THOMAS KEAST of Section 30, Macedonia Township was born in Cornwall, England, August 9, 1844, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Talling) Keast, natives of the same place. They reared three children of whom Thomas was the second son.

The father received an injury by draining while ditching in England. He was an invalid about one year and then died, when Thomas was but four or five years of age. The mother now lives in Cornwall, England.

Thomas was reared in England and his first work was at farming and later he engaged in mining. He was about twenty-one years of age when he was married to Eliza Grace Oliver, March 3, 1865, who was born in Cornwall, England; she was the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Mathews) Oliver. Some four years later he came to America sailing from Liverpool, England to New York and from there he went to Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois. He livered there one yer, and then went on a farm at New Willford, where he lived four years. He then removed to Ogle County, Illinois, near Linnville on a farm, eleven and a half miles from Rosehill. He lived there until 1877, when eh came to Pottawattamie County, and in 1876 purchased eighty acres of land from J.D. Edmundson of Council Bluffs. Here he has since resided and he now has an improved farm of 310 acres, which is one of the best in Pottawattamie County. He has a mill building 16 x 40 with an addition of 12 x 20, a feed mill and two windmills, which supply the motive power for grinding the feed. He has a grove of catalpas, forest and other trees. His farm is well watered by tiling and pipes, and he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. His land lies in three different sections; his residence and eighty acres are in Section 30, 150 acres are in Section 31, and eighty acres are in Section 36, Silver Creek Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Keast have seven children, viz.: Emma wife of D.D. Clark of Clay, Nebraska; Samuel of the same place; William, John, Elizabeth, Frank and Charley. Politically Mr. Keast is a Republican.