[p. 845] formerly and for many years a respected and esteemed citizen of Ellwood City, where he was engaged in business, was not only one of its early settlers, but also one of its most useful and public-spirited men. He was born April 9, 1863, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and was a son of John and Margaret J. (Lightner) Keith. His death occurred August 26, 1908, at his home in Ellwood City.
The parents of Mr. Keith were both born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and moved to Mercer County in 1841. The father engaged in farming there until his death, in 1869, when aged thirty-nine years. His family consisted of three sons and two daughters, namely: Mrs. H. S. Butler , residing at Mercer, Pennsylvania; J. L., who is engaged in the carriage manufacturing business, is connected with the Keith-Kerr Carriage Company, of Mercer and Sharon; Mrs. Montgomery Black, who resides at Sharon; William M., who is also connected with the Keith-Kerr Company, and Jacob C.
Jacob Correll Keith obtained his education in the public schools of Mercer County. When seventeen years old he entered the employ of R. J. McClain, who conducted a store at Indian Run, and remained with him for two years, going then to A. P. Burwell & Brother, in the mercantile business for one year, and spent one year afterward in Allegheny, and then began his apprenticeship and learned the jeweler's trade at Mercer. After three years of study and practice he purchased the jewelry store of W. T. McBurney, of Sandy Lake, and engaged in business there for three years and then moved to New Castle, where he conducted a jewelry business until March 15, 1896, when he located at Ellwood City, before any public improving had been done. His business grew with the town, and it was largely through his display of public spirit and enterprise that rapid improvements followed one after the other, until few places of its size in Lawrence County can offer more substantial inducements either for the establishing of business concerns or for the selection of a home.
In 1890 Mr. Keith was married to Miss Nancy J. Vath, who is a daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Lutton) Vath. Mr. and Mrs. Keith had three children: Clair V., surviving, and Elizabeth and Margaret, twin daughters, deceased. Mrs. Keith is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which Mr. Keith also belonged. In local matters Mr. Keith took an independent stand, but in State and National affairs he cast his vote with the Republican party.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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