KEIM, Edward T.

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=buchroeder&id=I517312153

KEIM, Edward T. (Reading, PA, Aug. 8, 1844--Unknown). Keim and his parents came to Dubuque in 1855. He attended school here, graduated from high school, and entered Beloit College.

After leaving college, Keim returned to Dubuque and worked in the bank of BABBAGE AND COMPANY for one year. He then worked for AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. for about thirteen years. Keim brought telephone service to Dubuque as a result of his experience at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 where he had the opportunity of transmitting sounds over a telephone line and discussing the potential of the machine with its inventor, Alexander Graham Bell. (1)

Keim returned to Dubuque but waited until 1878 to write to Theodore Vail, general manager of the National Bell Telephone Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Keim was told that to establish a telephone system in Dubuque, George Engle of Cedar Rapids would have to be contacted. Engle was National Bell's exclusive agent for a large part of Iowa. (2)

Keim was joined in organizing the Dubuque telephone service by D. H. Ogden, a member of the Engle company. The firm of Keim and Ogden later was renamed the Dubuque Telephone Exchange Company.

Keim was the first Secretary of the Dubuque Building and Loan Association and held that office three years. He was also president of the Episcopal Church Building Association. Keim was interested in the study of natural sciences and his collection of mineral and fossil specimens took the first prize and three diplomas at the Northwestern Exposition in 1878. (3)

Keim also had an interest in the study of biology. He reported at least twice to the United States Bureau of Biological Survey on the effects of the ENGLISH SPARROW in Dubuque. On August 19, 1886 he reported that every grass seed was removed from a lawn by a flock of sparrows. (4) In the same year a bulletin was issued citing his experience of seeing a pair of robins forced from a tree by sparrows. (5)

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Source:

1. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western History Company, 1880, p. 820

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Barrows, Walter Bradford. The English Sparrow (Passer Domesticus) in North America: Especially in Its Relations to Agriculture. Washington, D. C. Department of Agriculture, 1886, p. 64

5. Bulletin, United States Bureau of Biological Survey, Washington, D. C." Government Printing Office, 1889. Online: books.google.com/books?id=_fRFAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=Edward+Keim+(dubuque)&source=bl&ots=OmZ5rRmWmJ&sig=73OzMZnIBR27QEb9_U1O54wfVOU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dyEJU_2PNYiSyAH1mYCYCg&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Edward Keim (dubuque)&f=false