Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-02-02
TIE LATE JAMES A. KEALY.

Interesting chctcH OF tuo inuS toi-
James 4 Kealy, formerly of this city,
whose death was reported in Every
Evening last week. Mr.. Haines was
the most intimate friend that this re
markable man had, and probably the
only one to whom he confided the de-
tails of his life. The sketch is as
follows:
james A. Kealy was born in Dublin,
Ireland. on Monday, July 9th. 1879.
of English parents. He mildly resented
being called an Irishmah, and always
asserted he was an Englishman, though
born in Ireland. His fathers name
was James Kealy and his mothers
name was Mary Ash Kealy. l asked
him what the middle letter in his
name stood for. and he said his father
disliked the addition Of Junior" TO
his name, and when he was about
years of age he surmounted the diff
Guilty by selecting the letter ga" for
his middle letter; that it really stood
for nothing. His mother owned large
estate at Oakley, in ireland. In fact
the present town Of Dalkey is now
| partly built on the very land his
mother once owned. The father and
mother of James A. Kealy died of
cholera in Dublin when the subject of
this sketch was about years OF age.
He had three brothers and two sisters.
A guardian was appointed to look after
his deceased fathers and mothers
estate which was valued at $50, coo.
After the death of his father and
mother. which occurred within one
| week of each other, his guardian en-
ployed a French governess, from whom
he and his brothers and sisters OBJ
tanned their perfect knowledge of that
language. He also had private tutors
Pin Latin, Greek, Hebrew. German,
Spanish and mathematics. He was
thus fully prepared to enter Trinity
University in Dublin when he had
arrived at the age of l6 years. He re-
manned as student at that university
for seven years; but graduated and re-
ceived his diploma after studying there
for three years; but he remained four
years longer, taking special course in
civil engineering and higher mathe-
matics. / have seen his parchment
diploma, it was in part printed and a
greater part in script, both in Latin
about 6x8 inches in size, and had the
seal Of the university attached. The
diploma, with most OF his worldly
effects, was destroyed by fire on Tues.
: day evening, March 1st, 1898. he had
many valuable books, printed in
, various languages, destroyed by thai
! fire, but his chief regret was the los:
,, of his diploma and calculations o.
difficult mathematical problems he hat
: solved. He could read, write and speal
Latin, French, German and Spanish
fiuently, and read with ease the Greel
: and Hebrew. Mathematical study ap
; Feared to be his especial delight, ant
he reveled in the highest element o
= mathematical research. As a gram
Y marian and historian have never me
with his equal. He was the mos
= highly educated man ever knew.
He was tall in stature and athletic
walked rapidly, would never stop Il
!, talk to anyone on the street unless h
had especial occasion to do so; an,
!, should he call at any PERSONS hous
= he would quickly transact what bust
ness he had on hand and hurry away
He was always in hurry.
/ asked him once what, were tn
, tenets or beliefs of the ancient Bud
dhist doctrine of the Nirvana: and
" gave me such lucid description tina
IS / can never forget it have frequentl
g asked him to translate and explain
:: me some difficult sentences in Latir
3 Greek and French, and the ease an
G. pleasure with which he did it, please
1t me, but I confess the pleasure wa
to tinged with slight feeling Of env!
Ut for he scarcely glanced at the printe
ar passage / would present to him, wit
such ease and elegance that could nj
o. help envying him, since i had pore
re over it for hours, endeavoring to mai
I'd sense out of Ii. He was great Bibl
rs cal student. He had read the Bible
]. Hebrew, Greek, Latin. German, Frenc
j. and Spanish. He told me that mar
;, of the sentences in the Bible we
il wrongly translated. One sentence
distinctly remember: "Thou art Pete
and upon this rock / will build n
church Matthew, 18th chapter, 49,
=, verse. told him / had seen in Il
y" dome of st. Peters at Rome, TIL
IA sentence painted in Latin that Il
NJ letters were eight feet in length, y
~ from the ground floor they appeared
n be about two feet in length, the di
. lance being so lofty. The Latin j
~ scription is "Tuk es Petrus ct sup
y hank petram aediflcabo mean eccl
va SIAM" He said: 'Do you know tn
= sentence has been wrongly translate
III the correct translation is: "Thou a
m
'o this rock Christ pointing to himsel
/ will build my church, By readil
the whole of the above mention
no chapter, think the readers of ii
IN article may find some pleasure
IN thinking out the exact meaning
Nv that particular passage.
oy The letters, /. H. s., have /,
,rt ceived two prominent interpret
~ tions. as II have suffered" al
, ar "Iasus Hominum Salvador" mea
ootn ing, of course. "Jesns the Saviour
aiv men," Mr.. Kealy informed me til
~ l. II. s. really stood for Isis, Hor
~ IN her Son and Sch, another name
ID Bacchus. In fact ancient historic
he were considerably mixed up in tn,
M M gods and goddesses.
Mr.. heaiy was at one time sche
inspector in ireland. His duties we
very onerous. He received an amt
lac salary of 50, 500, but out of that 81
ID he had to employ and pay a servar
sed travel over one Of the 90 inspecto
,eu districts of Ireland, send to the ed
H. cation Office report of the conditi
co. of every schoolhouse, examine eve
io' teacher as to his fitness to teach, a
to ascertain what advancement |
scholars had made; also to keep I
ix- horses, the one for himself, the oil
620 for his servantj and the aims he v
Iew importuned to give to the hoard
Art beggars he would meet on the roa
iay way, left him mighty little at the Q
re- of the scholastic year.
but While he was inspector of the scho
- HE Guardian futioI arJ Iaft b,,,, -,