KELKER Families
Switzerland to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Colorado
From Switzerland, KÖLLIKER was changed to KELKER after arriving in 1743 in Pennsylvania. The David KELKER family helped lay the gravel beds for the railroads and later ran a boarding house following the railroad from Pennsylvania through Ohio as the rails were laid. Son Anthony became an engineer after they arrived in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. Several others in the family also worked for the railroad and several were engineers. Several Kelker brothers and their descendants live in Fort Wayne, and a couple engineer brothers moved to Colorado. There is a Kelker Junction near Denver, Colorado that is most likely named for the Kelker brothers who moved there. See internet links below.
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My great-great-grandparents were Amanda KELKER 1839 Franklin County, Pennsylvania to 1914 Delphos, Van Wert County, Ohio to Marion, Grant County, Indiana and Lewis TIMMONS 1838 Logan County to 1899 Delphos, Van Wert County, Ohio. Amanda lived in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana for about 15 years, before moving in with a daughter in Marion, Indiana before passing away. Her obituary says she was buried in Delphos, Ohio and a newspaper line says Lewis TIMMONS was buried in West Side Cemetery Delphos, Allen County, Ohio. Only Edmund TIMMONS, Lewis' father has a tombstone. Several grandchildren and other relatives are buried here. Their Evans grandchildren were the first burials in 1847 in this cemetery.
Amanda's brothers Anthony and Samuel KELKER in Fort Wayne and John KELKER in Colorado were railroad engineers during the wood and coal burning steam locomotive days similar to the Nickel Plate 765 engine from Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana in the You Tube video above. Brother George KELKER was also a railroad worker in Colorado, but I'm not sure he was an engineer. Several descendants of these families also worked on the railroad for the next couple of generations.
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3rd great-grandparents were David KELKER 1801 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to Goshen, Mahoning County to Delphos, Allen County, Ohio to 1872 Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana and Mary HOUSER 1802 Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to Mahoning County to Delphos, Allen County, Ohio to 1883 Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. Son Anthony KELKER is discussed on my Public Officials web page. All 3 are buried in Lindenwood Cemetery Fort Wayne, Indiana in Anthony's family plot.
4th cousin Patrick Kelker's retirement from the U.S. Post Office was the front page newspaper story on Christmas day December 25, 2010 and includes a short video.
4th great-grandparents were John KELKER after 1768 to after 1808 to Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and Barbara ZIMMERMAN about 1773-1855 was 92 years old when she died in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania according to the 'Kelker book' and confirmation has not been found.
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5th great-grandparents Rudolph KELKER 1747-1826 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and Maria WEIDMAN about 1750 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and are most likely buried in the Tudor United Church of Christ formerly German Reformed cemetery. He was on the indenture of the church March 8, 1780 as shown on page 19 in the Google book A history of Tabor First Reformed church, Lebanon, Penna, by D. Earnest Klopp, Lebanon, June 1892, below.
- Rudolph, Anthony, Henry KELKER in 1790 Lebanon Tax List
- Rudolph and Anthony KELKER in Historical Annals of Lebanon County
- The Family of John Marshall (1803-1889) - 1827 married Charlotte Kelker 1800-1854, daughter of Jacob Kelker, son of Rudolph and Maria Weidman Kelker, see Kelly Marshall March 19, 2010 comment
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6th great-grandparents were Henry KELKER (Heinrich KÖELLIKER) 1705 Zurich, Switzerland to 1762 Lebanon, Lancaster now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and Regula BRÄETSCHER Andelfingen, Switzerland to Lancaster now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Their voyage to America took 28 weeks, but the ship is unknown, although the landing location is speculated as in Carolina as shown on page 59 and Ancestor Search has them included on a page for the ship Snow Endeavor. The signer of their church records in Switzerland was a Ziegler, which raises the question was that Ziegler related to my Ziegler ancestors who came from Switzerland. Their immigration is discussed in Lists of Swiss emigrants in the eighteenth century to the American Colonies, Volume 1, by Albert Bernhardt Faust, mentioned in the preface page iv, and page viii. I plan to make a trip to Pennsylvania to get better photos of their tombstone than what is on Find-A-Grave.
The KELKER book and several internet sources take the KÖELLIKER family back eight more generations to 1465 in Zurich, Switzerland. My David KELKER and wife Mary HOUSER are found in the book on page 120 (126) [n225] below, stating they lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana May 4, 1869.
Other Kelker Stuff
- Hess, Rev. John Jacob and Kelker, Rudolph F., Archive.org page flipping book: Genealogical record of the family of Koelliker of Herrliburg, District Meilen, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, completed in summer of 1849; to the above now, (1883) added a record of the family of Kelker, since their arrival in this country, in 1743, compiled from authentic sources
Google book: Genealogical Record of The Family of Koelliker of Herrliburg, District Meilen, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, 1849, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1883, reprinted by Higginson Book Co., and in the Genealogy Center at ACPL in Fort Wayne, Indiana. - KELKER Ancestry.com Message Board
- 1916 KELKER Blower Company explosion
- KELKER DNA Surname Project is a good way to verify male descent
- KELKER Family GenForum Message Board
- KELKERS Family GenForum Message Board
- John KELKER history a first cousin once removed of my David KELKER in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
- William A. KELKER - Proceedings and addresses, Volumes 18-19, by Pennsylvania-German Society, page 36, a third cousin 4 times removed, former Vice President of the Dauphin County Historical Society, its librarian and custodian of records and member of the Pennsylvania-German Society on January 13, 1892. His brother Luther Reilley Kelker was chief of the Division of Public Records at the Pennsylvania State Library and author of History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Volume 3includes a photo of Rudolph Frederick Kelker. There is also a transcribed version.
- Rudolph Kelker, son of Henry and Regula, in May 1821 was elected high sheriff of Lebanon, Lebanon County.
