Louis Keller died on February 16, 1922. He left his relatives dubiously looking over their inheritances - a flat broke railroad, a declining social magazine, hundreds of acres of land in Union County, New Jersey, some cash, and the right to collect on a number of securities he held.

Less than a month before his death, Keller had drafted his Last Will and Testament with John R. Franke (1889-1973) and Henry Pomerehne as witnesses. Franke was a business associate of Keller's, a real estate developer whose John R. Franke Co. of Irvington, New Jersey had constructed dozens of residential subdivisions throughout the state. Franke had assisted Keller, the golf club, and the railroad with a number of land acquisitions and sales. John R. Franke Co. was also involved in attracting industrial development along the railroad. Pomerehne, of the Law Offices of Pomerehne & Laible, was Keller's personal attorney.

Keller never married nor had any children but had a number of familial relations. He was the only son of his father's second marriage. Three half-sisters, Margaret, Alice, and Marie, had been born to his father’s first marriage. The eldest, Margaret Keller Johnson, had died a widow in 1916 without any surviving children or any bequest to her half-brother. Alice Keller Beekman had died when Keller was just sixteen years old. She had been married to William Bedlow Beekman, with whom she had two children: Charles and Catherine Beekman. After Alice’s death, William B. Beekman remarried to Katherine Parker and had additional children: Heloise, Elizabeth, Fenwick, Cortlandt, Gertrude, and Margareta Beekman. Marie Keller Lawrence Norton, who survived Keller, had been twice married. She had a son, Louis Lawrence, with her first husband. Her second husband, with whom she raised her son, was Solon Lathrop Norton. Keller’s mother, Heloise Antoinette de Chazournes, had two sisters who had married and had children, including Josephine de Ronge and Nathalie Wilmer Wood.

Keller's estate included $13,000 in cash, jewelry valued at $560, his No. 8 locomotive leased to the railroad for $260 a month, eight old sack suits, portraits, a library, a trunk full of old shirts and underclothes, ownership of the Social Register, a majority ownership of the three Rahway Valley Railroad companies, and a number of securities held against the Baltusrol Golf Club and the railroad. In total, Keller's estate was estimated to be worth $350,000 (or $5.2 million in 2017 dollars). Keller's Last Will and Testament read as follows:

Despite Keller's naming of two executors and trustees in his will, only his nephew Charles Keller Beekman (1868-1941) was appointed. Beekman was a distinguished New York City attorney and Columbia Law School graduate. He had partnered with a fellow Columbia alum, Morton Griswold Bogue (1881-1955), to start the law offices of Beekman & Bogue at 15 Broad Street, Manhattan. Shortly after his appointment as executor and trustee, Beekman retained Ralph S. Wolcott, another attorney within his firm, to represent his late uncle's estate.

Beekman possessed little of his late uncle's sentiment about his sacred Social Register, and much less about his railroad. He was a shrewd businessman and an able lawyer of his own, independent fortune. As his uncle had directed, Beekman retained Miss Bertha M. Eastmond to run the Social Register. Beekman played a role, too, and helped to grow the publication, which reached its peak circulation in 1925.

The Rahway Valley Railroad had been in financial ruin for years. Louis Keller had kept it solvent by sinking his own personal funds each succeeding year. As trustee of the railroad's largest shareholder, the Keller Estate, Beekman instituted a number of changes to the railroad's officer roster. Roger A. Clark, who had been serving as Secretary & General Manager at the time of Keller's death, was retained in his position and invested as President in 1923. Attorneys from the Beekman & Bogue firm soon found themselves officers of a railroad company. Ralph S. Wolcott was made Vice President, William L. Bainton was made Treasurer, and T. M. Conley was made Auditor, all in 1923.

The railroad's Board of Directors in 1921, the year Keller bought out the Elmira interests, included Keller, the railroad's attorney, the railroad's real estate agent, an employee of the Social Register, and one of Keller's business associates with whom he had started the lessee company. Several Board seats were vacant that year. With the railroad posting large deficits year after year, Beekman sought to cleanse the Board of his uncle's old friends and associates. He began stuffing the Board with Beekman & Bogue attorneys. Wolcott, Bainton, E. Robert Wilcox, and Hubert C. Mandeville, Jr. were all elected to the Board of Directors in the years immediately after Keller's death.

Roger A. Clark and his son, George A. Clark, were also elected to the Board. The Clarks had come east from Oregon at the request Robert H. England, who Keller fired as the railroad's General Manager in 1920, to help pull the Rahway Valley out of its pool of red ink. In his capacity as President, General Manager, and Secretary, the elder Clark proudly reported net profits to the Board of Directors in 1926, 1927, 1928, and 1929.

