Interesting Arcadian - David M. Keeler

History - Newark

Interesting Arcadian - David M. Keeler
By Bob Hoeltzel, Arcadia Town Historian

It was not uncommon for small American villages in the 1800s to have, among their citizens, one or more well-known 'characters' who were the objects of either derision or admiration, depending on the nature of their eccentricity. When the person happened to be the editor of the village's only newspaper, it is not to be wondered at that he would be remembered long after his departure,

Such a man was David M. Keeler.

Newark's first newspaper, the NEWARK REPUBLICAN, was started in November 1829, by Jeremiah O. Balch. That publication ended in 1831, leaving the village without a journal for seven years

In May, 1838, David M. Keeler began to edit and publish the WAYNE STANDARD in support of the old Whig party. Keeler sold out to Theodore Partridge, James P. Bartle and Stephen Culver in August, 1839. With Culver as editor, the name was changed to the NEW AEGIS. In January, 1840, the paper was sold to a Mr. Norton who suspended publication four months later. After a two-month interval, David Keeler revived the paper under the old name, WAYNE STANDARD. Through many name-changes and ownerships, today's COURIER-GAZETTE is a direct descendant of those early ventures.

McIntosh's History of Wayne County, New York (1877) described the WAYNE STANDARD as, 'a paper of twenty-four columns and well-printed. The first ten numbers contained exclusive reading matter, there being in Vol. I, No. 10, a single notice - that of a Whig county convention to be held at Lyons. Mr. Keeler started out to advocate Whig principles, and took for his motto, 'Where the standard (flag) of our country is planted, there foreign domination shall never come.'

Advertisements soon made their appearance, coming from the leading business firms 'At a meeting of the old Arcadia Historical Society in 1918, a copy of the STANDARD, dated March 15, 1842, was displayed. A report of the meeting described the paper as, 'A very small, two-leaved paper, 24 columns in all, costing $2.50 a year.' A barber, in his ad in that edition said, 'The kindest feelings entertained toward customers and their affairs not in the least meddled with.,, Another read, 'If all persons indebted to me, either by note or book account, wish to save cost, they must call and pay me by April lst. All who do not will be sued after that date.' At the same meeting, a list of Newark-owned boats paying toll on the Erie Canal was read. One was named Wayne Standard.

Was the owner David Keeler or an admirer?

McIntosh's History says that the STANDARD's first office/print shop was in a room over the Messrs. Gray, Bill & Co.'s store on the north side of Palmyra (now West Union Street).' By mid-1840, however, the business was moved across the street to a three-story brick building, with the Keelers and two employees living on the second floor.

Little is known of the early life of David Keeler. One account stated that he was a poor boy who was brought up on a farm by one of the Marble brothers who had pioneered the Marbletown area on or before 1802. Keeler assumed the middle name 'Marble' from this association. Was David Keeler brought with the Marbles from their earlier home in Taunton, Massachusetts. As a very small child, or taken in after their arrival in this area? I don't find the name Keeler in any of the early censuses of this area.

After learning the printing business (from whom?) it was said that he moved to Canada where he lived 'some years' before returning to Newark and beginning his newspaper. About this time he married Miss Charlotte Brush of Sodus. No mention has been made of any children of this union.

Egbert E. Carr, then living in Rome, NY, wrote in an article in the old ARCADIAN WEEKLY GAZETTE in 1887, that he arrived in Newark, 'near the close of the year 1840, after a wearisome tramp from Rochester in search of a job.' Although ,not yet 16 years of age, young Egbert had 'worked at printing nearly four years He was hired by Mr. Keeler as 'printer's devil' or chore boy.

Carr went on to say, 'Mr. Keeler was, in many respects, a genius. He was a sharp writer, but as his paper was neutral in politics he had little opportunity to show his ability. I remember at one time a correspondence between two ladies was started in his columns, which was continued from week to week for three months. It was sharp and spicy, both writers indulging in sharp criticisms of their opponent. The whole village was stirred over it, and readers could hardly wait for the paper to appear, so anxious were they to see what was to come next. Many guesses were hazarded as to the personalities of the skirmishers, and a number of the readers agreed that they had guessed the right ones. Yet the hidden fact remained, that all the articles, on both sides were written by Mr. Keeler.,

Beginning in May 1841, Keeler began purchasing land, in four increments, on the south side of East Miller St., from the present Hoffman St. westward and extending back to the present Church St. On this he built a one-story brick building with semi-basement as his residence and print shop. This building is now the Community Church of God, 315 East Miller Street.

