Keys family.

The Keyes family of Concord, Massachusetts was descended from Westford storekeeper Joseph Keyes (1746-1823). John Keyes (1787-1844), son of Joseph and his second wife Sarah Boyden Keyes, moved to Concord in 1811. John Keyes was a lawyer, and served as Postmaster, Middlesex County Treasurer, Massachusetts Representative and Senator. He was the first in a line of prominent Concord citizens. John Keyes married Ann Stow Shepard in 1815. Their children included John Shepard (1821-1910) and George (1832-1893). John Shepard Keyes was a lawyer and served as a Massachusetts Senator, Sheriff of Middlesex County, U. S. Marshal, and District Court Judge. He married Martha Lawrence Prescott in 1844. Their children were: Annie S. (1847-1928; Mrs. Edward Waldo Emerson); Florence (1851-1877; Mrs. Charles Walcott); Prescott (1858-1943), who married Alice Reynolds (daughter of Grindall) in 1881; and Alicia M. Keyes (1855-1924). George Keyes, (son of John, brother of John Shepard) married Mary E. Brown (1831-1886) in 1854. She was the daughter of New England Farmer editor Simon Brown (1802-1873) and Ann Caroline French Brown (1808-1898; sister of Judge Henry Flagg French and aunt of Daniel Chester French). The children of George and Mary Keyes included: Marion Brown Keyes (born 1860); Grace B. Keyes (born 1866); and George Shepard (1869-1942), who was married to Alice M. Brown (1879-1963). Both John S. Keyes and George S. Keyes were members of the Emerson Statue Committee (1896-1914). Concord, Massachusetts appointed a committee at Town Meeting in 1896 "to erect some at some suitable place in Concord, a statue of Ralph Waldo Emerson ... to act ... in concert with other persons and to take such action as ... expedient to carry this purpose to a successful result. This committee, however, is not empowered to incur any expenses or liability on behalf of the town." Committee members appointed in 1896 to raise funds and make arrangements included George A. King; John S. Keyes; Samuel Hoar; T. Quincy Brown; and Edward J. Bartlett. In 1905, Samuel Hoar having died and T. Quincy Brown having resigned, Charles Francis Adams, 2nd, and Woodward Hudson filled their vacancies; Moorfield Storey, Henry Lee Higginson, Charles Francis Adams, 2nd, and George S. Keyes. (George A. King chaired the Committee throughout its existence.) Sculptor Daniel Chester French carved a seated marble figure of Emerson, which was placed in the Concord Free Public Library. Unveiling ceremonies (presided over by Henry Lee Higginson) took place on May 23, 1914. A summary of the committee's activities was included in the 1914/1915 annual municipal report.