Joseph Keeler

Joseph Keeler
Source: Library and Archives Canada

Joseph Keeler (May 24, 1824 – January 21, 1881) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Northumberland East in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal-Conservative member from 1867 to 1874 and from 1879 to 1881.^[1]

He was born in Cramahe Township, Upper Canada in 1814^[1] and educated at Upper Canada College. Keeler was a grain and lumber merchant and also owned a wharf, warehouses and a flour mill at Colborne. He was also the owner of a schooner. He was postmaster there and also served as a major in the local militia.^[2] Keeler operated a printing business which produced one of the first newspapers in the region, the Colborne Transcript. He helped establish a branch of the Bank of Toronto at Colborne and also helped promote the development of the Trent-Severn Waterway.^[3]

On October 12, 1848,^[4] he married Octavia Phillips.^[2] Keeler died in office in Ottawa at the age of 56.^[5]

His father, Joseph Abbott Keeler, was credited with being the founder of Colborne^[3] and his grandfather, a United Empire Loyalist from Vermont also named Joseph Keeler, was one of the first settlers in the township.^[2]

References[]

^ ^a ^b * Joseph Keeler – Parliament of Canada biography
^ ^a ^b ^c The Canadian parliamentary companion and annual register, 1879, CH Mackintosh
^ ^a ^b The History of Cramahe Township ... (1988)
^ William D. Reid, Reid's Marriage Notices of Ontario 1813 - 1854, (Hunterdon House, Lambertville, New Jersey: 1980), p. 322, Globe, Toronto. "Marriage Notices of Ontario" by William D. Reid, Hunterdon House, Lambertville, NJ 1980.
^ Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.

This article about a historical Conservative Party of Canada Member of the Parliament of Canada is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[parl-1] * Joseph Keeler – Parliament of Canada biography

[mackintosh-2] The Canadian parliamentary companion and annual register, 1879, CH Mackintosh

[cramahe-3] The History of Cramahe Township ... (1988)

[4] William D. Reid, Reid's Marriage Notices of Ontario 1813 - 1854, (Hunterdon House, Lambertville, New Jersey: 1980), p. 322, Globe, Toronto. "Marriage Notices of Ontario" by William D. Reid, Hunterdon House, Lambertville, NJ 1980.

[johnson-5] Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]