BIO: Thomas E. KEEN, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 692 - 694.
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  THOMAS E. KEEN, who has earned his present life of ease and now lives in 
comfortable retirement on his valuable farm of ninety-nine acres, which is 
situated in Sandy Township, about two miles southwest of DuBois, is an honored 
veteran of the great Civil War and a member of the Grand Army Post at DuBois, 
Pa.  He was born September 11, 1833, at a small lumbering village, known as 
Union Mills, in the State of Maine, and was the eldest of a large family born 
to Alby and Nancy (Esterbrooks) Keen, natives of Maine.  The father was a 
millwright and lumberman.
  When Thomas E. Keen was fifteen years of age he shipped as cabin boy on a 
sailing vessel and during his several years on the water, crossed the Atlantic 
Ocean several times.  He was still a young man when he came to Pennsylvania and 
at first was employed at Harrisburg and came from there to Williamsport, where 
he found summer work in a saw mill and winter employment in the woods.  Later 
he spent some time at lumbering but before the outbreak of the Civil War, had 
returned to Williamsport.  He was one of the first of the patriotic young men 
of that place to enlist, on April 23, 1861, becoming a member of Co. D, 11th 
Pa. Vol. Inf., contracting for three months, and this regiment was the first 
one sent to the front.  At the expiration of his first term he reenlisted, 
entering Co. A, 177th Pa. Vol. Inf., for nine months and during this time he 
was promoted to be second sergeant and served as such throughout this 
enlistment.  The end of the war seeming then to be far away, he enlisted for a 
third time, entering Co. B, 7th Pa. Vol. Cav., in which he continued until the 
close of the Rebellion.  Although he was ever at the post of duty and took part 
in many battles and long and dangerous marches, he was never wounded, his 
nearest approach being when his canteen was shot from his side.  He was 
captured but once, on August 23, 1865, but was discharged three weeks later 
according to general orders from the War Department.
  At the close of his honorable military service, Mr. Keen returned to 
Williamsport and resumed work in the lumber camp.  He secured employment at the 
Starkweather & Munson Lath Mill, and later at DuBois in the DuBois Mill, where 
he had charge of the lath and picket mills.  DuBois was then a very small 
place, being given over entirely to lumbermen but they proved to be such a 
solid and reliable class of men that in a very short time every industry and 
line of business was represented, schools and churches were built and the 
village developed the population of a town and soon grew to the importance of a 
borough.  Mr. Keen has watched all this growth with much interest and can tell 
of it all in a very entertaining way.  In 1875 he moved to his present farm, 
which he had bought from John DuBois, for $20 per acre, being able to pay for 
the same by selling the timber off the place.  At first he contentedly lived in 
a log shanty, which, with a log barn, were the only improvements on the place, 
but later he built his present comfortable farm-house and substantial barn, 
both being of modern style of construction.  He engaged in cultivating his land 
until recent years, when he shifted his heavier responsibilities to the 
shoulders of his son, William E. Keen.
  On March 14, 1866, Mr. Keen was married to Miss Susan J. Pass, who is a 
daughter of Charles Lloyd and Mary (Kulp) Pass.  Her grandfather was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary War and was a member of the Pass family of ironworkers, at 
Philadelphia, that recast the Liberty Bell.  Seven children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Keen and they also have a goodly number of grandchildren and have 
also lived to see their name perpetuated into the third generation.  The family 
record is as follows:  Elizabeth May, who is the wife of Frank Carbaugh, 
residing in Sandy Township, and they have ten children and are grandparents; 
Alba, who married Della Dickson, lives at DuBois, and they have five children; 
Charles I., who was accidentally drowned when eight years of age; William E., 
who married Lottie Skinner, operates the home farm and they have eight 
children; Winnifred, who resides in Sandy Township, married Grace Spafford and 
they have two children; Amanda G., who is the wife of Charles F. Liddle, of 
Sandy Township, and they have four children; and Rewel W., who resides at 
DuBois, married Sadie Thompson, and they have two children.  Mr. and Mrs. Keen 
are well known and at their hospitable home entertain many guests.  In earlier 
years Mr. Keen was an active member of the order of Knights of Pythias.  He is 
a Republican in politics and keeps well posted as to party affairs and 
prospects as well as to all that is taking place in this great country which 
his soldierly valor helped to preserve intact.