Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Keefover, James E. 1869 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 31, 2007, 5:49 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

JAMES E. KEEFOVER.

    Among the well-known and successful farmers of Walnut township, Marshall
county, who have met with much success in his chosen profession is James E.
Keefover, who was born in Monongalia county, West Virginia, on May 30, 1869, and
is the son of George and Ann (Freeland) Keefover.

    George Keefover was born on March 27, 1820, and was a native of the state of
Pennsylvania, where he received much of his education in the public schools. He
later attended school in Morgantown, Virginia, and taught school in that state,
and was there married. Mrs. Keefover was born in Virginia in 1846 and died in
1890. In 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Keefover left their home in Virginia and came to
Kansas and here with their five children, they established their home in Brown
county. They remained in their new home but a short time when they came to
Marshall county, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in section 31,
Walnut township. A slab house was built and in this the family lived for a time.
The first winter was a hard one and the little family suffered many hardships
and privations. The winter was a hard one and the house was but rudely
constructed and was a poor shelter from the strong winds that blew across the
wild waste of prairie. Such a life demanded the determination of the strongest
men and women, and Mr. and Mrs. Keefover had come to Kansas in order to obtain
for themselves a home, and they exerted every effort to that end. In the spring
of 1870 Mr. Keefover engaged in the breaking of his land preparatory to the
planting of his crops. He had no horses and oxen were used to do his work and
for ten years he used' these animals. He later traded a part of his oxen and
seventy dollars in money for the one hundred and sixty acres of land where the
son, James E.t now lives. He continued to live on the old homestead for many
years, but later moved to Waterville, where he operated a feed store until the
time of his death in 1904. Mr. Keefover was three times married, twice in West
Virginia and then after he came to Kansas. He taught school in Walnut township
and was a man of much ability and great force of character.

    James E. Keefover was but a babe when his parents left their home in
Virginia and came to Kansas, where he received his education in the public
schools and grew to manhood on the home farm, where as a lad and young man he
assisted his father with the farm work. He later rented one hundred and sixty
acres of his present home place of two hundred and forty acres of his father,
after which he purchased the tract of the estate. Here he has made many valuable
and substantial improvements and today has one of the ideal farms of the
township. James E. Keefover is one of a family of six children, the others
being: Jasper, a successful farmer of near Barnes, Kansas; Caroline, who was the
wife of Frank Jacques, is now deceased, and at her death she left to mourn her
husband and two children: William J., a successful farmer, of Oketo; Thomas W.,
a well-known farmer, of near Axtell, and Frank A., of Tacoma, Washington.

    James E. Keefover married Lenora Scholfield, the daughter of John A. and
Sarah (McCurdy) Scholfield, natives of Steuben county, Indiana, where they
received their education in the public schools, grew to maturity and were
married. In 1865 *ney kft their home1 in Indiana and came to Waterville, Kansas,
where-Mr: Scholfield was engaged in the feed business. His wife died in 1871 and
Mr. Scholfield is now residing at Waterville at-the age-of sixty-eight years.

    To James E. and Lenora Keefover have been born the following children:
Walter, now twenty-four years of age and at home; Epha H. Hearn, how
twenty-three years of age and resides near Afton, Kansas, where her husband is a
successful farmer; Myrle is twenty years of age and at home; Harry J. is a
student in the high school at Waterville; Claude,'aged sixteen, Thelma, aged
ten, and Vern, aged eight, are at home and all attending school. Mr. and Mrs.
Keefover have a well-established home and are prominent members of the social
life of the community and are held in the highest regard and esteem by all who
know them. Mr. Keefover has never been an office seeker, yet he has always taken
the keenest interest in local affairs.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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