OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 145 
A BELOVED TEUTON 
54. One of the rare souls found among the commission men 
during the early days of the development of the commission 
business at the Yards was Louis KEEFER. He was born July 1, 
1844, in Mannheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and came to 
America as a boy of fourteen. His only education was received 
in the German schools as almost upon his arrival in Pennsyl- 
vania, he began trading, first from a pack on his back and later 
in livestock. His original location was in Allegheny, but in 
1863 he proceeded to Pittsburg, and began buying stock 
throughout eastern Ohio to ship to the Pittsburg market. In 
1873 he came west to Chicago, and entered into partnership 
with Levi B. Doup in the commission firm of Doup & KEEFER. 
Shipment of live cattle and sheep to England was coming into 
its own at that time, and the young firm became one of the 
largest exporters. Their various interests grew so that in the 
early nineties they were buying more cattle than any single 
packer operating on the Chicago market. Mr. Keerer became 
a large farm owner in his later years, having one holding at 
Oregon, IIl., and another in Mason Co., IIl., along the Sanga- 
mon river. He fed cattle extensively at various distilleries, 
particularly at Pekin and Peoria, handling as many as 10,000 
to 12,000 head a year. He married in 1869 and was the father 
of nine children, seven of whom are living. He was succeeded 
in his business by his sons, Epwarp T. KEEFER and ARTHUR 
Keerer. Mr. Louis KEEFER died Aug. 19, 1916. 
He was a kindly man of the quiet affectionate disposition that 
loved everyone and instinctively forced everyone to love him. 
