WILLIAM M. KELLER - Jefferson Co. Okla

Jefferson County, Oklahoma

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Information below was copied from:
"History of Oklahoma" by Luther Hill, published in 1908"

WILLIAM M. KELLER, a respected business man of Ryan, Jefferson county, and a representative of an old southern family, is a native of Knox county, Tennessee, born on the 6th of September, 1870. He is a son ofWilliam and Ann (Matlock) Keller, his father also being born in Knox county (in 1847). The elder Keller entered the Confederate army at the age of fifteen, served throughout the Civil war, in 1882 brought his family to Montague, Texas, and there established a gin and mill. In 1896 his wife died at this place and in the following year the widower returned to his native state of Tennessee, and is now a resident of Knoxville. Frank Keller, the paternal grandfather, died in the city named in 1902, at the age of eighty years. He owned a farm on the Tennessee river, and one of his children was Arthur Keller, father of the distinguished Helen Keller. the blind mute, whose learning and accomplishments have astonished the world. Among the other children of Frank Keller were: Crosier, who passed his life in Florida; David, who died a prisoner of the Civil war on Johnson's Island; Mary, who died unmarried; William, Thomas and Barton, the first and the last mentioned being residents of Knoxville, Tennessee. One of the great-grandfathers of our subject was Governor Spottswood, a colonial governor of the south. The children of William Keller and wife were as follows: Frank, who died single; Eugene, who passed away in Montague, Texas, leaving a family;William M., of this article; Robert, a resident of Marietta, Oklahoma; Avery, who lives in Austin, Texas;Clarence, of Knoxville, Tennessee; Margaret, wife of John Daniels, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Mary, now Mrs. Edward Cotter, of Gainesville, Texas.
William M. Keller spent his late boyhood and a portion of his youth at Montague, Texas, working on a farm and securing a common school education. At the age of sixteen he became a cowboy on the X I T ranch in the Panhandle of Texas, remaining there far two years and then returning to Mantague to open a butcher shop on a cash capital of twenty-seven dollars. After continuing the business far three years he removed to Ryan, there securing employment in the same line. In 1901 he bought out his employer, W. L. Richards, and is the only proprietor of a meat market in town. He so prospered in his undertaking that in 1905 he erected a brick building, with concrete floor, for the handling of his meats and the accommodation of his customers. He has also erected a residence, and has further identified himself with the town as one of its substantial and useful citizens by service in the Common Council and on the school board. Mr. Keller's wife, whom he married March 31, 1891, was Celia, daughter of N. C. Smith, who is a Georgia man. Mrs. Keller herself is a native of Cooke county, Texas. The children of this union are Beunah, Frank, Hallie, Clifford, Wil1ie, Lee and Fred.