# Henry Keyes

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{{short description|American politician}}
{{for|his son, the Governor of New Hampshire|Henry W. Keyes}}

{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = Henry Keyes
|image         =
|caption       =
|office1       = Member of the [Vermont House of Representatives](/source/Vermont_House_of_Representatives) from [Newbury](/source/Newbury_(town)%2C_Vermont)
|term_start1   = 1855
|term_end1     = 1856
|predecessor1  = James M. Chadwick
|successor1    = A. B. W. Tenney
|office2       = Member of the [Vermont Senate](/source/Vermont_Senate) from [Orange County](/source/Orange_County%2C_Vermont)
|term_start2   = 1847
|term_end2     = 1849
|alongside2    = William Sweatt, [Jefferson P. Kidder](/source/Jefferson_P._Kidder)
|predecessor2  = Levi B. Vilas, Reuben Page, Horace Fifield
|successor2    = J. W. D. Parker, S. Milton Bigelow, [Stephen Thomas](/source/Stephen_Thomas_(Medal_of_Honor))
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1810|1|3|mf=y}}
|birth_place   = [Vershire, Vermont](/source/Vershire%2C_Vermont), U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1870|09|24|1810|01|03}}
|death_place   = [Newbury, Vermont](/source/Newbury_(town)%2C_Vermont), U.S.
|resting_place = Oxbow Cemetery, Newbury, Vermont
|spouse        = Sarah A. Pierce (m. 1838-1853, her death)<br/>Emma F. Pierce (m. 1856-1870, his death)
|children      = 5 (including [Henry W. Keyes](/source/Henry_W._Keyes))
|party         = [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States))
|occupation    = Businessman
}}

'''Henry Keyes''' (January 3, 1810 &ndash; September 24, 1870) was a politician and railroad executive from [Vermont](/source/Vermont). He was a member of the [Vermont House of Representatives](/source/Vermont_House_of_Representatives) and [Vermont Senate](/source/Vermont_Senate). He was also the [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) nominee for governor three times (1856, 1857, 1858). In addition, Keyes served as president of the [Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway](/source/Atchison%2C_Topeka_and_Santa_Fe_Railway).

==Early life==
Keyes was born in [Vershire, Vermont](/source/Vershire%2C_Vermont) on January 3, 1810, the son of Thomas and Margaretta (McArthur) Keyes.<ref name="Memories">{{cite news |date=January 12, 1932 |title=Memories of Kenry Keyes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77204087/keyes-memories/ |work=Barre Daily Times |location=Barre, VT |page=3 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}</ref><ref name="Ellis">{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=William A. |date=1911 |title=Norwich University, 1819-1911; Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFhMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA8 |location=Montpelier, VT |publisher=Capital City Press |page=8 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref> He was raised and educated in Vershire, and moved to [Newbury](/source/Newbury_(village)%2C_Vermont) at age 15 to work at the Reed & Gould store.<ref name="Ellis"/> In 1831, he left Reed & Gould to go into business with his brother Freeman.<ref name="Memories"/> The brothers operated the F. and H. Keyes Store, which became the largest general store in the [Connecticut River](/source/Connecticut_River) Valley.<ref name="Memories"/>

==Business and farming career==
In addition to the store, Keyes was active in several other business ventures.<ref name="Memories"/> In 1843, he was an original incorporator of the [Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad](/source/Boston_and_Maine_Corporation).<ref name="Memories"/> Keyes served as a director and succeeded [Erastus Fairbanks](/source/Erastus_Fairbanks) as president in 1854.<ref name="Memories"/> Under Keyes's leadership, the railway completed a connection to the [Grand Trunk Railway](/source/Grand_Trunk_Railway) in 1870.<ref name="Memories"/>

Keyes's other business interests included ownership stakes in [Boston](/source/Boston)'s United States Hotel as well as mines, steamboats and stagecoaches.<ref name="Ellis"/><ref name="Garrison">{{cite book |last=Garrison |first=William Lloyd |author-link=William Lloyd Garrison |editor-last=Merrill |editor-first=Walter M. |date=1979 |title=The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison |volume=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOdVUpjJQHwC&pg=PA121 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=121 |isbn=978-0-6745-2665-5 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |editor-last=Tenney |editor-first=William J. |date=April 1854 |title=Journal of Mining Laws and Organizations: American Mining Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T78dAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA404 |magazine=The Mining Magazine |location=New York, NY |publisher=Billis & Brothers |pages=403–404 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref> Keyes was also a large shareholder in the [Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway](/source/Atchison%2C_Topeka_and_Santa_Fe_Railway).<ref name="Memories"/> He was appointed the company's president in February 1869.<ref name="Memories"/>

