Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Keltie, Howard T 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 10:16 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

HOWARD T. KELTIE, secretary and treasurer of the Keltie Stone Company, was 
born in Clinton, Canada, June 27, 1851, and was one of a family of three sons 
and four daughters, all of whom are living except two sons. His father, Thomas 
Keltie, a native of Scotland and a carpenter by trade, settled in Kingston, 
Canada, at an early age, and afterward removed to Clinton, where he died in 
the prime of life. He married Mary A. McCullough, who was born of English 
parentage in Canada and died in Detroit, but was buried at Joliet. In 
religious faith she was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. When 
three years of age our subject was taken to Port Clark on Lake Huron, but four 
years later he returned to Clinton, where he attended the common schools. When 
sixteen he entered a stave factory, and afterward for three years was an 
engineer in the drilling of salt wells in Ontario, in the vicinity of his old 
home. Coming to the States, he was engaged to put down an artesian well at 
Lemont,beginning the work in July, 1873, and digging a well thirteen hundred 
and sixty feet deep, which was the first deep well in the locality. Coming to 
Joliet, he worked for several mouths in deepening wells, then returned to 
Canada, where he spent the winter. In the spring of 1874 he came to Mendota, 
Ill.; where he dug an artesian well twenty-two hundred feet deep. Next he put 
down a well at Champaign, Ill. Returning to Mendota, he worked at the 
deepening of the well he had previously dug. His next contact was near 
Marseilles, Ill., where he put down a well that was twenty-one hundred feet 
deep. Afterward he dug several wells in the same vicinity. While at 
Marseilles, Mr. Keltie made the acquaintance of Mr. Hays, of the Joliet Stone 
Company, who engaged him to buy an engine and machinery for sawing stone, and 
put it in operation in Joliet. With this concern (the Joliet Stone Company) 
Mr. Keltie continued as an engineer for four years, after which he 
superintended their quarries for four years. In 1884 he bought an interest in 
the Joliet and Chicago Stone Company, of which he was superintendent of the 
quarries at Fourth and Rowell avenues. After two years he was made vice-
president and secretary as well as superintendent, and continued in these 
capacities until 1893, when he resigned. Organizing the Douglas & Keltie Stone 
Company, he became its manager, and soon afterward bought his partner's 
interest and changed the name to the Keltie Stone Company, of which he is 
secretary, treasurer and manager. Under his supervision quarries were opened 
between Jackson and Cass streets, on the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, 
where the company bought a large tract of land. He also opened and began to 
operate twenty acres west of Joliet, on the same railroad. The quarries are 
provided with steam plant, derricks, siding, and other necessary equipments, 
and the product is a good quality of building stone. He is also a contracting 
stone mason and does all the work in this line for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern 
Railroad. He has also had contracts for the material used in the government 
piers at South Chicago. Shipments of stone are made to all parts of the 
country, but especially to Milwaukee and St. Louis. In addition to his 
connection with this business, Mr. Keltie is interested in the Will County 
Bank and was also one of the incorporators of the Vance Furniture Company, of 
which he was secretary until the business was sold out. In Joliet Mr. Keltie 
married Miss May T. Smith, who was born in Joliet, daughter of William Smith, 
of Joliet. They have three children, William H., Arthur J. and Laura M. The 
family are connected with the First Baptist Church, in which he is church 
treasurer and president of the board of trustees. At the same time he acts as 
superintendent of a mission Sunday-school. In national politics he is a stanch 
Republican, and at this writing is a. member of the county central committee. 
He is also treasurer of the Working Men's Republican Club. A member of the 
board of school trustees for Joliet Township, he is serving his second term as 
president of the same. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Knights of Pythias, and in the latter has served as chancellor 
commander. 

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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