ASBURY DALLAS KEIFER GRAVESTONE PHOTO
South Kansas Tribune, Wednesday, January 9, 1885, Pg. 3:
Date of death, January 4, 1885
Mr. A. D. Keifer, one of the best and most respected citizens of Independence, died on Sunday last, after a lingering illness, of Bright’s disease, and was buried on the following day.
Star and Kansan, Friday, January 23, 1885, Pg. 3:
Brief mention was made of the death of this young man—which occurred January 4, 1885—in these columns a short time ago; but the loss of a citizen of this character calls for something more that a passing notice.
A. D. Keifer was born near Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, August 8th, 1840. He emigrated with his people to Kansas in 1859 and settled in Baldwin City, where he became a student of Baker University, closing his connection with that institution in 1862, by enlisting as a private in Company I, Tenth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry. After being in the service some time; it was discovered that his health, always delicate, unfitted him for active service in the field, and he was detached and assigned to lighter duties, which his scholarship and fine skill as a penman fitted him to perform in the most acceptable manner. Nevertheless, in the hardships he had already endured he contracted rheumatism, from which he never fully recovered. He settled in the south part of this county in 1869, and served one term as trustee of Parker township. Subsequently he received the appointment of deputy clerk in the County Clerk’s office, which place he held for five years. After leaving the Clerk’s office he went into the abstract business where his work gave great satisfaction by reason of its neatness, clearness and accuracy. In 1876 he married Irene, eldest daughter of E. T. Mears, of this city. His wife and two children, a son and a daughter, survive him.
Though possessing the highest qualifications of a public officer, honesty and capability, A. D. Keifer’s party never saw fit to put him in a public place. He had no taste for a scramble for public office, and no taste for the gutter politics which so often disgraces local contests. He was filled with a healthy contempt for the illiterate, self-constituted leaders of his party in this county, who sit in the gutter and pelt with mud those who may oppose them. A gentleman possessing his culture and fine sense of honor could not expect political preferment at the hands of such fellows.
As a businessman, Mr. Keifer was prompt, energetic, honest and scrupulously exact. In social life he was modest, genial and kind. He lived the life of a Christian, rather than one of profession. In his death his family has lost a kind husband and father, society has lost an honest man; the State has lost a useful citizen. A. A. S.
Contributed by Mrs. Maryann Johnson a Civil war researcher and a volunteer in the Kansas Room of the Independence Public Library, Independence, Kansas.