Isaac E. Keys ~ "Sign of the Black Boot" ~ A Leather Merchant in Waynesville

Isaac Evan Keys was a very successful business man in Waynesville. He was one of the brothers of John W. Keys. He was married to Rachel Elizabeth Cartwright. The following was written about him in the Souvenir and Homecoming Edition of The Miami Gazette published in October 1906:

"By his upright character and benevolence of spirit I. E. Keys enjoys the respect and love of the people among whom he has spent his entire life and he has always been interested in the welfare and best interests of the town and in many ways has been identified with the municipal affairs of the village. For more than twenty consecutive years he has had the office of Secretary of the Masonic Lodge.

No one in Waynesville has been so long continuously in the same business as I. E. Keys. The fire of 1900 destroyed the building in which he had conducted his business for almost forty years, and a new structure occupies the location with suitable rooms for his stock of robes, trunks, harness and other leather goods.

For many years he has been a commissioned Notary Public, and an official desk and safe also find a place for his business in that line."

For more information about the Keys family see:

• Judge John W. Keys
• Joseph Galloway Keys ~ Quaker Cabinet Maker, Justice of the Peace,
  and President of the Western Star Publishing Co.
• The Keys Brother that Went to California ~ Thomas J. Keys
• Horace P. Keys ~ The Last of the Keys in Waynesville
• Boyhood Memories of Daniel R. Anderson
• WAYNESVILLE BUSINESSES & PROFESSIONS LISTED IN
  THE MIAMI VISITOR WEEKLY NEWSPAPER WITH
  FURTHER INFORMATION INCLUDED