Keyes 1 Autobiography of 2 Hon. John S. Keyes. 3 4 5 Keyes 1 1 2 I was born I am told Sept 19,1821, 3 and from finding in my father’s 4 cash book the entry of that date of the Dr’s 5 fee, and the horse hire for the 6 nurse I have no doubt of it. 7 My father John Keyes was at 8 that time a leading lawyer 9 in Concord Middlesex Co. Mass. 10 and county treasurer and 11 postmaster. He lived then as 12 he always had since his marriage 13 five years before, in the house 14 north of the Court House and 15 fronting on the road to the North 16 Bridge, occupying nearly the spot 17 between the north entrance to the 18 Court House grounds and the gate 19 way as it now exists. My mother 20 Ann Stow (Shepard) Keyes had borne 21 one daughter four years before 22 who named for her, welcomed my 23 coming, and after Dr. Hurd’s 24 services and the nurse’s departure 25 took great care of my puny self. 26 For I was I am informed very 27 feelbe and delicate as an infant Keyes 1 1½ 2 I have been told of my first illness 3 when a month or so of age, an attack 4 of whooping cough that threatened to end 5 my frail hold on life. Dr Hurd on being 6 consulted said he could stop it, and did 7 so by vaccinating my arm. The two diseases 8 would not go on together, and as the arm 9 became sore the cough subsided much 10 to my mothers satisfaction, less to mine 11 as thirty years later I had the varioloid 12 and a few years later a second attack 13 of whooping cough, both at very inconvenient 14 times, especially the last, as I was then 15 in a position to preserve silence not only 16 myself, but in others and to accomplish 17 this during a fit of whooping was not easy. Keyes 1 2 2 My earliest recollection is of an 3 accident by falling on the door 4 step, while the house that stood 5 between my father’s & the square 6 was being removed to the next 7 lot on the road east of the lane 8 to the great fields that bounded 9 our garden, (now Miss E E Barretts), 10 and receiving a severe cut on the 11 head, that alarmed my mother greatly. 12 I was cured of this and my sickliness 13 by a regimen of mild brandy toddy 14 on which I was weaned and for 15 which I cried many times and oft 16 as I have often since been told. 17 Of my sister who died when I was 18 four years old from a violent scarlet 19 fever I have no real memory. 20 A dim recollection of her pulling 21 me from the horses who drew 22 Lafayette through Concord on his 23 triumphal tour of New England 24 in 1824, and of the pageant of his 25 visit to Concord, is all I can recall. 26 My sister is described as very charming 27 beautiful little girl, the pet of her 28 father, and the winning 29 of all her friends and family— 30 Her hair a lock preserved by Mother 31 for sixty years is even now wonderful 32 for its color and softness and beauty. Keyes 1 3 2 Of the girls who lived at our house 3 and helped in the charge of the 4 children, I recall but faintly 5 those who preceded Betsy Holt. 6 She an old time New England Yankee 7 domestic came when I was about 8 five years old, and remained over 9 twenty years, the faithful prudent 10 but cross and domineering help 11 who ruled her kitchen and all 12 who came into it, except the ‘Squire’ 13 himself, and sometimes even drove 14 him out of her domain. Of the boys 15 whom we had live with us and go 16 to school in the winters, my first 17 recollection is of Jedediah Wentworth James Carter 18 of Carlisle who stole a $10. bill from Mother’s 19 purse, while Father was away 20 at court, and passed it at the 21 store or tavern. He was let off, but Jedediah Wentworth an older accomplice 22 and was arrested 23 convicted and punished in the 24 jail for the offence. He came out 25 but was soon in trouble again 26 and went to the bad utterly. 27 But if Carter was ruined, so was not 28 the next whom I remember better, 29 George W. Wright, who was afterwards 30 the first representative in Congress 31 from California, and a friend of Fremont. Keyes 1 4 2 He and his brother Augustus Wright 3 later on treasurer of the old Boston 4 Museum for many years were 5 important elements in my boyhood 6 and to another John Wood since 7 Sheriff of County Ohio 8 I owe much knowledge of matters 9 that are not taught in schools. 10 The last who was the brightest and 11 best of the whole series and for 12 whom my youngest brother was 13 named, George B. Dakin was 14 subsequently a steamboat capt. 15 on Geneva Lake N.Y. and then a 16 successful coal merchant in 17 Buffalo, whence he came occasionally 18 on summer visits to Concord, to see 19 his old friends, and was a happy 20 prosperous pleasant visitor at 21 my mothers and my table. 22 Such and so different were the 23 hired boys of my younger days 24 from those of the present time 25 They were of the genuine Yankee 26 stock, and though they eat and 27 lived in the kitchen, I played with 28 them on terms of entire equality 29 and often shared my bed and room 30 with them as I grew older.— Keyes 1 5 2 Of schools my first was the private, 3 infant class of Miss Phoebe Wheeler 4 kept in the southwest chamber 5 of the old Peter Wheeler house on 6 the Walden Road. Here I began to 7 go before my sisters death and 8 continued for more than a year 9 afterwards. The Hoar Brooks Stow 10 Shattuck and Stacy children went with 11 me there, and we learnt our primer 12 lessons pinned to Miss Ws knee by 13 our aprons to keep us quiet, as 14 we stood up to say our a.b.cs— 15 How distinctly the old unpainted weather 16 beaten house comes up before me, with 17 its big button wood trees shading the 18 door yard, in which a tract of yellow 19 sand through scanty spears of young 20 grass glowed in the sunshine, and 21 was my childish ideal of Sahara, 22 as the older ones called it. The barely 23 furnished rooms the unpainted seats 24 and stools the made up bed in the corner 25 whereon when tired out we had a nap, 26 the row of half eaten apples taken from 27 us when we came into the school to be given 28 back at recess on the window turning 29 rusty in the sunshine, the steep garret stairs 30 leading out of a door in the corner, on which 31 we were shut up as a punishment in the dark 32 and in mortal fear of the buzzing wasps. Keyes 1 6 2 Of one birthday of mine when holding 3 my mothers hand we walked in 4 a bright afternoon to this school, 5 she carrying a basket of goodies 6 for the feast, and stopping with me 7 to show me the inside of the Orthodox 8 church then just completed, and not 9 quite emptied of the carpenters tools 10 and shavings, I am quite certain— 11 It was my fifth in 1826, and I had 12 watched all that summer the great 13 building work going on as we went 14 daily to and from, had been frightened 15 at the danger of the men on the steeple 16 and shocked at the death of one of them 17 a Mr Stiles from a fall when putting 18 up the lightening rod, so that the real 19 church had made quite as great an 20 impression on us school children as 21 the spiritual one by its secession 22 from the old time honored single town 23 establishment had to our elders. 24 This and the old blacksmith shop 25 on the corner of the Mill Dam and the 26 Walden Road, the hatter’s shop on the 27 corner opposite in the brick building 28 and the tan yard vats on Dea Vose’s land 29 in front of his house were of great 30 interest to us as we passed them daily 31 The old mill pond still filled the basin 32 between the two churches, and made 33 a skating ground for the older boys 34 and a sliding place for us youngsters 35 on which we sometimes ventured. Keyes 1 7 2 After and perhaps in connection with 3 Miss Wheeler’s school I went some weeks 4 to a school kept by Miss Rice, a sister 5 of Mrs George F Farley of Groton who taught 6 a little private school in the room of the 7 ell of the old Wright tavern, then Deacon 8 Jarvis bakehouse.