Los Angeles County
Biographies
John Keir
John Keir, farmer near Artesia, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1837, of Scotch parents, Walter and Catharine (McIntire) Keir. His father, a seafaring man, died in January, 1842; his mother died in 1884. They had six children, of whom John was the fourth. Learning the carpenter’s trade, he followed this vocation in Scotland, England and the United States. He came to America in 1867, worked a few months in Cincinnati, then for a short time in Leavenworth, Kansas, and then in Wichita, that State, near which place he pre-empted a quarter section of land. He came to the coast in 1874, spent a year in San Francisco and Santa Clara, next a short time in Ventura County, and finally came to this county. He sold his place in Kansas in 1881. He owns eighty acres of very good land two miles southwest of Artesia, where he is recognized by his neighbors as an exceptionally honest man. He is an earnest and conscientious worker in the “Holiness” Church, and as a Christian his life is exemplary. Mr. Keir has been twice married. December 31, 1863, he wedded Miss Mary Stevenson, a native also of Scotland and daughter of William and Mary (Wood) Stevenson. Their eldest son, Walter, died at Leavenworth in 1869. She died in Wichita in 1873, leaving four children: William S., Mary W., John D. and Catharine Mel. In 1876 he married Miss Harriet, daughter of John and Frances (Annsley) Neill, and a native of County Armagh, Ireland, as were also her parents. Her father, however, was of Scotch ancestry her mother of English. Her mother reared a family of six children, five by a former marriage. Both her parents are buried in the country of their nativity. Mrs. Keir came to America in 1875. The three children by this marriage ware: Walter, Fannie A. and Maggie.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California – Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889, Pages 380 & 381 - Transcribed by Pat Houser, April 3, 2006
W. A. Brophy
W. A. Brophy is a native of the Golden State, and was born in Tuolumne County, in December 1854. He is the elder son of Michael and Mary (McCartney) Brophy. Mr. Brophy is yet a very young man, but has been prominently connected with the affairs of the county, having served for two years as deputy-sheriff under Major Mitchell, has been constable of Newhall Township, and for a number of years has been correspondent of the Los Angeles and San Francisco papers. He is a man well informed on all general subjects and especially in subjects historical. The following quotation from a “Historical Lecture” prepared by him and delivered in several different places shows that he has given close and creditable attention to the subject. He says: “The fact that the first gold delivered in California was discovered near the present town of Newhall is not generally known, but the old archives of Los Angeles prove this to be a fact. The record shows that gold was discovered on the San Francisco Ranch in 1841, seven years before Marshall made his discovery at Coloma, and considerable gold was received at the United States Mint at Philadelphia from here in 1842. Envy of the wealth of California missions tempted certain individuals to demand that they be turned into villages, and all authority taken from the missionaries and be vested in the civil power; and from that date the missions began to decline in prosperity and the Indians to disperse. To-day there is only a miserable remnant of them left in the land.” Mr. Brophy is developing a coalmine on his 200-acre tract near the town of Newhall, which will, no doubt, prove to be a profitable industry. Socially, Mr. Brophy is a member of the I.O.O.F., and also of the N.S.G.W.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California – Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889, Pages 379 & 380 - Transcribed by Pat Houser, April 3, 2006