J. A. KECK FURNITURE CO.

COMPLETE  HOUSE  FURNISHERS

FURNITURE,  STOVES,  RUGS,  CURTAINS,  ETC.

505 TO 509 NORTH MAIN STREET

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

            RECORD OF THE SWEENEY FAMILY

Grandfather Sweeney was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1757.  Was
married and had a family of four boys and two girls there,
his wife died.  He married the second wife, came to America in
1792, leaving his first family in Ireland, and lost track of them.
He had nine children in this country.  He died in 1838.  

Aunt Nellie (Sara E. Sweeney) was born in 1794 and died in 1874. 
She married John Sweeney (no relation); had one boy and four girls.

Sara married Perry Powers.  Had one girl, Mary Ann and three boys,
Patrick, John and Thomas.  They were in Jackson (Jackson Co) Ohio when
last heard from.

Margaret Sweeney (the only one of the family who married) became Mrs.
John Fagan.  Had six children.  They lived around the furnaces in Vinton
and Jackson Counties, Ohio.

Uncle Edward was born in 1796.  Lived in southeastern Ohio and
northeastern Kentucky.  Lost trace of his family.

Uncle James Sweeney was born in 1798.  Moved to northeastern Iowa. 
Had four boys and two or three girls.  The boys’ names were Neal,
James and Edward.  I do not know what the girls’ names were. 
Two children died on the way over (six months coming over).  Three
girls remained in Pennsylvania and I have no record of them afterward.

My father, John Sweeney was born in 1805.  Married in 1833.  Died
the 30th day of August, 1882.  He married Mary Ann Gibson.

Mother was born February the 26th, 1818.  Married in 1833.  Died
July 8, 1899.  Had nine children.

Sister May Ann born 1834, died 1843.

Brother James N., born 1836.  Married Permealia Ewing in 1859.
Deceased -----------

Brother Edward S. Sweeney was born 1838.  Was killed at the
battle of Chanclersville, May 2, 1863.

Brother John, born 1840, died in infancy.

Brother William A. Sweeney was born June the 3rd. 1834.
Married Arilla Byron in 1872.  Was killed by cars Nov. 26, 1907.

J. A. KECK FURNITURE CO.

COMPLETE  HOUSE  FURNISHERS

FURNITURE,  STOVES,  RUGS,  CURTAINS,  ETC.

505 TO 509 NORTH MAIN STREET

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

                                           --2--

Sister Sara J. Sweeney was born in 1845.  Married Andrew J. Keck
in 1861.  Died in 1884.

Brother Charles Sweeney, was born in 1847.  Died in infancy.

Brother Joseph Sweeney, born in 1850.  Died in infancy.

Thos. F. Sweeney born in 1852.  Married Almyra Hunt in April, 1872.

Brother James Sweeney’s Family

Dora Sweeney.  Born in 1860.  Died in 1874.

Pearl Sweeney.  Born in 1862.  Married Lillie McGraw.  Has five
children, two boys and three girls, living at Pittsburgh, Kansas.

Florence Sweeney.  Born New Years Day 1866.  Married Edward
McKitrick, now dead.  Left five children, three boys and two girls.

Neal (married).  Lives in Kansas City Mo.

Edna (married).  Lives in North Central Kansas.

William McKitrick)

Edward      “          ) All live at home, Lawrence, Kansas with

Florence     “         )  their father.

Charles Sweeney married.  Has six children living in north central
Kansas.  Farmer.

Lewis Sweeney, married.  Has six children living near Wier City,
Kansas.

Lucy Sweeney. Married Eugene McGraw.  Has six children.  Now living
at Pittsburgh, Kansas.

Paul Sweeney.  Single.  Living in Kansas.

The rest died in infancy.

William A. Sweeney’s Family

Thomas E. Sweeney.  Born in 1870.  Telegraph operator.

Margaret Sweeney.  Born in 1873.  Married William Noon, now dead.  Left
small family.

Myrtle Sweeney.  Born in 1875.  Married.  Has two children, in Colorado.

J. A. KECK FURNITURE CO.

COMPLETE  HOUSE  FURNISHERS

FURNITURE,  STOVES,  RUGS,  CURTAINS,  ETC.

505 TO 509 NORTH MAIN STREET

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

                                           --3--

Viola Sweeney born in 1877.  Married a man by the name of Vanbuskirk.
Now living in Arizona.  Has family.

William. Died in childhood.

Minnie.  Married man by the name of Hanks.  Now living in Colorado.

Dick Sweeney now in Denver Colorado.

 Sara Jane Sweeney Keck.  Twins, Mary and Martha.  Now dead.

John A. Keck.  Married and living in Bloomington, Illinois.  Has one
girl, Ruth.  In furniture business.

Frank Keck.  Married and living at Champaign, Illinois.  In furniture
business there.  Has two children Charles and Margaret.

Joseph Keck Married living in Decatur Illinois.  Has six children.
Lenard, Thomas, John, Florence, Betty, and Dolores.

Florence Keck is a Sister of Charity at Notre Dame Convent, Saint
Mary’s of the Woods at Terre Haute.  Now deceased.

T. F. Sweeney’s Family

Anna Daisy Sweeney, born June 25, 1875.  Single, at home.

Mary Ivy Sweeney.  Born June 28, 1877.  Married.  Has three children
one boy and two girls.  Now living near Grier, New Mexico.
She married Mr. Wm. O’Connor.

John S. Sweeney.  Born August 9, 1879.  Died October 31, 1888

William F. Sweeney.  Born Sept 9, 1881 died August 1886.

