James Nathaniel Keelin was born on January 10, 1894, in Davidson County, Tennessee. Keelin was the deputy clerk of the superior court in Wake County, North Carolina, when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. In August 1917, he was selected to serve as the secretary of the Eastern District Exemption Board. Keelin died in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 3, 1961.