On October 25, 1839, David Keeler was named Captain of the 19th Artillery of the NY State Militia. Regular training sessions were held, usually in what is now Central Park.

John Daggett, Jr., one-time Lt. Governor of California, wrote from Black Bear, California in 1907 of his boyhood in Newark. He remembered David Keeler as 'the biggest little man in the town, particularly upon 'training' days, he was Captain of the local militia company. Dressed in full uniform, he directed maneuvers on the parade ground.' Keeler's military involvement, however, went beyond maneuvers

It seems that, in the late 1700s, a powerful group in Lower Canada (now Quebec) took control over banking, education, the issuing of land grants, the Anglican

Church in Canada, and the courts. Immigrants from the U.S. and Great Britain

were denied all chance of equality. A reform party developed in Upper Canada

(now Ontario) in the 1830s, which sought to over-throw the ruling group. Clark's

Military History of Wayne County (1883) tells this:

'There was much excitement in the State of New York, especially in the counties bordering upon the lake. ... Copies of the WAYNE STANDARD for that year (1838) are full of Canadian news, and it is no secret that the editor, David M. Keeler, strongly sympathized with the 'patriots.' At Newark there was considerable excitement; a large and enthusiastic meeting was held in the old Methodist church in aid of the Patriot cause. It is the recollection of some at Newark that Mr. Keeler himself volunteered and that several others went with him.'

Fletcher Williams, president of Newark's First National Bank, confirmed this, writing, 'David M. Keeler, editor of our village paper, raised a company and went to Navy Island. They took the cannon, a brass six-pounder (the weight of the cannon ball), belonging to the company of State artillery at this place. The company was safely returned, and the cannon was also recovered.' The two Canadas were brought together by the overthrow of the ruling party and the Act of Union in 1841.

That Keeler may have enjoyed a good scrap was suggested by John Daggett in his letter, recalling the time when Keeler 'created a great deal of talk ... by reason of the thrashing of his office devil, who was much the larger of the two.'

Publishing a weekly newspaper in a village the size of Newark in those days was not a quick road to riches. On March 18, 1844, a portion of Keeler's real estate was sold at public auction on the steps of the Eagle Hotel (SE corner of Main and Union Sts.) as a foreclosure instituted by the Bank of Geneva.

'But,' continued Egbert Carr, 'fortune favored the editor at last. The summer of 1841 witnessed the accession of John Tyler (on the death of President W. H. Harrison) to the presidency of the United States, and before a year had rolled around his complete estrangement from the great Whig party which had elected him Vice President. But, though the Democrats enjoyed a rupture in the ranks of their opponents, they did not take Tyler up. As a consequence, the recusant executive found himself outside of all parties, and very lonely. This was the opportunity of the 'independent journalist,' and Mr. Keeler was not slow to improve it. He straightway hoisted the name of John Tyler at the editorial head of his paper as candidate for president in 1844, and devoted all his ability for the next three years to writing editorials in laudation of Tyler's independence and splendid statesmanship. He had his reward. The renegade President was so pleased to find an editor willing to defend him and his policy that he threw page after page of government advertising into the modest little country newspaper, which was hardly known outside its own county, and its published raked in many hundreds of dollars as a reward for his subserviency.'

Carr continued: 'This financial shower was probably the turning point in Mr. Keeler's fortunes. A few years later he had accumulated sufficient property to made a bold venture. He went to the new but growing city of Milwaukee, where he soon after started the first daily newspaper published in the Territory of Wisconsin, and where within a few years more he died.'

Diminutive in size, but with a full-sized ego; patriotic; pugnacious; loyal; enterprising; willing to engage in duplicity for the enjoyment of himself and his readers: All of these traits of character could likely be attributed to David M. Keeler. Egbert Carr best summed up his mentor in referring to him as 'an erratic genius.'

Newark was probably the poorer for his move to 'greener pastures.'

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