My Genealogy Hound

F. G. KEENS came to Kearney in July, 1872, and is, therefore, one of the earliest settlers. The town site was not surveyed until the September following, nor the town organized until January, 1873. But it is not this fact alone that entitles him to special mention in this volume. There are hundreds who settled in Kearney during the years of 1872-3, whose names will never find their way to honorable mention in this or in any other collection of biographical sketches. It is a significant fact, that a majority of the heavy capitalists and representative business men of Kearney, to-day, were not among the first who cast their lots here. The “old timer” has either “moved on,” like the red man and the buffalo, whose trail he has covered, or he has complacently settled down on his original lot, and has devoted his energies in his own way to the solution of the bread and butter question. All the more credit, therefore, is due to the old settler who has stuck it out and has risen to some eminence, here and there, among his comrades of former years, who has shown himself keenly alive to the advantages of his early opportunities, who has grown as the country has grown, and more especially, who has had the pluck, energy and practical wisdom to enable him to hold his own amidst the inrolling tide of brains and capital from the older states and countries of the East.

F. G. Keens is one of the pioneers of Buffalo county and of the city of Kearney, who has achieved marked success. Considering his advantages, none have excelled him. Measured by dollars and cents, he has outstripped by far any of his associates of former days, many of whom started in the race far ahead of him. There is a lesson in such a life, for it can be laid down as a fixed fact that such success could not have been achieved without the exercise of some of the best virtues of the race. Mr. Keens’ has been a long and arduous struggle, beginning under the most discouraging circumstances, and pursued at each step, until late years, against obstacles that would have weakened any but the most dauntless spirit. He literally began his career afoot, and all that he is and all that he has he owes to his own unaided efforts. He was born in Exeter, England, November 7th, 1853; came to America in April, 1869, a lad, unaccompanied by friend or relative. He had no money, no trade. He stopped in Hillsboro, Ill., and went to work in a woolen mill. Later, he picked up a knowledge of a trade, and starting West, he took a steamboat from St. Louis to Omaha, and reached Lincoln, this state, in June, 1870, riding into that town on a load of lumber, ahead of the railroad then building. After a sojourn there of two years, during which time he busily worked at his trade, he, in July, 1872, footed it into Kearney, coming in advance of the B. & M. R. R., which was then building into this place. Having accumulated some money, he put up a store building, which was the first erected on the town-site of Kearney, and began to sell goods. A year and a half later, the county seat having come to Kearney, he was appointed deputy county clerk, and later still, deputy county treasurer, serving in the two offices three years. He then started the insurance and loan business. His business in this line prospered, and he invested his surplus funds, as he accumulated from year to year, in land and town lots. He believed in the future of Kearney and Buffalo county, and he steadfastly held on to all he acquired in the way of realty. The lapse of years and the logic of events have demonstrated the correctness of his judgment, and he owes a portion of what he is worth to the rise in real estate values. He owns a large amount of town property, and owns and gives his attention to the management of thirty-five farms. His wealth in real estate alone runs up into the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He has a good loan business — real estate — operating largely on his own funds. His insurance agency has kept pace with the progress of the town, and has gradually grown to be one of the largest and strongest agencies in central Nebraska. It is composed of twelve of the leading companies of the world, representing a total capitalization of several million dollars and assets amounting to many millions more. He writes fire, life and accident, and has placed more risks in Kearney and Buffalo county than any other man in it. To this branch of his business, like all others, he gives his personal attention. In January, 1889, Mr. Keens, in connection with other representative men of Kearney organized the City National Bank of Kearney, of which he was elected president, and now holds that position. The City National has a capital of $100,000.00. Among its stockholders are some of the best business men of Kearney, and its board of directors is composed of men of recognized ability and integrity. Mr. Keens, as head of the institution, gives considerable attention to its affairs. And to his clear and discriminating judgment, wise and conservative council, is due much of the success it has so far attained. Mr. Keens is not a boomer. He is a grower, a developer, a constructor. His name is not, therefore, found among those of the professional “rustlers.” He has but little faith in artificial surface development. He believes in natural growth, and for the natural, real, substantial growth and development of Kearney, he has always been ready to help, giving liberally of his time, money and own personal efforts. He was one of the originators of the Kearney Canal and Water Supply Company, to the success of which much of Kearney’s recent prosperity is due, and to which it chiefly owes its name abroad. He was a director in and secretary of this company from the date of its organization till its sale and capitalization recently, and as such was actively identified with all its affairs. He was also grand secretary of the Independent Order of Good Templars from 1873 to 1880, and chief secretary of the entire order from 1880 to 1884. Mr. Keens’ career has been strictly a business one. He has never been afflicted with the itch for office, and even when taking part in movements of a semi-public nature, he has accepted positions of trust where he could be useful rather than where he could shine. He was formed by nature for a man of affairs, and his own self-training has served to perfect his natural endowments. He possesses untiring industry, is as tenacious as a Scotch thistle, and is the embodiment of order and system. He is neat and prompt in his work, dispatching each day’s business in the time allotted to it, doing a large portion of it himself and personally seeing that what is assigned to others is done in the time and manner outlined by him. He sees clearly, thinks rapidly, and acts promptly. He is capable of doing any amount of work himself, being of that compact, closely-knit structure that will stand wear and tear for days and weeks without giving and perceptible sign of breaking down. The most striking thing about him to a stranger is the immense amount of reserve force which he seems to have. He looks like a bundle of physical and mental vigor. His seems to be one of those natures which hard work only serves to develop into greater robustness. The strong points of an Englishman and an American are admirably blended in him. To his thorough-going, sturdy, self-reliant English makeup he has added the shrewdness, the practical sagacity and dispatch that characterizes his “smart” American associates. All in all, for a clever, level-headed, successful business man, Mr. Keens would be hard to equal. He is passionately fond of travel, having crossed the Atlantic five times besides traveling extensively in old Mexico, and in Alaska. In his domestic relations he has been happy. He married, in November, 1875, Miss Nellie Grant, of Romeo, Mich., and has one of the finest houses, loveliest grounds and most pleasant homes in the city of Kearney. He has three boys, to whom he is devotedly attached, and in whose rearing and training he finds his chief pleasure. He is in every way a man eminently fitted for the task; for he has led an exceptionally systematic, temperate, moral life, and can, therefore, add to the strength of his teaching the force of a most wholesome example in his own person.