BIO: Rev. Moses KIEFFER, D.D., Gettysburg, Adams County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/ _______________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886 _______________________________________________ Part III, History of Adams County, Page 358 REV. MOSES KIEFFER, D.D., retired minister, Gettysburg, was born in Franklin County, Penn., May 5, 1814, the seventh son of Christian and Mary (Poorman) Kieffer, natives of the same county. The ancestors of our subject, on both sides, were among the early German settlers of Pennsylvania and the male members of the family were mostly tillers of the soil. Our subject is a cousin to the Rev. Ephraim Kieffer, who is widely known through Pennsylvania, and of Dr. Keiffer, a prominent physician of Carlisle, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Dr. Kieffer grew to manhood in Franklin County, and in 1838 was graduated from what is now Franklin and Marshall College, receiving the highest honors of his class. On completing his college education he entered the theological department of that institution, where he remained two years, and at the same time was employed as tutor in his alma mater, teaching one hour per day. His first pastoral charge was at the Water Street Church in Huntingdon, Penn., accepting the call to that church in 1840, and serving the charge four years. He then accepted a call at Hagerstown, Md., where he was minister in charge seven years. From Hagerstown he went to Reading, Penn., and was there actively engaged in the ministerial work for five years. In 1855 he was elected president of Heidelberg College, at Tifflin, Ohio, over which he presided nearly thirteen years, and of which he was the second president. When he took charge the college was in its infancy, and being anxious that it should succeed the Doctor really performed the work of two men, doing all he possibly could for the prosperity of that institution, and in his efforts overtaxed his strength, which compelled him to resign his position. Following this the Doctor was supply preacher at Sandusky City, Ohio, for one year and a half. He then returned to Franklin County, Penn., locating at Greencastle, where he was pastor in charge ten years, and where he is now living a retired life. During the late war, when the rebels burned Chambersburg, Penn., Dr. Kieffer was publisher of the Quarterly Review and other publications of his church, and the publishing house and office were, with the buildings, destroyed, and with them the manuscript of a work he had ready for publication. His contributions to the religious press have been many. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion a Catholic, but not a Roman.