Joseph P. Keller

JOSEPH P. KELLER. It may safely be asserted that in all Westmoreland county there can be found no more popular host than Joseph P. Keller, of Mount Pleasant. He is a Son of Michael Keller, who was born in 1813, in county Kerry, Ireland, and about the time of attaining his majority emigrated to the United States. He settled at Tiffin, Ohio, where he owned and cultivated a farm of two hundred and eighty acres. While devoting most of his attention to his estate he was interested in various other enterprises, being a stockholder in the carriage factory, the woolen mills and the Standard Machinery Manufacturing Company of Tiffin. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California in quest of the gold fields, where he accumulated a considerable sum of money. In 1854 he returned to Ohio. He married Margaret Kinney, who was born in 1823, in Tiffin, Ohio, where her parents settled on coming from Ireland, and the following children were born to them: Frank, chief accountant of Dillinger & Sons' distillery, Scottdale; Ella, wife of H. E. O'Brien, of San Francisco, California; Edward J., assistant cashier of the Merchants' National Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana; Joseph P, mentioned hereafter; James, teller in a bank at Santiago, California; Eugene, proprietor of the Hill House, Scottdale; Lewis, a dentist in Tiffin, Ohio; and Irvin, a physician in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Keller, the mother of these children, died in I900, and her husband survived her but two years, passing away in 1902. Mr. Keller was a well-known citizen and took a deep interest in the welfare of the community. He was a devout member of the Roman Catholic church. 

Joseph P. Keller, son of Michael and Margaret (Kinney) Keller, was born March 18, 1866, in Tiffin, Ohio, where he received his primary education, afterward entering Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana. In 1884 he went to Connellsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where for about eighteen months he was employed as clerk by the Frick Coke Company. He then went to Mount Pleasant, where he was employed by the same company in the same capacity. In 1889 he migrated to Chicago and while there engaged in business on his own account as a dealer in housefurnishing goods. He took one of his brothers into partnership and together they conducted the business for five years. At the end of that time he sold out and went to Scottdale, where he again became a clerk for the Frick Coke Company, remaining with them until 1900, when he accepted the position of teller in the First National Bank of Scottdale. The position he held until 1904, when he resigned and went to Mount Pleasant in order to become proprietor of the Cooper House. He caused the establishment to be remodeled throughout, and it is now one of the first-class hotels of the borough, its popularity being greatly increased by the genial manners and obliging disposition of the proprietor. As a citizen Mr. Keller holds a high place in the regard of his neighbors as is shown by the fact that in 1904 he was nominated for the legislature on the Democratic ticket. He belongs to Lodge No. 777, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Scottdale; also to Modern woodmen of America and Scottdale Council. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic) church. 

Mr. Keller married, June 10, 1889, Emma K., daughter of Daniel and Sarah S. (Seese) Shupe, and a native of Mount Pleasant. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Keller: Leo Paul, Michael Eugene, Thomas Lynch, Edward Shupe, Joseph Whitmore, and Joseph Paul deceased. 

Source: Page(s) 125 - 126, History of Westmoreland County, Volume 2, Pennsylvania by John N Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906. 
Transcribed June 2001 by Nathan Zipfel for the Westmoreland County History Project 
Contributed for use by the Westmoreland County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland/)

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