The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1899-01-28
LEARNED MAN DEAD.
LIFE OF PROF. JAMES A. KEALY
ENDS NEAR ELKTON.
A Brilliant, Classical Scholar, Historian
and Mathematician.-B He Derived
Little Profit From His knowledge.
Sketches of His Career.

Prot. James heay died on Monday morn
ing at his home on Red Hill, near Elkton.
from gangrene, which resulted from burns
received by the explosion of II kerosene
lamp some weeks ago. He livel alone and
known to his friends until his condition was
past recovery. Thus ended the life of re-
markably intellectual mana classical
student. historian and mathematician.
man who although rich in learning and
philosophy died sadly poor.
The remaiGs were laid to rest in Sharp's
Cemetery on Wednesday, services being con-
Quoted in the Goldsborough Memorial
Church, Andora. by the Rev William
Schouer, OF Elkton. Music was rendered
by a choir composed Of Misses Katharine
Constable and Mary lamar. and Messrs.
Stanley Steele and John Frazer. of Eikton.
Miss Isabel Savage, Of Reading Pa presided
at the organ. The bearers were: J. Alfred
Macki". John w. Quinn, James A. Mackry.
Harry A. Lynch. Albert Constable Jr and
Heister Hess. Many attended the services.
The story of his life is told in the following
sketch by Reuben Hanes, ESD:
james A. Kealy was born in Dublin,
Ireland, on Monday. July 27, 1925. of Eng
lish parents. He mildly resented being call
ed an Irishman. and always asserted he was
au Englishman. though born in Ireland.
His fathers name was james Kculv and his
mothers name was Mary Ash KeaIy. |
asked him what the middle letter in his name
.,,,l 1, 4
addition OF Junior to his uame. and when
he was about years of age he surmounted
the difficulty by selecting the letter .sA'' for
his middle letter; that A really stood for
nothing. His mother owned Il large estate
at Dalkey, in Ireland In fact the present
town OF Dalk"v is now partly built on the
very land his mother once owned. The
father and mother of James A. Kealv died
OF cholera in Dublin when the subject of this
sketch was about 7 years OF age. He had
three brothers and two sisters, A guardian
was appointed to look after his deceasr9
fathers and mothers estate which was valued
at $50, 900 After the death of his father and
mother. which occurred within one week of
each other, his guardian employed IL French
governess, from whom he and his brothers
and sisters obtained their perfect knowledge
OF that language. He also had private tutors
in Latin, Greek Hebrew, German, Spanish
aud mathematics. He was thus fulIy pre-
pared to enter Trinity University in Dublin
when he had arrived at the age of lG wears
He remained rs a student at that university
for years, but graduated and received his
diploma after studying there for wears, but
he remained years longer, taking n special
course in civil engin Aering and higher
mathematics. | have seen his parchment
diploma. 1t was in part printed and great
cr part i'll script, both in Latin, about 6ys
inches in size, and had the seal CT the uni
versity attached. This with most of his
worldly effects was destroyed by fire on
Tuesday evening, March 1st, 1898. He had
many valuable books, printed in various
languages destroyed by that fire, but his
chief regret was the loss of his diploma and
calculations of difficult mathematical prob-
lens he had solved.
He could read, write and speak Latin
French, German and Spanish nuentv. and
read with ease Greek and Hebrew; Mathe-
matical study appeared to be his especial de-
light and he reveIed in the highest element
of mathematical research. AS a grammarian
and historian ! have neve never met with
his equal. He was the most highly educated
man | ever knew. He was tall in stature
and athletic walked rapidly, would never
stop to talk to anyone on the street unless he
had especial occasion to do 50, and should
hs call at any persons house he would
quickly transact what business he had on
hand and hurry away. He was always in a
hurry. | asked him once what were the
tenets or beliefs Of the ancient Buddhist doe
trne OF the Nirvana, and he gave me such
lueid description that | can never forget it
| have frequently asked him to translate
and explain to me some difficult sentences in
Latin, Greek and French, and the ease and
pleasure with which he did it pleased me,
but | confess the pleasure was tinged with Il
slight feeling of envy for he scarcely glanced
at the printed page when he would translate
any passage | would present to him with
such ease and elegance that | could not help
vi yIitS hi'ii' S'i4'' i't' pOl'li over III lOr
hours endeavoring to make sense out of IT,
He was great Biblical student. He had
read the Bible in Hebrew, Greek, Latin.
German, French and Spanish. He told me
that many OF the sentences in the Bible were
wrongly translated. One sentence | dis
tinctly remember: '"Thou art Peter. and
upon this rock | will build nv chnrch y
Matthew 10th chapter and 18th verse. [ told
him had seen in the dome OF st Peters ot
Rome, that sentence painted in Latin, that
the letters were feet in length, yet from the
ground ll0or they appeared to be- about 2
feet in length, the distance being so lofty
Tho Latin inscription is tn eS Pet1ps ci
super hGHc pei'0m dedcfc0bO mean ecclesiG,a
He said, DO you know that sentence has
been wrongly translated from the Greek to
the Latn?' That the correct translation is
''Thou art n pebble cor II small stOne) hut
upon this rock (Christ pointing to himselO |
will build my church, By reading the whole
of the above mentioned chapter [ think the
readers of this article may ilrd some pleasure
in thinking out the exact meaning of that
particular passage. The letters /. II. S. have
received two prominent interpretations. as
81 have suffered aud IdSus Homiu1ln
Sd}cdtOr. meaning, OF course, 'Jesus the
Saviour Of men Mr.. Kealy informed me
that [. II. S. really stood for Isis, Horus. her
son, and Seb another name for Bacchus. In
fact ancient historians were considerably