Bios: John W. Keller Family of Lancaster County, c. 1770 - c. 1900

Copyright © 1997 by Roland Keller. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  rkeller@x1.ci.sat.tx.us

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     John W. Keller Family of Lancaster County, c. 1770 - c. 1900


SUMMARY:  My research relates to the family of Frederick and Maria
(nee Kraemer) Keller of the township of Lititz, Lancaster Co, PA, their
ascendants (currently traced to John and Maria (nee Blensinger) Keller
of Frederick, MD  and John and Katherine (nee Scheib) Kraemer of
Lancaster Co); and the children of Frederick and Maria:  John W. Keller,
Frederick Hiram Keller (former Mayor of Williamsport), Martin Van Buren
Keller, Emeline Keller, Sarah Keller, Charles Oliver Keller, George
Edward Keller, and the descendents of these children.

LONGER PIECE:  My research currently goes back to John Keller who was
born about 1753 in VA.  He and his wife, Anna Maria (nee Blensinger)
Keller, were members of the Lutheran church and resided most of their
lives in Frederick, MD.  (I have reason to believe John was born in
Frederick county, VA, (about 60 miles from Frederick, MD, but can't
prove it yet so I'll let it go at that for the moment.)   At any rate,
John & Maria are interred in the Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church
Cemetery in Frederick, Md.

Next in line is Frederick Keller, son of John & Anna Maria.  Frederick
was born in Frederick, MD and later fought in the war of 1812 as a
member of Cpt Jas Houston's company of Maryland Militia.  After the war,
Frederick relocated to Lancaster County, PA,  where he met and married
Anna Maria Kraemer, a 3d generation resident of Lancaster.  Together,
they resided for the rest of their lives in Lititz, Lancaster Co, PA,
where Frederick was a Saddle maker and the family served as members of
the Moravian Church.  Frederick and Maria appear to have had nine
children of whom seven grew into adulthood.  Second eldest in the
Frederick/Maria household was John William Keller.  Here things start to
get involved.

    About October of 1841, John William Keller, then 20 years of age,
unmarried, and  his own words "full of fun",  was partner to the
pregnancy of a certain young lady named Mary C. Stormfeltz.  Nine months
later, Mary gave birth to a son and named him after his father, John
William Keller. (To lessen confusion, I shall call this child Junior or
JWK-Jr.  To my knowledge, however, he never used either a 2d or Jr.)

    JWK-Jr never saw or met his father because shortly after discovering
that "Mary was with Child", JWK-Sr left Lititz, never to return.  JWK-Sr
first went to the Moravian settlement in Salem, North Carolina but word
of "the slight Stain on his Character" followed him and he found it
necessary to move on.  He apparently journeyed to Kentucky and is next
heard from in October of 1847 where, as a member of the US Army's 16th
Infantry, he is on board the USS Remittance in the port of New Orleans.
Here he is in the Company of fellow Kentuckians who have "Joined up" to
fight the Mexican War.  On board ship, he took time to write his parents
and over the course of the war, wrote to them and his brother, Frederick
(called Hiram) on several occasions.  (In sum, five of the letters he
wrote during the Mexican War still exist and three he wrote in later
years - after he settled in KY - also exist.  It is mostly from the
content of these letters that I am able to tell much of this story.)

    JWK-Sr saw little action in the war. After it was over, he was
discharged and returned to KY where he met and married Matilda Elizabeth
Dean (whose father was Job Dean, an early settler on John's Creek, a
tributary of the Big Sandy River in N.E. Kentucky and whose mother was
Margaret Gannon whose lineage is Irish and traces to service with
Cornwallis at Yorktown).  By Elizabeth, JWK-Sr  had four children of
whom only two survived to adulthood.  They were William Worth Keller and
Laura Ann Keller.  (Laura Married Tivis Bush)   Of Worth Keller, much is
known and his actions in 1882 and 1885 were crucial to this telling.
Worth's mother, Matilda, died at his birthing and in 1858, John married
Elizabeth Casteel of Lawrence County, KY., with whom he remained married
until his death in 1865.  Back for a moment to JWK-Jr.