- Rudolph Kelker, grandson of Henry and Regula, was the furnace superintendent of Cornwall iron furnace in Lebanon County, July 3, 1798 Rudolph Kelker received 280 cannon balls for shot remaining since the Revolution at Cornwall Furnace. In A Country Storekeeper in Pennsylvania: Creating Economic Networks in Early America 1790-1807, by Diane E. Wenger, page 87. On page 89 it points out slaves worked under Kelker's supervision at the Cornwall Furnace in the 1790's and on page 100 points out his untimely death in 1801 at only 33 years of age.
- "Governor Dick", the old slave who ran away from Cornwall Furnace on April 17, 1796 was the target of this announcement in The Lancaster Journal:
- "Twenty Dollars Reward. RAN away from Cornwall Furnace, Dauphin county, on Sunday the 17th of April last, a Negro Man, called Dick, (alias) Governor Dick: he is an elderly man, bald headed, about five feet ten inches high, stout made, has a down look, is slightly marked on each of his temples with the small scores usual to some of the natives of Africa, has large feet, and a remarkable scar on the great toe of his right foot, occasioned by its being split with an axe. He is by trade a rough carpenter, and values himself greatly on his dexterity in that occupation. Had on when he went away, a new drab-coloured coatee, with metal buttons, jacket and overalls of the same, a new wool hat, and took with him some old clothes. As he lived in the early part of his life in Hartford county, State of Maryland, it is probable he has shaped his course to that quarter. Whoever secures the said Negro so that the owners may get him again, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable charges, if brought home. July 8th, 1796. RUDOLPH KELKER, jun."
- Brother Anthony Kelker served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War, was elected the first high sheriff, and had the first polling place in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Anthony's granddaughter Elizabeth married Thomas Ramsey. Their son Alexander Ramsey, born in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, became the First Territorial Governor of Minnesota and the second elected governor. The Alexander Ramsey House is now owned by the Minnesota Historical Society. Several family members served in the Revolution as seen in Year book of the Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the American Revolution and Year, Books 1889-1895, By Sons of the American Revolution, Minnesota Society, by William Henry Grant. Alexander Ramsey has a memorial photo on Find-A-Grave.
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Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania links
Many of the following locations can be seen on my Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Google map
- 2nd cousin 5 times removed, Rudolph KELKER, great-grandson of Henry and Regula, of the Harrisburg KELKER's was a well known abolitionist during the slavery days. The Harrisburg KELKER's are mentioned in many early Dauphin County, Pennsylvania histories. Engletown, located in the Old Uptown Harrisburg historic district, between Harris and Kelker Streets and between N. Second and N. Third Streets, is a turn-of-the-century neighborhood and features ornate buildings primarily of Queen Anne and Italianate design. Rudolph F. Kelker was a trustee of Franklin and Marshall College in 1865. He was a Trustee and Elder of the German Reformed Church in their One Hundred and Twentieth Annual Sessions Act and Proceedings on page 15 and 16. The land he bought April 1, 1830 became Steelton and eventually Bethlehem Steel.
- Kelker Street in Harrisburg is near the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion, it separates Midtown from Old Uptown, and near Broad Street Market the oldest continually operated street market in the United States.
- Rudolph Kelker's home at 9 S Front Street, known as the Kelker Mansion, housed the Kelker family collections and The Historical Society of Dauphin County until it was torn down to build the Dauphin County Courthouse in 1941.
- Rudolph Kelker owned a barn at Barbara and River Streets where it is thought he housed runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad
- Henry A. and Rudolph F. Kelker - Harrisburg City Pass Ry in Poor's directory of railway officials and manual of American street railways, page 1234
- Rudolph F Kelker listed as owning a Sauer bible in the Early Bibles of America: being a description account of Bible published in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, by Rev John Wright DD , 1894, page 381
- John Kelker, nephew of Rudolph, and his family owned land on the Susquehanna River that became the Pennsylvania Steel Works - his photo is on page 48 Harrisburg by Linda Ries, I assume is talking about the same land Rudolph bought April 1, 1830. The Hygenic School mentions the Kelker brothers extensive land holdings in its history.
- In the History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, by third cousin four times removed Luther Riley Kelker page 44, outlines the History of the Kelker Family on page 42a, and includes descendants who named their children's middle name as Kelker such as Frederick Kelker Schwartz on page 200 and John Kelker Royal on page 219.
- Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the infamous 1979 nuclear meltdown site, is only 3 miles southeast of where Rudolph Kelker lived and the current Dauphin County Courthouse. Nuclear World Association information.
- A dramatic 2010 You Tube video Meltdown at Three Mile Island Part 1
- The Walter Cronkite broadcast from 1979 is below:
Colorado links
- Kelker Junction, El Paso County, Colorado Latitude: 38.79583, Longitude: -104.78083, Elevation: 5854 feet , a Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad spur near Fort Carson, named for brothers George and John KELKER, like many early railroaders, including cousin Anthony in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they were involved in several accidents, but not killed contrary to some reports.. Early railroad engineer brothers who moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Colorado in the mid to late 1800's. There is a large concert hall at Kelker Junction claimed to be the world's largest 3.2 night club that hosted the rock bands Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels and The Who August 18, 1968. Even mentioned on a miniature railroad web site.
- John Kelker - Master Mechanic in Pueblo - Poor's directory of railway officials and manual of American street railways, page 1294
- It appears this line also went to China to work on the railroads in the 1920's based on several links in response to Emily Kelker's comment on my Guest book December 7, 2009. Some links: David Reedy Kelker mentioned in 2003 Kelker Ancestry.com.
If you find research that adds to, or contradicts mine, please leave a Comment on my Follis Families in the United States Facebook page, or send me an Email.
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