My Genealogy Hound

JAMES D. KEELER is a leading contractor and builder of the village of Cortland, and has shown himself a master of his craft, — convincing evidence of this statement being found in the many elegant residences, business blocks, and buildings of a public or semi-public nature, that he has constructed or assisted in constructing in the town where he now makes his home. He has an enviable reputation for honest and intelligent work, and what is an important characteristic in a builder knows how to keep within the limits of his employer’s purse. He learned the carpenter’s trade in La Fayette, Onondaga County, where he spent his years from the time he was six weeks old until he was twenty-four years of age, when he moved to Oswego City, remaining six years; thence he went to Fabius, N. Y., and remained there three years, when he came to Cortland. Soon after taking up his residence in Cortland he built three houses on Owego Street, and in 1888 erected his own home on the same street, it being one of the largest, best constructed, and most handsome of the many fine-appearing homes on that thoroughfare; it is a structure of brick and wood, architecturally faultless, and finished in the most modern manner, and fitted throughout with the most practical and up-to-date appliances, realizing a high degree of convenience and comfort. In 1871 he began contracting, and with Cyrus Straat built the Baptist Church and the Hubbard Block. The Garrison Block was erected under his sole supervision. Then with L. R. Hopkins he built the Wallace Block and the Opera House. Mr. Keeler also constructed the building first used by the Cortland Wagon Co., that was partly destroyed by fire, and assisted in rebuilding and in putting in shape the present plant of the well-known Cortland enterprise. With Messrs. Beers and Warfield, under the firm name of J. D. Keeler & Co., he built the new portion of the State Normal School. His work everywhere bespeaks his ability and the excellence of the materials employed in construction, and entitles him to the respect of the community as a man of the best principles, who builds for the future, and thus enhances his own reputation and adds to the attractiveness of the village. Among the great number of elegant residences he has built are those of Messrs. Fitzgerald, Keyes, Clark, Hubbard and W. H. Newton; these buildings are most eloquent of his skill in construction, yet there are many other homes that are just as worthy of mention.

Mr. Keeler was born in Mexico, Oswego County, N. Y., and is a son of Ephraim and Fidelia (Whitney) Keeler, who were members of a thriving agricultural community. When James D. was six weeks old, his parents moved to La Fayette, Onondaga County, where their last years were spent on the farm. Our subject’s wife, Fanny E., daughter of Ransom Park of La Fayette, Onondaga County, has lived with him through many changing scenes, and has proved herself a worthy helpmeet in every sense of the word. They have an adopted son, James C., who is a contractor and builder of Cortland; James C. is married, his wife being Flora Colvin. Mr. Keeler is a Prohibitionist in his political views, and wholly opposed to all traffic in spirituous liquors. His church sympathies are entirely with the Baptists, in whose church he and his wife have been honored members for many years. What is conceded on every hand to be a very fine likeness* of Mr. Keeler appears on a preceding page in proximity to this.

*A portrait was included in the original printed volume.