Charles M. Keeling Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1078-1079 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	CHARLES M. KEELING, M. D.—The attractive town of Springfield, Bon 
Homme county, has in Dr. Keeling an able physician and surgeon and one 
whose prestige and success place him among the representative members of 
the medical profession in the state. The Doctor was born in Bartholomew 
county, Indiana, on the 16TH of February, 1863, being a son of William 
W. and Mary R. (Speirs) Keeling, all of whose five children are yet 
living, namely: John R.. who is a merchant at Shelbyville, Indiana; 
William F., who is engaged in the drug business at Nemaha, Nebraska; 
Charles M., who is the subject of this sketch; Dr. James E., who is a 
practicing physician at Sulphur Hill, Indiana; and Marian R., who is the 
wife of Edward L. Culver of Omaha, Nebraska.  

	The father of the subject is a representative of one of the 
pioneer families of Indiana, having been born in that state in the year 
1830 and being there reared to maturity. As a young man he prepared 
himself for the practice of medicine, entering the Eclectic Medical 
College of Cincinnati, Ohio, and being there graduated about 1858 He 
entered upon the practice of his profession in Indiana, where he 
remained until 1863, when he went to Nemaha, Nebraska, where he 
continued the work of his noble profession very successfully, becoming 
one of the leading citizens of that section. In 1865 he was elected a 
member of the Nebraska legislature, and shortly after the expiration of 
his term of office he returned to Indiana, locating at Sulphur Hill, 
where he continued in the active practice of medicine about a quarter of 
a century, being recognized as one of the leading physicians of that 
section. About 1890 he returned to Nemaha, Nebraska, where he has since 
maintained his home and where he still devotes more or less attention to 
his profession, though well advanced in years. He is a Democrat in his 
political proclivities, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Mary R. Speirs was born in Indiana in 1840 of Scotch 
parents.  

	Dr. Charles M. Keeling was an infant at the time of his parents' 
removal to Nemaha, Nebraska, and was about three years of age when they 
returned to Indiana, and thus he secured his early educational training 
in the public schools of Sulphur Hill, that state. At the age of sixteen 
years he was matriculated in Hartsville College, at Hartsville, Indiana, 
where he continued his literary studies for some time. He was thereafter 
engaged in teaching in the public schools for five years and then began 
reading medicine under the effective direction of his honored father, 
thus continuing until 1885, when he entered the Medical College of 
Indiana, at Indianapolis, where he was graduated as a member of the 
class of 1887, receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Soon 
after his graduation he came to South Dakota and took up his abode in 
Springfield, where he has since continued in the practice of his 
profession, being known as a skilled physician and surgeon and having a 
large and constantly increasing business. In 1899 he completed a 
postgraduate course in Chicago, while in 1901 he took another post-
graduate course in New York city, ever aiming to keep in touch with the 
advances made in the sciences of medicine and surgery and thus the more 
thoroughly fortifying himself for his practical work in connection with 
the same. He is a member of the State Medical Society, of which he was 
president in 1901, and is also identified with the American Medical 
Association. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party 
and fraternally he holds membership in the lodge and chapter of the 
Masonic order and in the adjunct order of the Eastern Star; also the 
lodge and Daughters of Rebekah, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Modern Brotherhood, and the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America.  

	On the 22d of March, 1882, Dr. Keeling was united in marriage to 
Miss Viola E. Osborn, of Sulphur Hill, Indiana, and they have one child, 
Era. Mrs. Keeling's father, John C. Osborn, was born in 1840, in Ohio, 
and was a school teacher. He died in 1866. The mother, whose maiden name 
was Roanna Hawkins, was born in Indiana in 1841.