Lemuel C. McKeeby

    Hon. Lemuel C. McKeeby came to Ventura in 1868 from Carson City, Nevada. He was born in New York city in 1825, and received his education there. His father, Edward McKeeby, was of Scotch descent and a native of New York. His mother, nee Catharine Miller, was born in New York and was a descendant of one of the old German families of that city. His great-grandfather was a soldier in Revolutionary war. Mr. McKeeby served one year as private in the service of the United States during and until the close of the war with Mexico, when he was honorably discharged. He then made Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his home. In 1850 he came to California and engaged in mining, and was always a successful miner. He mined at French Corral and Sebastopol principally; was the first to introduce rubber hose for hydraulic mining, which was at Sebastopol, Nevada County. He there, with his associates, carried on a large mine, the weekly yield being from $2,000 to $4,000. His company also put a flume in the Yuba River twenty feet wide, at a cost of $20,000. During his mining operations his gold was sent by Wells, Fargo & Co's Express to Marysville and to San Francisco, where it yielded an average of $14 per ounce. From this mine he went to Carson City, and with others erected a factory and engaged in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. In this enterprise he was also successful. The expense at this time, 1863, of getting the mateial - some fifteen tons in all - to commence operations, to that place from San Francisco, was ten cents per pound. The demand for the acid diminished and he sold out. While there he was elected Justice of the Peace and Police Judge. He was also elected a member of the first Legislature from the city of Carson, State of Nevada, and had the honor, in joint convention, of placing in nomination Hon. J. W. Nye for United States Senator; Governor Nye and Wm. M. Stewart were the two first United States Senators elected from that State.

    Mr. McKeeby came to Ventura and engaged in the mercantile business, but for the past ten years has been engaged in the active practice of his profession, and is considered a very careful and successful lawyer. He has always been identified with the business interests of the town and county, and was one of the organizers of the first bank in the city - the Bank of Ventura - and is now its attorney and vice-president. He also took a prominent part in the organization of the public library of the city. The first meetings for its organization wer held in his house, and he has been President of its Board of Trustees for many years. He is a charter member of the Masonic order, helped in the organization of the lodge, and ws its first W. M., and continued such for many years.

    In 1857 he was united in marriage to Miss Caroline A. Sampson, a native of the State of Maine. She is a daughter of Mr. Sampson of that State, and a niece of Mr. Owen Lovejoy. Their union has been blessed with four children, thre of whom are living, viz.: Charles B., born in Nevada County, California, now a farmer in Ventura; Mary A., also born in Nevada County, California, is the wife of A. G. Bartlett, of Los Angeles, a member of the firm of Bartlett Bros., of Ventura and Los Angeles; George L., born in Ventura, is now living with his parents. 

    Mr. McKeeby has been a Republican since  the war. He and his family are leading members of the Episcopal Church. They are people of high standing in the city in which they have lived so long and are identified with all its best interests.

    On June 1, 1890, he was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of California, to reside at Los Angeles.

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