James Keogh Jr. (April 26, 1850 – January 23, 1896) was an American lawyer, banker and politician from

Sturgeon Bay Sturgeon Bay is an arm of Green Bay extending southeastward approximately 10 miles into the Door Peninsula at the city of Sturgeon Bay, located approximately halfway up the Door Peninsula. The bay is connected to Lake Michigan by the Sturge ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He held varied local offices, including mayor of Sturgeon Bay, and served one two-year term as a Republican member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

for Door County in the

41st Wisconsin Legislature The Forty-First Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session. This was the first legislative session after the Redistricting in Wisconsin, redistricting of the Senate and Assembly according to an act of the 40th Wisconsin Legisla ...

(1891–1893).

Background

Keogh was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on April 26, 1850, son of James and Mary Keogh, and came with his parents to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1852, from there to Wisconsin in 1855, where the family settled in Forestville. He attended the common schools and the Oshkosh State Normal School, and became a lawyer and businessman. He moved to Sturgeon Bay in 1874.

Business activity

As of 1893, he was president of the Frankfort Land Company and of the W. O. Brown Manufacturing Company, secretary of the Sturgeon Bay Dock Company, a director of the Ahnapee and Western Railroad, and cashier of the Bank of Sturgeon Bay.

Public office

Keogh served as Door County's

register of deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over ...

from 1875-1889, as county

school superintendent In the American education system, a superintendent or superintendent of schools is an administrator or manager in charge of a number of public schools or a school district, a local government body overseeing public schools. All school principa ...

from 1878–79, and served at various times as

school director A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

and president of the

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, and when elected to the Assembly in 1892 was mayor of Sturgeon Bay. He was elected to the Assembly with 1653 votes to 1011 for

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Arnold Wagner and 38 for Populist Frank Wellener (the incumbent, Democrat Charles Mitchell Whiteside, was not a candidate). He was assigned to the standing committees on

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and on

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

s and

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1894, and was succeeded by fellow Republican James Hanson.

Death

Keogh died January 23, 1896, as the result of injuries sustained while rescuing family members from a fire in the family home on January 12. As of his death, he was city attorney and had spent several terms as mayor. He left a widow and seven children, most of whom had been injured in the fire (some severely)."James Keogh is Dead: Fatal Result of Injuries Received in a Fire at Sturgeon Bay"
'' Eagle River Review'' January 30, 1896; p. 6, col. 3 via newspapers.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keogh, James Wisconsin lawyers University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni American bankers Businesspeople from Wisconsin Irish emigrants to the United States Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Wisconsin city council members Mayors of places in Wisconsin School board members in Wisconsin School superintendents in Wisconsin 1850 births 1896 deaths Deaths from fire Wisconsin city attorneys