He also owned and operated a farm that included land on both sides of the Connecticut River in Newbury and in [Haverhill, New Hampshire](/source/Haverhill%2C_New_Hampshire), where he raised [Durham](/source/County_Durham) cattle and [Merino](/source/Merino) sheep.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Pearson |first=H. C. |date=August 1916 |title=Hon. Henry W. Keyes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1sSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA226 |magazine=The Granite State Monthly |location=Concord, NH |publisher=The Granite Monthly Company |page=226 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref> Keyes also served as president of the Vermont State Agricultural Society.<ref name="Garrison"/> From 1853 to 1855, Keyes served as a trustee of [Norwich University](/source/Norwich_University).<ref name="Ellis"/>

==Political career==
A [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)), Keys represented [Orange County](/source/Orange_County%2C_Vermont) in the [Vermont Senate](/source/Vermont_Senate) from 1847 to 1849.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deming |first=Leonard |date=1851 |title=Catalogue of the Principal Officers of Vermont |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2gyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA16 |location=Middlebury, VT |publisher=Leonard Deming |page=16 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref> From 1855 to 1856, Keyes was Newbury's member of the [Vermont House of Representatives](/source/Vermont_House_of_Representatives).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hemenway |first=Abby Maria |author-link=Abby Maria Hemenway |date=1871 |title=The Vermont Historical Gazetteer |volume=II, Part 3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFMSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA944 |location=Burlington, VT |publisher=A. M. Hemenway |page=944 |via=[Google Books](/source/Google_Books)}}</ref>

In 1856, Keyes was the Democratic nominee for [governor](/source/Governor_of_Vermont) and lost to [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) nominee [Ryland Fletcher](/source/Ryland_Fletcher).<ref name="Ellis"/> He ran again in 1857 and lost again to Fletcher, and was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in 1858, losing to [Hiland Hall](/source/Hiland_Hall).<ref name="Ellis"/>

Keyes was the chairman of the Vermont delegation to the [1860 Democratic National Convention](/source/1860_Democratic_National_Convention).<ref name="Ellis"/> The delegates met in [Charleston, South Carolina](/source/Charleston%2C_South_Carolina) in April and were unable to agree on a presidential nominee.<ref name="Ellis"/> The convention reconvened in [Baltimore](/source/Baltimore), [Maryland](/source/Maryland) in June and nominated [Stephen A. Douglas](/source/Stephen_A._Douglas).<ref name="Ellis"/>

==Death==
In mid-September 1870, Keyes became ill.<ref name="Memories"/> He died in Newbury on September 24.<ref name="Memories"/> Keyes was buried at Oxbow Cemetery in Newbury.<ref name="Memories"/>

==Family==
In May 1838, Keyes married Sarah A. Pierce of Stanstead, Quebec.<ref name="Ellis"/> They had no children and she died in 1853.<ref name="Ellis"/> In May 1856, Keyes married Emma F. Pierce, a sister of his first wife.<ref name="Ellis"/> They were the parents of five children—Henry, Martha, Ezra, George, and Charles.<ref name="Ellis"/>

Keyes's son, [Henry W. Keyes](/source/Henry_W._Keyes) (1863&ndash;1938), became [Governor of New Hampshire](/source/Governor_of_New_Hampshire) in 1917.<ref name="Memories"/> In 1918, he was elected to the U.S. senator in 1919.<ref name="Memories"/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cite book| author=Waters, Lawrence L.| title=Steel Trails to Santa Fe| publisher=University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas| year=1950| page=42 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[Merritt Clark](/source/Merritt_Clark)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) nominee for [Governor of Vermont](/source/Governor_of_Vermont)|years=[1856](/source/1856_Vermont_gubernatorial_election), [1857](/source/1857_Vermont_gubernatorial_election), [1858](/source/1858_Vermont_gubernatorial_election)}}
{{s-aft|after=[John Godfrey Saxe](/source/John_Godfrey_Saxe)}}
{{s-bus}}
{{Succession box
|title = President of the<br/>[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway](/source/Atchison%2C_Topeka_and_Santa_Fe_Railway)
|years = 1869-1870
|before = [Henry C. Lord](/source/Henry_C._Lord)
|after = [Ginery Twichell](/source/Ginery_Twichell)
}}
{{Succession box
|title = President of the<br/>[Connecticut Passumpsic Rivers Railroad Company](/source/Boston_and_Maine_Corporation)
|years = 1854-1870
|before = [Erastus Fairbanks](/source/Erastus_Fairbanks)
|after = Emmons Raymond
}}
{{Succession box
|title = President of the Vermont State Agricultural Society
|years = 1869-1870
|before = John Gregory
|after = Henry G. Root
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Henry}}
Category:1810 births
Category:1870 deaths
Category:People from Vershire, Vermont
Category:People from Newbury, Vermont
Category:Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives
Category:Democratic Party Vermont state senators
Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway presidents
Category:19th-century American businesspeople
Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Henry Keyes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Keyes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Keyes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.