From all indications, after placing people of competence in positions at the railroad, it appears that Beekman had little direct involvement with the Rahway Valley Railroad's operations or business affairs other than in the capacity of an overseer. He never served on the railroad's Board of Directors or as an officer. The railroad's day-to-day operations were cared for by the Clarks. Any business affairs, beyond the purview of the Clarks, were handled in consultation with the Beekman & Bogue attorneys as representatives of the Keller Estate, the railroad's majority stockholder, on Beekman's behalf.

Keller's only surviving half-sister, Marie D. Norton, died on May 1, 1922 in Cranford, New Jersey aged seventy-five. She had been first married to John R. Lawrence, Jr. in 1866, with whom she had a son Louis in 1870, but divorced him in 1875. Her second husband, Solon Lathrop Norton, had been entitled to an annuity from Keller's estate during the life of Keller's half-sister. Unfortunately, however, Norton died six months after his wife in an automobile accident.

Louis Lawrence, son of Marie D. Norton and President of the Westfield Trust Company, had not received a bequest in his namesake uncle's will. On May 25, 1923, he retained the Law Offices of Edwards, Murphy & Minton to contest the Last Will and Testament of Louis Keller on the grounds that the will was vague and violated laws against perpetuities. After the subject matter was under consideration for several months, Mr. Edwards concluded "I have decided to go to court and break the will wide open on a contingency." On September 15, 1923, a complaint was filed in court which sought to have the fourth, fifth, and sixth clauses of the will declared void.

Keller's will had directed that the income derived from his estate be paid, in trust, to certain beneficiaries in particular proportions. However, in the instances of his cousin, Josephine de Ronge, and his friend, Annie Townsend Ashmore, Keller had directed payment to them for the term of their natural lives. The will made no provision for the reallocation of these annuities upon their deaths and therefore Keller died intestate to this portion of his estate. A decree was entered on September 8, 1925, and affirmed by the Court of Errors and Appeals on February 1, 1926, declaring that the ultimate right of property upon the deaths of Ashmore and de Ronge laid with Keller's next of kin, Marie D. Norton, one-half, and Charles Keller Beekman and Catherine Huger the other one-half.

Since Marie D. Norton died shortly after her half-brother, her right to a portion of Keller's estate fell to her son, Louis Lawrence, and her five grandchildren, Alexander K., Stuart N., Robert L., Marie D., and Solon L. N. Lawrence. Annie Townsend Ashmore died on June 10, 1932. One-half of her interest in the estate passed to the Lawrence family, one-quarter passed to Charles Keller Beekman, and one-quarter passed to Catherine Huger. Louis Lawrence was elected to the RV's Board of Directors in 1936 and served in that position until his death in 1949.

Charles Keller Beekman died on February 25, 1941. He had left half a million dollars in trusts and bequeathed the residue of his estate to his nephew, Dr. Robert Struthers Beekman .Morton G. Bogue was appointed executor of his late partner's estate and succeeded Beekman as interim trustee of the Keller Estate. In May 1941, the courts appointed Morton G. Bogue and Benjamin T. Smith (1891-1959) as co-trustees of the Keller Estate. Smith was the owner of an Elizabeth coal company, served as Vice President of the Elizabethtown Water Co. and Somerville Water Co., and as President of the Suburban Golf Club in Union, New Jersey. The Law Firm of McKirgan & Gilson was appointed proctor of the Keller Estate.

Prior to Beekman's death, Roger A. Clark had died leaving the railroad without a manager. The Board of Directors, at Beekman's direction, resolved to elevate George A. Clark to the positions of President, General Manager, and Secretary. In 1933, the worst year of the Great Depression, Beekman insisted that a profit be shown from operations and the railroad begin paying down some of its indebtedness to the Keller Estate. The younger Clark eked out a small net profit of $875. Clark noted, however, "This was only accomplished by sacrificing road and motive power maintenance and our people learned this to their sorrow."

Another net profit was posted in 1935 and for many years thereafter. Keller’s heirs were overly pleased with the railroad’s financial performance and insisted that every possible operating economy be afforded in order to maximize profits. Clark stated, “. . . the feeling existing between certain interests connected with the Keller Estate and [myself] are the least bit strained as while I have found some gold in these hills, where absolutely nothing was ever found before, I am not a miracle man enough to produce diamonds and evidently this is expected by certain individuals.” Largely to Clark’s credit, the railroad was finally paying down some of its indebtedness to the Keller Estate and its heirs were becoming the least bit greedy.

