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Gc 974.801 D26k V.l 1128616 QSNEIAUOGY C0L.L.E:CT10rii ALLENCOUNTYPUBLICLIBRARY 3 1833 02219 7096 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center http://www.archive.org/details/historyofdauphin01kelk HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA BY LUTHER REILY KELKER . Custodian of Division Public Records of Pennsylvania. WITH GENEALOGICAL MEMOIRS ILLUSTRATED. VOL. L "^."r" NEW YORK CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1907 Copyright 1907 The Lewis Publishing Company Publishers' Announcement. The present work, "History of Dauphin County, Pennsyl- vania," will, it is confidently believed, commend itself to the people of that historic old region of Pennsylvania, and not only to them but to various Libraries, Historical Societies, and also to many in- dividual investigators throughout the Commonwealth and Nation. These volumes contain much valuable information which has hitherto lain inaccessible to the people at large. Of special import- ance are the numerous lists of Taxables and Land Owners, the Mil- itary Rolls of the Dauphin County Territory in the wars with the French and Indians, of the Revolution, the Whiskey Insurrection, the War with Great Britain in i8 12-14, the Mexican War, the War of the Rebellion, and the Spanish-American War; also the early Church Records of Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths.* These compilations have been made with painstaking care, in large part by Mr. Luther R. Kelker, and in their entirety under his immediate supervision. To this monumental labor, as well as to directing the compilation of the general history, that gentleman has brought the — highest qualifications diligent study of local history for many years, warm enthusiasm based upon reverence for the pioneers who here planted the institutions of civilization, and a laudable pride of ances- try. He was possessed of a love of historical and genealogical subjects from his youth. During his convalescence following a serious illness he began a systematic study of what had been gathered in the Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives, and on recovering his health procured permission to examine the unpublished records in the basement and attic of the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. While he was thus engaged the American Historical Association appointed a committee to examine into the condition of published and unpublished archives in the various States of the Union. Dr. Her- man V. Ames, Professor of American History in the University of Pennsylvania, represented that body for investigations in Pennsyl- vania, and, on reaching Harrisburg, consulted with the various *The reader will understand that in all ancient liststhe original orthography andpunctuation have been preserved. PUBLISHERSVANNOUNCEMENT iv heads of departments, by whom he was referred to Mr. Kelker on account of his familiarity with the subjects in question, and, in his report in iqoi to the American Elistorical Association, Dr. Ames gave credit to Mr. Kelker "for generous services and valuable information." About this time Mr. Kelker took up historical and genealogical research as a profession. On April 14, 1903, Gover- nor Pennypacker approved a bill constituting a new department to be called the Division of Public Records, and on June ist following Mr. Kelker was appointed to organize it. This duty he successfully performed, and it was his distinction that this department was the first of its class in the United States, and of which he has had charge from its inception, his official designation being Custodian of Divi- sion of Public Records of Pennsylvania. He has performed diligent labor upon the twenty-two volumes of the Pennsylvania Ar- chives, the editor of which testified to Mr. Kelker's devotion by say- ing that the prociuction of that series w^ould have been practically impossible without the aid of one w^hose enthusiasm was so well sustained. I\[r. Kelker's plans in the organization and conduct of his department met the warm approval of leading historical students throughout the country, and proved a great stimulus to the investi- gation of original documents by students for univers'ties and colleges throughout the country. In a letter to the publishers of this work, John W. Jordan, LL.D., of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, says of Mr. Kelker: "He is an enthusiastic delver in the historical mine, and in his knowledge of the German counties of the State, the people and their history, he Is well considered. As Custodian of Public Records he is efficient and energetic." As a proper accompaniment to the narrative history contained in this work, is presented a department of Genealogical Memoirs, linking the active people of to-day with their honored forbears, in the conviction that "It is indeed a blessing when the virtues Of noble races are hereditan*'. And do derive themselves from the imitation Of virtuous ancestors." The pages of these genealogical and personal memoirs have been prepared with all due care from such data as were accessible from the hands of family representatives and from extant records. In each case the sketch has been submitted to the immediate subject or to his proper representative for correction and rev—ision. It is be- heved that the present w—ork, in both its features historical, and genealogical and personal will prove a real addition to the mass of