taken in the case, and the award 
of the arbitrators finally made. The claim was made by the attorneys for the 
canal company that the water route and its improvements were worth all they 
cost, and that for the work, the Government should pay that much, amounting 
to about $2,000,000. Mr. KEYES made the startling claim that the improvement 
was not worth anything, and that therefore the award should be for the 
smallest sum possible, and it was made for so small an amount that for a time 
the company refused to accept it; Congress finally appropriating about 
$145,000 and succeeding to the interests of the Canal Company in this line of 
water communication. The people of the State were very anxious that the 
Government should come into possession of the works, and they knew that a 
transfer would not be made unless the award was found to be a reasonable one, 
therefore the reason why great effort was put forth to bring the award down 
so low that it would not be objectionable to Congress. Great credit was 
given to Mr. KEYES for his management of the case from beginning to end.

After Elisha W. KEYES' defeat for Senator, in 1881, he retired from active 
politics, in the main devoting himself to the practice of law and real estate 
transactions. In Feb 1889 he was appointed by Governor HOARD, Municipal 
Judge of Dane County, to fill a vacancy, and was elected to that position by 
the people of the county in Apr of that year, serving out the unexpired time 
of Judge A. B. BRALEY, which terminated 01 Jan 1893.

Elisha W. KEYES was first married in the city of New York [New York County, 
NY], in May 1854, to Miss Caroline STEVENS, who died in 1865, leaving him 
three children, two sons, Joseph S. and Elisha W., and a daughter, Catherine. 
In 1867 Elisha W. KEYES was married to Mrs. Eliza M. REEVES, with whom he 
now lives.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly