KEAGY, John M., physician, born in Martic township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1795; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 January, 1837. He received a classical education, studied medicine, and was graduated in 1817. He was principal of the Harrisburg academy about two years, after which he removed to Philadelphia and took charge of the Friends' high school. Shortly before his death he was appointed professor of languages in Dickinson. He was one of the first to advocate the mode of teaching children to read by making them learn to recognize the words without knowing the letters of which they are composed. In 1830 he published a series of educational articles in the " Baltimore Chronicle," which were afterward reprinted in book-form. He also published "The Pestalozzian Primer," a book that was made up largely of so-called "thinking lessons " (1827).