Born on March 21, 1841, at Epworth, Iowa, the next to the youngest child in a family of six born to Philip and Mary Jane Keagy. He grew to manhood at Epworth, and there on November 9, 1893, he was united in marriage with Miss Katie May McIntosh. Mr. Keagy operated a general store at Epworth for a number of years before coming to Independence in 1907, and going into the glove and mitten business with J. A. Wells. Then he opened the Peoples Supply store. Beginning in 1903, he served a term in the General Assembly, the only republican ever elected to the State Legislature from Dubuque. He was an official at the Epworth Seminary for a number of years. He was a member of the Independence city council and chairman of the republican county central committee. He took a keen interest in the work of the Methodist church, at which he was a member, serving as secretary of the official board and a member or the board of trustees.