Illustrations by George Frederick Keller
ABOUT THE ARTIST
George Frederick Keller was born around 1846 in Prussia according to the 1870 United States Census. His occupation was lithographer. It’s not known when he immigrated to the United States. During the Civil War he served in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Military records at Ancestry.com and fold3.com have one person who matches the description.
The New York Civil War Muster Roll (at Ancestry) had an eighteen-year-old Frederick Keller, a lithographer born in Germany. On September 7, 1864, Keller enlisted at Brooklyn, New York. He was described as five feet tall, gray eyes, brown hair and fair complexion. Private Keller was assigned to Company A of the 46th Infantry Regiment also known as the Fremont Rifle regiment. On June 3, 1865, Keller was mustered out at the Delaney House in Washington, DC.
Ancestry.com transcription
Sometime after the war Keller moved to California. He was not listed in the 1868 San Francisco directory. The 1869 San Francisco directory said Keller was a draftsman with George H. Baker, a lithographer at 408 California Street. Keller and Baker resided at 915 Powell Street.
The 1870 census counted twenty-four year-old Keller (line 8) in Baker’s household. Baker was on the last line of the previous sheet.
Baker on line 40
Keller on line 8
The 1871 San Francisco directory listed Keller at 410 Pacific Street. He was a draftsman with Baker.
In 1872, George F. Keller & Co., lithographers, was located at 113 Leidesdorff Street.
Keller returned to Baker in the 1873 directory.
Beginning in 1874, Keller applied his artistic talent at publisher George Thistleton’s publication, Thistleton’s Illustrated Jolly Giant. Keller’s address was 913 Montgomery Street. Thistleton’s office was at 608 Market Street.
August 22, 1874
Their association continued into 1875. Keller worked in the publisher’s office at 423 Washington Street.
Keller was not listed in the 1876 directory. In 1877 Keller, an artist at The Wasp, resided at 1101 Broadway, and also listed in the section for portrait and landscape painters.
The 1878 directory also had two listings:
1. Frederick Keller, 622 Hayes, lithographer with F. Korbel & Bros. [cigar box manufacturers and lithographers]
2. George F Keller, artist, The Wasp
Keller’s illustrations appeared in The Wasp through 1883. Over the years his address changed: 5 Burritt Street (1879), 3 Latham Street (1880), 435 Fifth Street (1881–1882), and 603 Hyde Street (1883).
Self-Portraits
According to the 1880 census, Keller (line 43), his wife Lana, and two California-born daughters, Laura and Rosa, lived in San Francisco at 435 Fifth Street. The census said he was born in Bavaria and editor of The Wasp.
The Wasp, March 26, 1881, said
Several of our readers having gotten the impression that Mr. Frederick Keller is no longer connected with the Wasp, we desire to state that such is not the case. As will be seen by our present issue Mr. Keller, after a brief rest, continues in the artistic labors which have won wide fame for him in the past and are destined to win him still more in the future.
The Wasp, March 24, 1882, said
Our regular artist, who has for some two weeks been too ill to work, and whose place has been so admirably supplied by Mr. Jules Tavernier, has recovered his health, and some of his characteristic work appears in this issue of the paper. This will be noted with lively gratification by large classes of our readers to whom the talent and sincerity of Mr. Keller the artist have endeared Mr. Keller the man. Even the spirited designs and faultless color-sense of so great a painter as Mr. Tavernier could hardly reconcile them to the loss of Mr. Keller’s work, with its wonderful mastery of lithographic methods and effects—an art in itself.
Keller was not listed in San Francisco directories after 1883. (see 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888.) Reduced Xerox of the Original Text of Historic Lithographs of San Francisco (1980) said Keller died in mid-1883. If that was true, it’s odd that The Wasp did not publish an obituary. It’s not clear what became of him.
Keller may have moved to another city. The Tennessee Virtual Archive has a print by Keller who depicted the Andersonville Prison which was printed by the Shober & Carqueville Lithographing Company in Chicago. “G. F Keller, G. A. R.” is in the lower left corner of the illustration. The print has a March 1884 copyright and also viewable at Wikimedia Commons.
The 1888 Lakeview, Illinois, city directory had a listing for “George F Keller” at 1236 George. He was an artist at Goos & Quensel. The 1889 directory (below) had the same address but a different occupation, lithographer.
The 1890 Lakeside Annual Directory of Chicago listed Keller as an artist at 1236 George. He was a lithographer, at the same address, in the 1891 listings.
A lithographer named “George F Keller” passed away on March 2, 1895 in Chicago. He was laid to rest at Graceland Cemetery.
Ancestry.com transcription
The whereabouts of Keller’s family are not known.
There was a somewhat similar Keller in New York City.
Trow’s Business Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, City of New York 1890, listed the following:
Engraver—SteelKeller, George F. 82 NassauPrinters—CardKeller, George F. 82 Nassau
The 1898 directory listing was
Printers—PlateKeller, George F. 82 Nassau
However, an obituary in New York has not been found.
China Through American Eyes: Early Depictions of the Chinese People and Culture in the U.S. Print Media (2018), The Cambridge History of Nationhood and Nationalism: Volume 2, Nationalism's Fields of Interaction (2023), and AskArt have 1927 as the year of his death. The source was not stated.
A verified date and place of Keller’s passing has not been found.
Keller’s illustrations in The Wasp, from 1876 to 1880, will appear every Wednesday during July.
(Next post on Wednesday: The Stinging Images of the Chinese in The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp, 1876 and 1877)
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