Clark had enjoyed a very good working relationship with the attorneys at Beekman & Bogue. Other attorneys within the firm came to sit on the railroad's Board of Directors, and hold officer's positions. Ralph S. Wolcott died in 1934. He was replaced by Paul Donovan on the Board of Directors in 1935 and was later made Treasurer in 1948. Leslie S. Soper joined the Board in 1944, William D. Carr in 1949, Louis S. Weeks, Jr. in 1950, and Matthew M. Campbell in 1957. It wasn't until 1952 that Bogue and Smith, as trustees of the Keller Estate, were elected to the railroad's Board of Directors. The law firm, in large part, deferred to Clark's judgment in business decisions and operating matters. Their role was to act as overseers on behalf of the Keller Estate, its trustees, and heirs. The bulk of their dealings with the railroad related to the sale and distribution of assets belonging to the Keller Estate (i.e. bonds, stock, land holdings, etc.) and they related to the railroad. However, the law firm only represented the interests of the railroad’s owners.

In 1944, a labor dispute arising from the fact that the Rahway Valley did not pay overtime placed Clark at odds with the Keller Estate. The controversy enticed the Keller Estate to entertain overtures from the Central Railroad of New Jersey to purchase the railroad. The Beekman & Bogue attorneys wrote to Clark, “If the properties are to be sold, we would rather see them sold to you or a group formed by you than to anyone else.” Clark responded, “As for my own crackpot idea, I really have nothing in mind . . . I have been here a good many years, representing the very best years of my life, and as I have no employment security whatever I would dislike to see the ‘Old Homestead’ pass away. I have worked very hard and I have put in very long hours at anything and everything. I believe I have turned out a fair job and I also believe I am at least partially responsible for what we are, as this company cannot show black ink unless one man is willing to carry the load.”

Much to Clark’s chagrin and objection, the extended Keller family demanded the diversion of profits from capital improvements to the Keller Estate coffers. These insistent and peremptory requests came at the annual Board of Director meetings held in March, where the RV elected officers, chose its directors, and reviewed company finances. These allocations forced Clark to operate the railroad on a restrictive budget despite breaking all records for revenue. In his letters to Beekman & Bogue, Clark came to call the yearly meeting the “Annual Cow Milking and Cow Dehorning Content.” In late-1948, Clark wrote to attorney Matthew M. Campbell, “The old ‘Cow” appears to be producing a pretty fair butterfat . . . I presume you are aware of our new State Law over here in Jersey which compels all cow milkers to wear gloves as they strip ‘em too clean with their bare hands. In closing, my questionable friend, is ‘Things Will Be Fine if You Bring Your Gloves Along in Forty Nine.’”

Keller's cousin, Nathalie Wilmer Wood, died on July 18, 1943 in Hickory Island, Ontario. Her interest in the Keller Estate passed to her four children: Nathalie Wilmer Wood White (1896-1969), John Walter Wood III (1900-1958), W. Donald Wood (1902-1966), and Eric Wilmer Wood (1905-1970).

W. Donald Wood was elected to the RV's Board of Directors, representing his family's interests in the railroad, in 1948 and served in that position until his death in 1966. An acrimonious relationship soon developed between Wood and Clark, as the former demanded regular updates on company’s finances and wedged his nose into operational matters. Clark stated to Beekman & Bogue, "The real fly in the ointment is a certain heir of the Keller Estate who knows just about as much about railroading and railroad operation as I know about pitching a little woo to Eleanor Roosevelt and he really does burn me up at times and I know I am going to blow my top one of these days." Clark went on to say, "Funny part about it is that as much as I dislike and despise this man, he swears by me and rates me as being a crackerjack railroad man. In this I cannot agree so perhaps the poor fellow is slightly demented."

Keller's nephew, Louis Lawrence, died on March 28, 1949. His children inherited his stake in the Keller Estate and his stock holdings in the railroad. His sons, Alexander K. Lawrence, Solon L. N. Lawrence, Stuart N. Lawrence, and Robert L. Lawrence each took a seat on the Board of Directors of the three railroad companies.

Morton G. Bogue died on July 11, 1955. His wife, Louise D. Bogue, became substitute trustee of the Keller Estate by virtue of her status as executrix of her late husband's estate. Benjamin T. Smith, too, died on June 26, 1959.