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John H. Keatley

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John H. Keatley
Judge of the United States Territorial Court for the District of Alaska
In office
August 15, 1888 – October 1, 1889
Appointed byGrover Cleveland
Preceded byLafayette Dawson
Succeeded byJohn S. Bugbee
Member of the Iowa House of Representatives
from the 22nd district
In office
January 11, 1886 – January 8, 1888
Serving with Robert S. Hart
Personal details
Born(1838-12-01)December 1, 1838
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
DiedJune 19, 1905(1905-06-19) (aged 66)
Washington, D.C.
Political partyRepublican (to 1874)
Democratic (from 1874)
SpouseMargaret J.
ChildrenThomas Francis Keatley
Emily Frances Keatley
Louisa Keatley
Parents
  • James Gregg Keatley (father)
  • Emily Hubler (mother)

John Henry Keatley (December 1, 1838 – June 19, 1905) was an American newspaper editor, politician, and judge.

Early life

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Keatley was born in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, to John Gregg and Emily Hubler Keatley. After attending schools in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, he read law there with Andrew Gregg Curtin, a relative of Keatley's father who was elected governor in 1860.[1] Keatley was admitted to the bar that year. Soon after, he became the editor of The Blair County Whig, a pro-Lincoln newspaper.[2]

He joined the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment as an administrator, and was an assistant adjutant general on the staff of Jacob C. Higgins during the Gettysburg campaign. After working for General Grant in the waning days of the Civil War, Keatley worked with the Freedmen's Bureau in southeastern Virginia and was a judge in a military court in Norfolk.[2]

Keatley was elected as the district attorney for Blair County, Pennsylvania, twice following the war.[3] He moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1867, then to Council Bluffs the next year. There, he served as the editor of The Nonpareil from 1868 until 1870.

Political career

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From there, Keatley launched a largely unsuccessful political career. He chaired the Iowa Liberal Republican committee in 1872.[4] In 1874, he lost the Iowa Attorney General race to Democrat Marsena E. Cutts, running as an Anti-Monopoly Republican. Following his loss, he became a Democrat.[5][6] He served a one-year term as mayor of Council Bluffs from 1876 to 1877.[2] In 1877, he lost a race for the state legislature by four votes.[3] In 1878, he lost a race for Iowa's 8th congressional district as a Democrat to Republican William Fletcher Sapp, placing third behind a Greenback candidate.[7] In 1884, Keatley served as a Prohibition Party candidate for presidential elector; the Prohibition candidate John St. John received 0.4% of the vote in Iowa.[8]

In 1885, he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives.[9][10] During his time as a representative, he was involved in amending the first bill to regulate medicine, surgery, and obstetrics in the state, first by offering amendments to make the bill legally sound, then by leading the opposition, and finally by supporting it after concessions had been made.[11] He was a manager of the Senate trial of Iowa State Auditor John L. Brown, who was acquitted after being impeached by the House of Representatives.[12]

In 1886, he lost a race for Iowa's 9th congressional district as a Democrat to Republican Joseph Lyman.[7]

Later career

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In 1887, he was the editor of a short-lived newspaper called the Sioux City Herald, after which he returned to editing the Council Bluffs Globe, which he had previously edited for several years.[13] In August 1887, U.S. Treasury Secretary Charles S. Fairchild appointed Keatley to be "chief of the miscellaneous division of the second controller's office."[14]

On July 9, 1888, President Grover Cleveland nominated Keatley to be Judge of the United States Territorial Court for the District of Alaska.[1] He received his commission on July 19, and was sworn in on August 15.[15] Upon his early September arrival in Alaska, Keatley was not in good health, as had been reported several times since his military service.[16] He resigned effective October 1, 1889.[17] He left Alaska on December 15, upon the arrival of his successor, John S. Bugbee.[18]

Upon returning to Iowa, Keatley moved to Sioux City.[19] There, he became a partner in the law firm Davis, Gantt, & Keatley.[20] From 1892 to 1894, he was commandant of the soldiers' home in Marshalltown.[2]

Keatley moved to Minnesota, and was editor of the Saint Paul Dispatch in the mid-1890s.[21] He then entered the civil service in the treasury department for several years.[2]

He died in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 1905.[22]

Electoral history

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1874 general election: Iowa Attorney General[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Marsena E. Cutts 106,632 57.2
Republican John H. Keatley 79,754 42.7
scattering 183 0.1
1878 general election: Iowa's 8th congressional district[7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican William Fletcher Sapp 15,343 50.2
Greenback George C. Hieks 7,760 25.4
Democratic John H. Keatley 7,453 24.4
1886 general election: Iowa's 9th congressional district[7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Joseph Lyman 16,953 53.5
Democratic John H. Keatley 14,747 46.5

References

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  1. ^ a b Judges of the United States. 1978. Retrieved 2021-12-16. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e "John H. Keatley" (PDF). The Annals of Iowa. 7 (3). 1905. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  3. ^ a b "John H. Keatley". Weekly New Era (Norton, Kansas). 1888-08-08. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  4. ^ "What they did". Muscatine Weekly Journal. 1874-12-11. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  5. ^ a b "Official Canvas". The Perry Daily Chief. 1874-11-21. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  6. ^ "Colonel Keatley". Sioux City Journal. 1874-11-01. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  7. ^ a b c d Dubin, Michael (1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997.
  8. ^ "Straight Prohibition Electoral Ticket". The Muscatine Journal. 1884-09-01. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  9. ^ "List of Members". The Des Moines Register. 1885-11-15. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  10. ^ "Representative John Henry Keatley". The Iowa Legislature. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  11. ^ "The Iowa State Medical Reporter". 3 (1). September 1886: 199–214. Retrieved 2021-12-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ "Acquitted". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids). 1886-07-14. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  13. ^ "Goings-On in Iowa". The Courier (Waterloo). 1887-04-13. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  14. ^ "Appointment". The Morning Democrat (Davenport). 1887-08-19. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  15. ^ Alaska Bar Association and Sketch of Judiciary. 1901. Retrieved 2021-12-17. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  16. ^ "News from Alaska". The Morning Democrat (Davenport). 1888-10-05. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  17. ^ "New from Alaska". Quad-City Times. 1889-10-02. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  18. ^ "The Tacoma Daily Ledger". 1889-12-16. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  19. ^ "Back from Alaska". Sioux City Journal. 1890-01-29. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  20. ^ "Keatley". Sioux City Journal. 1890-02-02. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  21. ^ "Keatley". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids). 1897-03-31. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  22. ^ "Died". The Washington Post. 1905-06-20. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
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