This biography appears on pages 236-237 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915)
Albert Jackson Keith, a successful representative of the legal
fraternity in Sioux Falls, has here practiced his profession continuously since 1900. His birth occurred in Hamilton, New York, on
the 5th of June, 1877, his parents being Hosmer Hale and Mary (Spear) Keith. The first representative of the family in this country came from
Scotland on the Mayflower. Albert J. Keith, who was a little lad of six years when his parents took up their abode in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, in 1883, acquired his education in this city and was graduated from Sioux Falls College in 1894. Subsequently he pursued a classical
course in the University of Chicago and then prepared for a professional career in the University of Minnesota, being graduated
from the law department of that institution in 1900. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and opened an office in Sioux Falls, having
since practiced in the United States and state courts. His practice is extensive and of an important character. He is remarkable among lawyers
for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. At no time has his reading ever been confined to the limitation
of the questions at issue. It has gone beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but for the
unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them.
On the 28th of June, 1900, at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Mr. Keith
was united in marriage to Miss Iva Gress, a daughter of G. M. Gress. Their children are three in number, namely: Hale Gress, Granville Spear
and Katharine.
In his political views Mr. Keith is an unfaltering republican,
and fraternally he is identified with the Masons, belonging to the Knights Templar commandery and the Mystic Shrine, and holding the
office of illustrious potentate. He has also attained the thirty second degree of the Scottish Rite and likewise belongs to the Elks, the
Country Club and the Dacotah Club, while his religious faith is that of the Baptist church. Mr. Keith is interested in all matters of
progressive citizenship to the extent of giving his cooperation wherever his aid can be of avail, but he has little time for work
outside of his profession, his practice having constantly grown in volume and importance. He is also the founder and president of the
Credit Reference Company, of Sioux Falls, which is the credit rating guide for the merchants and professional men of the county, and is
likewise president of a similar company at Sioux City, Iowa. |