Samuel Jackson Keith was born in 1831 in Jackson County, Tennessee. He attended public school and worked on his father’s farm until he was eighteen years of age. In 1855, he moved to Nashville. He worked in the wholesale grocers business and was partner in Nevins, Keith and Company. He moved to New Orleans in 1866 where he conducted a commission business in cotton and tobacco under the firm-name of Kirkpatrick, Nevins and Keith. He returned to Nashville in 1878, went into banking, and he was elected president of the First National Bank. In May 1897, he was elected president of the Tennessee Bankers’ Association. He served as a member of Vanderbilt University’s Board of Trust from 1894-1909.