Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Keller, Gottfried 1860 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 18, 2007, 7:32 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

GOTTFRIED KELLER.

    Gottfried Keller, a substantial farmer of Center township, proprietor of a
fine farm of a half section of land in that township, is a native of the
republic of Switzerland, but has been a resident of Marshall county for more
than thirty years. He was born on a farm in the canton of Bern, Switzerland,
September 30, 1860, son of Nicholas and Anna Keller, natives of that same
country, who came to the United States in 1885 and came on out to Kansas,,
settling in Franklin township, this county, where the former died five years
later, in 1890, he then being fifty-six years of age, and where his widow died
in 1900, she then being sixty-eight years of age. They were the parents of four
sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the
others being Charles, of Center township, this county: John, of Franklin
township, and Fred, who is now living in Oregon.

     Reared in his native Switzerland, Gottfried Keller came to this country in
1885, with his parents. After a year spent on the farm with his parents, in
Franklin township he rented a farm in Guittard township for one year; and rented
a part of the county farm, and after a year he began farming in Richland
township, where he remained a year, at the end of which time he began farming in
Logan township and was there thus employed until 1893, when he moved back to
Franklin township and established his home in that township and there made his
home for ten years. In 1901 he bought his present farm of three hundred and
twenty acres in Center township and in the spring of 1903 moved onto the same
and has since made his home there. After taking possession of that place Mr.
Keller erected, all the buildings now there, with the exception of some minor
buildings, and has otherwise improved the place in up-to-date fashion, now
having an excellent farm plant. His farm is right at the edge of the village of
Winifred and is a very attractive place of residence. Mr. Keller takes an active
interest in the general affairs of the community and is a stockholder in the
Farmers Elevator Company at Winifred. He is a Democrat and for four years served
as township treasurer and was then re-elected for two years. He is a member of
the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his family are
members of the German Lutheran church.

    In 1883 Gottfried Keller was united in marriage to Rosa Kohler, who also was
born in Switzerland, daughter of Samuel Kohler and wife, and to this union
twelve children have been born, three of whom died in infancy, the others being:
Robert, a farmer in Franklin township; Fred, a farmer, of Center township;
Edward and Ernest, assistants to their father on the home farm; Mrs. Anna
Bruensbach, of Balderson township, and Emma, Ida, Rosa and Edith. The Kellers
have a very pleasant home and take a proper interest in the general social
activities of their home community.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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