Thomas E. Sweeney born Jan. 17, 1884.  Is married and has three boys,
Joseph, Thomas and Eugene.  Living at 338 N. Valley, Kansas City, Kan.

Joseph S. Sweeney.  Born December 9, 1886.  Single.

Sara Eleanor Sweeney.  (Nellie).  Born August 2, 1889.  Married.
Has five children, three girls and two boys.  She lives at Clovis, New
Mexico.  Married Fesse Burchett.

Frances Almyra Sweeney.  Born May 16, 1892.  Single.

Source: Thomas F. Sweeney

Sept. 17, 1927

October, 1981

 Hello John,

      As you have probably guessed, this is your cousin Charles Keck, from Champaign.  You are to be complimented on that excellent tape and also on those marvelous charts.  Everyone I have shown those charts to have marveled at the thoroughness, the time, the patience, the research and the thoroughness of the job you have done.  You have done our whole tribe a tremendous favor.

I never actually thought about twins (Mary & Martha) very much.  I had always thought that they were younger than John and Frank and Joe.  But that birthdate of theirs, 1863 (1862), indicates that they were the first children of Andrew and Sara.  John A. came along in 1866 (1865), Frank in 1869 (1867), and Joseph in 1870.

In our first meeting, we tried to figure out whether Andrew had been in the service all through the war.  Since he was a volunteer, I would be inclined to believe that he went in early, but was furloughed home in the middle of this war, and then went back into the service for we don’t see any sign of his creativity until 1866 (1865).  There was a second set of twins (?), Eleanor (1879) and Edward (1872), as well as Elocius (1881).  Some records on Edward are missing.  I am inclined to believe that he died (1889) shortly after his Mother (1884), for he was never mentioned in Andrew’s exodus to the West (Kansas).  Just think of the sorrow, the agony, tragedy there was in that family between 1881 and 1889.  Half the children and both parents (Benedict + 1858, Anna Maria + 1886) in a period of 8 or 9 years.  Andrew took the rest of his flock and fled, seeking escape from his grief.

I used to listen when Uncle John and my Dad (Frank) reminisced about those days.  John and Frank never stopped at Chester (IL, on the Mississippi), John.  They went clear to (Coffeyville) Kansas before they rebelled and refused to go further.  Finally, Andrew found out that he couldn’t run away from his grief, but instead came back to Decatur to start a new life (in 1886).

There never was a furniture factory in Decatur.  John and Frank worked in a coffin factory.  John was superintendent of the shipping room, and Frank was foreman of the finishing room.  They made only one style of coffin out of poplar wood, only changing the color and the hardware to fit the different orders.  My Dad was expert at putting on a golden oak finish, a crutch mahogany finish, or a beautiful brown walnut.  I’ve seen him do it time and again.  But not on a coffin.

They both had good jobs.  They both got married.  Things were looking up.  Then tragedy and bad trouble began again.  Andrew died (1897), the coffin factory burned and they were both out of a job.  They both worked at odd jobs of carpentering and even tried their hands at stone masonry.  My Dad finally got a job as deputy sheriff at $8.00 a week with five mouths to feed, the baby, Aunt Florence and Uncle Will.

The Great Worlds Fair and Exposition (1893) was getting together in Chicago.  The town was ill prepared for the throngs that came.  The hotels were overloaded and large rooming houses sprung up on every empty lot available to take care of the visitors.  They were furnished with the cheapest of furniture.  …. imitation oak dressers and washstands with a towel rack on the back of them, a pitcher and bowl on the top, a pot under the iron bed, a wardrobe to hold some clothes, and some of them even had a desk with a couple of chairs.  These rooming houses did capacity business but the visitors had no respect for the furniture.  They spilled liquor and beer and water on the tops of the dresser and on the commode, twisted off the knobs or broke a hinge and, of course, the mattresses were a total loss.  When the fair was over, these prospectors that built these, slapped the furniture in storage houses, then vanished into thin air.  Warehouses were bulging with this cheap furniture.

Two Decatur bankers, C.E. Akers and Alva Wilson conceived the idea that if they could buy this furniture for the storage charges, they could bring it downstate and experiment with a theory they had, based on a belief that all people were 99% honest.  They went to Chicago and bought carload after carload after carload of this furniture.  But they hadn’t reckoned with the condition it would be in.  There was scarcely a piece that didn’t have to be completely over-hauled.  Casting about for a solution to that problem, they heard of these two young Keck brothers, John and Frank Keck, who had been expert finishers and shippers at the old coffin factory.  So, they hired them to recondition this furniture.  They worked 14 and 16 hours a day.  Business was so lucrative that within 3 years, Akers and Wilson had 16 stores in 16 different locations in Illinois peddling this stuff from the Chicago Worlds Fair.

As the source of supply ran out, they had to buy new furniture and it was then they approached John and Frank offering to set them up in business—John in Bloomington and Frank in Mattoon.  They would manage their respective stores and at the end of the year any profit they made would be split down the middle between Akers and Wilson on one side, and one of the Keck boys on the other.  When they split up in 1913, my Dad took 4 of the stores and J. A. took the other 2.

When J. A. died (1940) his son-in-law, Nick (Carter), had no appetite for the business and sold it.  When My Dad died in 1932, I ran the business until 1962 when my Mother died.  My sister, Margurite, had died in 1961 leaving one daughter, Roseann.  I had kept three households intact for a period of 30 years, keeping my widowed sister and her daughter, Roseann, in their lovely home in Miami, Fla. and my Mother in her very big 10 room home which we had lived in since 1915.

Taken from tape of Charles Keck, Champaign, IL. to John William Patrick Keck, Decatur, IL. 

Notes and dates in parentheses were added by Jim Keck.