Westmoreland County PA Archives Biographies.....Keck, John Martin June 7, 1836 

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JOHN MARTIN KECK, the founder of the flourishing town of Kecksburg, and a
remarkably thorough-going and energetic business man and successful merchant of
Westmoreland county, is a son of Christian and Rosanna (Schwartz) Keek and was
born in Wittenberg, Germany, June 7, 1836. The Keck family of Germany was
founded by Capt. Casper Keck, who was of German-French extraction and served for
many years in the German army. One of his numerous descendants was John Adam
Keck (grandfather), who was an extensive linen dealer of Wittenberg. He married
Annie Pippus and one of his sons was Christian Keck, who was born in Wittenberg,
Germany, October 28, 1806. He followed farming in that country until 1869 when
he came to Westmoreland county, where he settled in Mt. Pleasant township for a
time and died October 9, 1881. In 1882 he married Rosanna Schwartz, who was born
April 28, 1809, and was a daughter of Andrew Schwartz, a prominent salt dealer
and farmer. Christian Keck had ten children, of whom nine are living: Adam, at
Greensburg; Andrew, of Easton, Pa.; John M.; Christian, a successful merchant of
Everson, Pa.; Anna, who resides near New Stanton; Jacob, of Scottdale;
Frederick, a mining boss for H. C. Frick & Co., who resides at Scottdale; and
Leonard, of Greensburg (see his sketch). The son that is dead was George Keck,
who was a merchant of St. Louis, Mo., and was robbed and murdered in that city
in 1868.

   John Martin Keek received his education in the excellent schools for which
Germany has been noted for the past two hundred years. He learned the trade of
weaver and followed farming and weaving in his native land until 1857 when he
came to Greensburg, this county. Soon after his arrival he engaged in salt
boiling at which he worked for three years, then leased these salt works and
operated them for four years. He next rented the Paintersville gristmill and the
succeeding year opened a hotel at Landwick, which he soon closed in order to
remove to the site of Kecksburg, where he purchased five acres of land and laid
out that thriving town. In 1866 he opened a store in an 8x10 feet room, with
only $500 worth of goods. His mercantile establishment now is worth $15,000, and
his stock of goods amounts to nearly $30,000. He also owns fourteen houses at
Kecksburg besides three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land and is a
stockholder and president of the Woodland Cannel Coal Company of Clearfield
county, this State. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which
he is one of the trustees, a democrat in politics and has been postmaster at
Kecksburg for the last twenty-four years. In 1886 he associated his two sons,
William G. and Harry E., with him in the mercantile business under the firm name
of J. M. Keck k Sons.

   December 11, 1860, he married Margaret Ann Overly, daughter of George Overly.
They are the parents of two children: William G. and Harry E. William G.
graduated from Mt. Union college, Ohio, in the class of 1884, married Sarah
Porch and has one child, Ira M. Harry Edward graduated from the Iron City
Business college in the class of 1887 and is a partner of his father and brother
in the mercantile business.

   From his humble start in the mercantile business Mr. Keck’s laudable ambition
was to excel and to sell the best of goods at reasonable prices. His trade has
steadily increased and he has branched out in the mercantile field until he has
now one of the most complete and well-assorted stock of goods in the county and
a very extensive and highly remunerative patronage. Early in life John M. Keck
was thrown upon his own resources but with the characteristic energy of the
grand old German race he has won his way from comparative obscurity to a useful,
prominent and honorable position in society and business circles.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from
Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Compiled and Published by John M. Gresham & Co.
Samuel T. Wiley, Chief Assistant
1890


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