Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-01-26
A REMARKABLE MAN DEAD
Prof. James A. KeaIey, Formerly
an Instructor in Whining
ton Schools.
OF MODEST AND RETIRING MANNER
Was Possessed of GreatLearn-
Ing, But Worked as a
borer Until HIS
Friends Made His
Merits Known.

Prof. James A. Kealey, teacher Of
public school near Elkton, Nd, who
met with severe burning accident by
the explosion of an oil lamp, several
days ago, died on Monday afternoon,
aged "a years.
For number of years Prof. Kealey
lived in Wilmington, and to his few
intimate friends--for to the general
public his demeanor was marked by a
reticence born of a most surprising per-
sonal modesty-he was known as a re-
markable man. He came to Whining
ton about 1874, and secured employ
ment as laborer at the shipyare of
the Harlan & Holingsworth Co. board
ing with Isaac Woodrow at the corner
of Front and Jefferson streets.
To his fellow workmen and the men
who congregated MT nights in n Cigar
store attached to Mr.. Woodrow s. house,
and kept by the late Henry M. Mullen,
Prof. Kealey's remarkable traits soon
became known. He amazed the work.
men in the boat yard by sizing up the
large iron plates that they had to carry
about, and estimating their weight to
within pound or two. He simply
took their dimensions by eye, and
knowing the rule for ascertaining the
weight of iron, figured the result
mentally. His estimates and the story
of the scales seldom disagreed to any
extent. He was also q man of unusual
physical strength. There are men living
in Wilmington today who have seen
him write his name on a wall with his
pencil-hand encountered by 56-pound
weight hanging to the little finger.
But his few intimates at Mullen's
cigar store learned more and more as
he gradually thawed through the in
fiuence of genial companionship over
his evening pipe, though even to them
he never revealed in detail his early
family and personal history, and they
never attempted to pry into his affairs.
They learned, however, that he was a
member Of an Irish family Of high
standing. That he was graduate of
that famous institution, Trinity Col
lege, Dublin. That for 10 years he had
held the position of Inspector of Public
Schools in Ireland. And that finally,
family troubles impelled him to throw
up his position at home and come to
the United States. Upon his arrival
here he engaged in farm work and
country school teaching in New Eng
land, and finally drifted to Wilmington.
When he had been here less than a
! year there was a vacancy in the prin-
cipalship of School No. 1, then the
high school of the city, and Prof.
kealey's friends of Mullen's cigar
store, after infinite persuasion, in
| duced him to enter the competitive ex-
animation for the succession. He
knocked off from the boatyard one day,
| in order to refresh his mind with
| IN fn6 tof Au hsotf fhA.x ~Al,
antly went to the examination. Had
not one of his friends accompanied
him, and fairly forced HIM into the
school room and formally presented
him to Superintendent Harlan and the
| committee, it is doubtful If he would
| have gone through the ordeal, so pro-
nounced was his modesty and diff
dence. But the examination of itself,
to him, was here child's play, and his
papers were perfect. OF course, he did
not get the position, as he was practi-
cally unknown to the school authori-
| ties, but his friends had accomplished
their object by getting him known in
| educational circles. He never returned
to the boatyard.
In q short time he was given posi-
ton in Prof. William A. Reynolds
classica, academy, which he kept for
five years, subsequently going to the
Boston Latin School for awhile, and
later to Rugby Academy, this city. He
was instructor in mathematics, Latin
and Greek, in which branches he was
practically perfection. With his pupils
he was always popular, for while his
discipline was firm no was of most
ATTRACTIVE personality in the school
room, aud possessed the faculty of
making learning pleasant and easy.
After the close of Rugby Academy,
Prof. KeaIey went to Cecil county, Md. !,
where he had lived for awhile before
coming to Wilmington, and where he
had friends to whom he was greatly at
tached. Hero no remained, teaching
school most of the time, until his
death.
In speaking of Prof. Kealey, Prof.
Reynolds, who knew him well, said
s'Mr. Kealey was fluent and brilliant
translator of the Latin and Greek elias
sizes, and of high learning and culture
in all branches of collegiate education.
| His grandfather was wealthy English
man, who gave him, when boy, every
advantage in the way of training. He
was man of good manners and always
q gentleman. He attracted the atten-
tion of all pupils and Others. with
whom he came in contact, and won