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Joseph Keeler

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Joseph Keeler
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Northumberland East
In office
February 20, 1867 – January 21, 1874
Preceded byDistrict Created
Succeeded byJames Lyons Biggar
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Northumberland East
In office
September 17, 1878 – January 21, 1881
Preceded byJames Lyons Biggar
Succeeded byDarius Crouter
Personal details
Born(1824-05-24)May 24, 1824
Cramahe Township, Upper Canada
DiedJanuary 21, 1881(1881-01-21) (aged 56)
Political partyConservative
Occupationlumber merchant, landlord, grain merchant, postmaster, shipowner

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] In April 1879, Keeler introduced a bill to parliament to abolish the Supreme Court of Canada and the Exchequer Court, the bill did not succeed, but demonstrated the rural animosity towards the growing lawyer-centered character of Canada. After Keeler's death, the cause of abolishing the Supreme Court in Parliament was taken up by Auguste Charles Philippe Robert Landry.[4]

On October 12, 1848,[5] he married Octavia Phillips.[2] Keeler died in office in Ottawa at the age of 56.[6]

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]

Election results

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1867 Canadian federal election: East Riding of Northumberland
Party Candidate Votes %
  Liberal–Conservative Joseph Keeler 1,607 66.02
  Unknown Kenneth McKenzie 827 33.98
  Unknown Mr. Meyers 0 0.00
Total valid votes 2,434 72.66
Eligible voters 3,350
Source: 1867 Return of the Elections to House of Commons[7]
1872 Canadian federal election: East Riding of Northumberland
Party Candidate Votes
  Liberal–Conservative Joseph Keeler 1,497
  Independent Liberal James Lyons Biggar 1,430
Source: Canadian Elections Database[8]
1874 Canadian federal election: East Riding of Northumberland
Party Candidate Votes
  Independent Liberal James Lyons Biggar 1,662
  Liberal–Conservative Joseph Keeler 1,497

References

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  1. ^ a b * Joseph Keeler – Parliament of Canada biography
  2. ^ a b c The Canadian parliamentary companion and annual register, 1879, CH Mackintosh
  3. ^ a b "The History of Cramahe Township ... (1988)". Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2006.
  4. ^ Snell, James G.; Vaughan, Frederick (1985). The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution. Toronto: The Osgoode Society. pp. 28–31. ISBN 978-0-8020-3417-5.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.
  7. ^ Langevin, Edouard J. (1868), Return of the Elections to House of Commons, Ottawa: Hunter, Rose & Company
  8. ^ Sayers, Anthony M. "1872 Federal Election". Canadian Elections Database. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024.
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