T. W. KELLER, marble quarry-man and farmer, in Blount County, resides in Knoxville, and was born July 28, 1852, in Knox County. He received his education at Ewing and Jefferson College, graduating in 1869. He was thrown upon his own resources, when eighteen, and first accepted the position of general agent and salesman for all kinds of agricultural implements, in East Tennessee. After four years, he began merchandising at Louisville, superintending the farm at the same time. With the exception of a farm from his wife’s property, he has accumulated all he has, by his own efforts.
April 1, 1873, he married LAURA, a daughter of J. W. and M. J. LACKEY. Their children are ERNEST RUSSELL, MARY M., LENA L., MAUD and R. HOWARD. He and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he has been ruling elder for twelve years. He is a Democrat, first voting for Tilden. He is a Master Mason, and also an Odd Fellow. He is the sixth of seven children of Frank F. and Mary A. (Crozier) KELLER, The former born in Tuscumbia, Ala., and the latter in Knoxville. The father was a success as a farmer, of Scotch-Irish descent. Capt. CROZIER, the maternal grandfather, was born in Ireland and came to Knoxville when a young man. The Keller family are distantly related to Robert BRUCE, of Scotland, and are related to Gen. Robert E. LEE. Our subject is interested in extensive quarries, in Knox and Blount Counties, and is a highly esteemed and respected man.
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.