BIO: Frederick KELKER, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, page 290.
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  KELKER, FREDERICK, son of Anthony and Mary Magdalene Kelker, was born 
in Lebanon, Pa., October 29, 1780; was baptized November 26, 1780, in 
the German Reformed church and confirmed and united with the same in 
1799.  He entered the store of Oves & Moore, at Lebanon, in 1801 for 
the purpose of learning the hardware business.  After becoming a member 
of this firm, he removed to Harrisburg in 1805 and embarked in the 
first exclusively hardware business in this city, under the firm name 
of F. Kelker & Co., at No. 5, now No. 9 South Front street.  This 
partnership continued until 1811, when Mr. Kelker became sole 
proprietor and conducted the business until 1823, when in July of that 
year he sold out to George Oglesby and Jacob Poole.  Mr. Kelker died 
July 12, 1857.  He was remarkable for punctuality and integrity.  His 
habits for industry and economy led to the acquisition of a competency, 
and the latter half especially of his life was devoted to the 
amelioration of the condition of the poor, sick and friendless.  He 
filled many minor positions in the community in which he lived, always 
rejecting political preferment.  For several terms he was member and 
president of the borough council.  He was a director of the branch 
established by the Philadelphia Bank, in Harrisburg, and a director of 
the Harrisburg Bank.  When the public schools were first established in 
Pennsylvania, he became a director and was ready at all times to co-
operate with his fellow-citizens in all of the benevolent enterprises 
of the day.  Mr. Kelker was prominent in the Reformed church and 
presided at the meeting on November 17, 1820, to establish the first 
Sunday-school in connection with the church, and was also active in the 
measures adopted for erecting the church building on the corner of 
Third and Chestnut streets.  His wife, Lydia Genberhing Chamberlin, 
born in Philadelphia, April 9, 1786, united with the German Reformed 
church of Harrisburg, April 22, 1809, and died May 2, 1812.  Mr. Kelker 
was married secondly to Catharine Fager, born in Harrisburg, October 
24, 1798, daughter of John Fager; baptized December 2, 1798, in the 
Evangelical Lutheran Zion church and first partook of communion of the 
Lord's Supper March 26, 1815.  After her marriage she withdrew from the 
Lutheran and united with the Reformed church.