Mining for Souls
Page 31
NOTED CITIZENS of Lyon Mountain page 4.
Dr. P. Sheridan Keysor- Our Native Son.
Dr. P. Sheridan Keysor was born on May 18, 1903
in the hamlet of Standish. He is the son of George Keysor and Minnie Morgan
Keysor. At this time in Standish was located the smelting plant where
iron ore was reduced to pig iron. It was a busy place. Here, George
Keysor was manager of the Company store in a town of approximately 500 inhabitants.
Dr. Sheridan Keysor, as a boy, attended the elementary
school in his native village. In 1922 he graduated from the Plattsburgh High
School. Later, he attended the McGill Medical University in Montreal, P.Q.
Canada. He completed his internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital and became
an accredited medical Doctor in 1930. For two years he practiced medicine
in the city of Plattsburgh, N.Y. However, in 1932 he returned to Standish.
Here he set up his office and has lived to
the present time. It was also at this time that he was chosen by the
Chateaugay Ore & Iron Co. as their attending physician. In 1939 he also
became the attending physician of the Republic Steel Co. of Lyon Mountain
and Standish. On October 31, 1942, he married Mae Chellis, a native of Plattsburgh,
N.Y
Both together, down through the years, have earned
the love and respect of so very many people - far and near. This was proven
so well in 1957 on the occasion of Dr. Keysor's 25th Anniversary of service
to the people of these communities. Hundreds turned out - young and old -
presenting him with thefr gifts, one of which was a new car.
Joseph R. Linney
Mr. Linney, was widely known in the mining industry
and whose abilities were recognized internationally, was for many years superintendent
of the operation of the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company's operations at Lyon
Mountain and Mineville, and when those operations were taken over by the Republic
Steel Corporation, he remained with that corporation until his retirement
on February 17, 1944.
Mr. Linney was a native of Old Forge, Pa., where
he was born on May 7, 1888. He atended elementary school there until
the age of nine years, leaving studies to enter work in the coal mines at
Taylor, Pa. There he toiled a dozen hours each day, availing himself of opportunities
to read books and study mining. Despite adversities, he found time to extend
his studies to music, in which he became proficient, especially on the organ,
in which instrument he found a distinct hobby.
On April 2, 1907, in Old Forge he married Elizabeth
Davis. There followed a period during which Mr. Linney followed a correspondence
courbe in mine engineering. Applying himself to these studies, he took
and successfully passed Pennsylvania State examinations and received a mine
managerial license. On February 17, 1919, the Delaware and Hudson Company,
then owners of the mining operations at Lyon Mountain, employed Mr. Linney
to take over the superintendency of the mines. Mr. and Mrs. Linney came North
and there followed a period of much progress in the community. In those days,
there were no sanitary facilities, no electricity, no running water in the
community. Mr. and Mrs. Linney collaborated with a village program to
establish these facilities and the program grew into the establishment of
the present Lyon Mountain High School and its Linney Auditorium, the swimming
pool, the paved highways, the housing project that meant improved living conditions,
and other developments that were of material benefits to the community.
On February 17, 1944, Mr. Linney retired from the
active direction of the mining development of Republic Steel and was accorded
the tribute of the company as well as its employees. In retirement, he resided
in Plattsburgh as a mining consultant.
In 1949, Mr. Linney, a Republican, ran for mayor of Plattsburgh
on an independent ticket. He lost to Mayor John Tyrell by a small margin.
In his retirement, Mr. Linney devoted his time to many hobbies, including
authorship of a novel, "The Touch of Human Hands," published in 1947 by Dorranse
& Co., Philadelphia. The book, devoted to life in a mining community in
upstate New York, enjoyed a sale of several thousand copies and was described
by its publisher as a "promising first novel."
Joseph R. Linney, of Plattsburgh, consulting mining
engineer, died February 20, 1952 in Lima, Peru, South America, while on an
inspection tour of that continent's mining projects. He succumbed to an attack
of coronary thrombosis. He was 63 years old. (It is a coincidence that
his death at 5:15 A.M., Eastern Standard Time, occurred on the first anrnverbary
date of the death of Mrs. Linney, who passed away in Plattsburgh on February
19, 1951 at 7:15 A.M.)
In Plattsburgh, Mayor John Tyrell described Mr.
Linney's death as marking "a distinct loss to our community where he had made
his home, and to the mining industry loss to our community where he had made
his home, and to the mining industry which he had served with great credit
for so many years." His was the type of service above self which has marked
the lines of our outstanding men, without whose devotion many of our achievements
still would be unaccomplished. His loss will be felt not only by his
cherished family, but as well by the community and in the professional circles
where he earned and deserved the highest regard.
Sources:
Adirondack Museum photos, Blue Mountain Lake, NY;
History of Clinton County, New York;
Go to Page 1 of The History of Lyon
Mountain.
Go to Page 3 of The History of Lyon
Mountain.
Go to Mining History for The History
of Mining in the North Country.
Go to Page 5 of The History of Lyon
Mountain.(for article on Lyon Mt. and Mineville)
Go to Page 32 of Mining for Souls.
Back to Page 30 of Mining for
Souls.
Go to Page 1 of Mining for Souls.(cover
page)
Rod Bigelow
Box 13 Chazy Lake
Dannemora, N.Y. 12929
rodbigelow@netzero.net 
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