California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 THOMAS J. KEATON. Not alone in the dairy industry, which has been an important fea- ture of the recent development of Stanislaus county, but also in the raising of grain, which for years has been a leading occupation of the people, Mr. Keaton has met with a gratifying degree of success. The dairy farm which occupies most of his time comprises eighty-seven acres, and since it came into his possession, in 1897, has been improved by a neat residence and a set of dairy buildings. The land is under alfalfa, which is used for feed for his milk cows. While the management of the home place necessitates careful attention, he finds leisure for other interests, and at this writing raises grain on about one thousand acres of rented land at different places on the west side, using for the purpose three teams of horses. Of southern birth and ancestry, Mr. Keaton was born in Camden county, N. C, July 27, 1852, and in a family of three sons and one daughter he alone attained mature years. His parents, Dempsey and Clarkey (Brown) Keaton, were natives of North Carolina, and spent their entire lives in that state, the father being a farmer by occupation. Owing to the limited means of the family Mr. Keaton had few advantages aside from those offered by district schools. When a mere boy he began to plan for the future, and soon decided that other states presented better opportunities for advancement than did his own. As early as 1866 he started out in the world to earn his own livelihood. In 1866 he went to Illinois and secured work in Lee county, near Dixon, where he spent a few years as a farm-hand. For a time he also worked in Ogle county. When a young man of twenty-two years Mr. Keaton came to California for the first time, and for four months he worked at Bakersfield in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railway Company. At the expiration of that time he returned to Illinois, but soon became dissatisfied, and in December of the same year (1874) he came to California as a permanent settler. Af- ter working on a ranch at Chico for a short time he secured employment in the lumbering busi- ness at Susanville, and from there went back to Chico. During June of 1876 he established himself in Merced county, where he worked as a farm-hand for three years on the west side. The savings of these years enabled him to start out independently. In 1879 he rented^ a grain farm of eight hundred acres near Hill's Ferry, and there he remained many years. During a part of this time he had charge of lands aggregating twenty-seven hundred acres. On leav- ing that property he moved to the farm he has since owned and' managed. As a dairyman and grain-raiser he is quick to adopt methods calculated to increase profits and reduce expenses. Personally he is a man of firm will, self-reliance, persevering industry and excellent judgment. and in character is eminently worthy of the prosperity he is gaining. The marriage of Mr. Keaton took place in Modesto, Cal.. and united him with Mrs. E. S. Parsons, nee Weddle, a daughter of William Hall Weddle and Elizabeth Weddle, both natives of Missouri, where they were married April 4, 1852, and the next month started for California across the plains. They settled first in Napa county, Cal, Mr. Weddle died in Mariposa county, but Mrs. Weddle is still living in San Diego. Mrs. Keaton is next to the youngest of five children. Mrs. Keaton is the mother of two daughters and one son, namely : Mrs. Mabel Wilkes, who lives in Bishop, Inyo county; and Edna and Dempsey, who reside with their parents at the homestead four miles southwest of Newman. The family are believers in the Cumberland Presbyterian doctrines, and Mr. Keaton has been a contributor to the maintenance and progress of this de- nomination. In fraternal connections he is identified with the United Artisans. As a citizen he is esteemed for the possession of honorable traits of character, and as a farmer he has won recog- nition through his progressive spirit and resourcefulness.