KELKER Families

Switzerland to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana

Google maps may be slow to load - wait for colored pins to show

Offsite Internet Links Open in New Windows!

From Switzerland KÖLLIKER was changed to KELKER after arriving in 1743 in Pennsylvania. The David KELKER family ran a boarding house following the railroad 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, that is most likely named for the Kelker brothers who moved there. See internet links below.

My great-great-grandparents were Amanda KELKER 1839-1914 Franklin County, Pennsylvania to Delphos, Van Wert County, Ohio to Marion, Grant County, Indiana and Lewis TIMMONS 1838-1899 Logan County to 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.

Amanda's parents were David KELKER 1801-1872 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to Goshen, Mahoning County to Delphos, Allen County, Ohio to Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana and Mary HOUSER 1802-1883 Pennsylvania to Mahoning County to Delphos, Allen County, Ohio to Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. Brother Anthony KELKER is outlined on my Public Officials web page.

David's parents 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.

John's parents Rudolph KELKER 1747-1826 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and Maria WEIDMAN about 1750 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and is most likely buried in the Tudor United Church of Christ formerly German Reformed cemetery. It appears 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

Rudolph's parents were Henry KELKER (Heinrich KÖELLIKER) 1705-1762 Zurich, Switzerland to Lancaster now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and Regula BRÄETSCHER Andelfingen, Switzerland to Lancaster now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Their voyage to America took 28 days, but the ship is unknown, although the landing location is speculated as in Carolina as shown on page 59. 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 some more 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 hoped to make a trip to Pennsylvania to get better photos of their tombsone in 2009 than what is on Find-A-Grave, but waited too long, the threat of snow caused me to postpone until 2010 as I have other ancestors who lived in nearby mountains that would be too risky for me to drive anymore this year.

Rudolph KELKER one of their descendants 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.

Sources and Internet Links

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) below, stating they lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana May 4, 1869.

• Hess, Rev. John Jacob and Kelker, Rudolph F., Genealogical Record of The Family of Koelliker of Herrliburg, District Meilen, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, 1849, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1883, reprinted by Higginson Book Co., and on shelf at ACPL
• KELKER Ancestry.com
• 1916 KELKER Blower Company explosion
• KELKER DNA Surname Project
• KELKER Family GenForum
• KELKERS Family GenForum
• John KELKER history a first cousin once removed of 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.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania links

• 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
• Rudolph Kelker was a furnace superintendent of an iron furnace, A Country Storekeeper in Pennsylvania: Creating Economic Networks in Early America 1790-1807, by Diane E. Wenger, page 87. The land he bought April 1, 1830 became Steelton and eventually Bethlehem Steel.
• John Kelker, nephew of Rudolph, and his family owned land on the Susquehanna River that became the Pennsylvannia Steel Works - his photo is on page 48 Harrisburg by Linda Ries, I assume is talking about the same land Rudolph bought Apri 1, 1830
• 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 and 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
• In the History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, by third cousin four times removed Luther Reily Kelker page 44, outlines the History of the Kelker Family on page 42a, and includes descedants 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 is only 3 miles southeast of where Rudolph Kelker lived and the currrent Dauphin County Courthouse.

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 Guestbook December 7, 2009. Some links: David Reedy Kelker mentioned in 2003 Kelker Ancestry.com,

Sign or view my Guestbook