    Mary C. Stormfeltz apparently married a fellow named James Weller
and together, they raised JWK-Jr and had a daughter, Cecilia.  JWK-jr
also served as a tin-smith apprentice, a trade which was to become his
profession.  Prior to the Civil War, the Weller's moved to MD where, at
he onset of the war, JWK-Jr was "drafted" into the Confederacy.  That
did not sit well with him so he deserted the South and went on to serve
with distinction as a member of the 79th PA Volunteers. (NOTE: As
related by his Great-grandson, Charles "Red" Duing of Lancaster, for
many years after the death of JWK-Jr, the American Flag that was placed
on his grave each Veterans Day was "removed" by some who took issue with
the merit of his war record in light of his having first served in the
Confederacy.)  John William Keller, Jr was also a member of the Moravian
Church.  He married twice (Sara Vogel and Maude Sturgis) and, all told,
had 8 children (by Sara: Howard J. Keller; Mary Ellen Keller (Married
Jacob F Duing); Sarah R. Keller (Married Charles N. Hover); and Martha
Louisa Keller;  - by: Maude:  Albert Keller; Margaret Keller; and
William A. Keller (Married Anna M. Harding).  {To date, I have located
only the descendants of his JWK-Jr's Daughter, Mary Ellen, who married
Jacob F. Duing and from whom Charles "Red" Duing is a descendant.  As
best I can tell, JWK-JR was no stranger among his father's uncles and
cousins in Lancaster.  Hence, his stigma as an illegitimate
nephew/grandson was possibly not much of a barrier between him and the
rest of his "legitimate" kindred.}

    JWK-Sr, like his father a saddler, died in 1865 in Ky.  His son,
William (called "Worth"), apparently had very little to go on about his
father's family so, in 1882, he wrote to Lancaster seeking information
and received a direct reply from his uncle, Martin Van Buren Keller.
Following that correspondence, Worth visited Lancaster where he met most
if not all his relatives from that region.  It was during one of his
visits that he was given the letters his father had written from the
Mexican War and Kentucky and it was also during that period that he sat
for a photograph in Gill's City Gallery on King St in Lancaster.  The
last piece of correspondence relating to his visit is a letter, only the
front page of which still exist, from a "cousin," most likely one of the
children of his half-brother, JWK-Jr.

    Before I get off the track, let me speak to the brothers & sisters
of John W. Keller-Sr.  As much as I hate to admit it, I've located no
living descendants of any of JWK-Sr's siblings.  Frederick Hiram Keller
(Called Hiram) relocated to Williamsport where he was a carpenter and
served two terms as mayor of Williamsport in the 1880's.  Emeline
married a C.W. Sturgis; there were and still are a whole pot full of
Sturgis' in Lancaster.

    Martin Van Buren Keller is the biggest enigma for me.  M.V.B. is in
the Lancaster city directory in 1901 and after that - nothing.   He was
about the same age as JWK-Jr and served in the 30th PA Volunteers in the
Civil War.  M.V.B. was wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg (gunshot
wound in elbow and right thigh) when he was possibly one of the "FEW"
Yankees who were able to penetrate the Confederate Right Flank - though
not for long.  In later years, M.V.B. ran for clerk of the Lancaster
County Orphan's Court and in a related news item is described as a
"crippled Soldier."  It is my understanding, however, that his loss of a
leg was the result of a railroad accident, not the war. (Nevertheless,
he won the election.)  {I would add here that I am now in possession of
a series of letters that M.V.B. Keller wrote during the course of the
civil war - two he wrote while guarding Washington D.C. during the 1861
& 62 timeframe.  The last is a note he sent to his former commander and
close friend, Miles Riker, in 1864, telling the latter to "hang on, I'm
on my way!" This suggests that M.V.B. returned for further service.

    Another brother of JWK-Sr, George Edward Keller, lived his entire
life in Lititz and was well known as a Sexton for the Moravian Church.
Finally, there was Charles Oliver and of him I know very little.  Like
M.V.B., Charles was listed in the 1901 Directory but is absent from the
1903-4 edition.

    Well, that pretty much sums up what I have on the Lancaster Line.
My plan is to continue to work on trying to dig up information
pertaining to John Keller's (@1753) roots to see when "WE" Keller's
arrived in this country and from whence we came.   In a later sitting, I
will provide you with transcripts of the letters John W. Keller wrote to
his parents should you wish to include them in this Folder.

Roland A. Keller
San Antonio, Tx
8/10/1997