John Martin Kerstetter (1733 - abt. 1798)

Born 9 Dec 1733 in Lancaster, Province of Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Elisabetha Bickel — married 1 Jun 1756 in Cleona, Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died about Aug 1798 at about age 64 in Pennsylvania, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Matt Pryber [send private message]

Biography

Much more is available, but the first bits are:

"Johann Martin Kerstetter, Born Dec. 9, 1733, Married Elisabetha Bickel on June 1, 1756, Died in 1798 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Martin married Elisabetha Bickel, daughter of Hans Bickel and Barbara Winkelman, born Jan. 15, 1735 or 1736 in Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.(Information on the family of Elisabetha Bickel was provided by family historian Carleton L. Weidemeyer of Clearwater, Florida, from information researched by Lineages of Salt Lake City.)

The couple had eight children. Joh. Adam and Anna Margaretha were baptized at Hill Church. The younger children were born after the family relocated in Northumberland County.

The order of the children’s names in the text is the same as in Martin’s will, but it doesn’t appear to be strictly chronological. Approximate birth dates for Johannes and Rudolph were deduced from later census records. Martin gave the first names, but not the married names of his daughters in his will. Their married names appear in court documents needed to settle the estate some years later.

Elisabetha and her husband had a daughter Elisabetha baptized in 1785 at Stone Valley or Zion’s Lutheran and Reformed Church near Hickory Corners, according to Pennsylvania German Marriages compiled by Donna R. Irish. The sponsors of the child were her parents. The date would indicate that Elisabetha was born sometime in the early or mid 1760s and married in 1784 or earlier. Ruth Galon of Seipstown, Pennsylvania maintained that Barbara’s husband was John Seiler. A Johann Seiler (July 10, 1758-Aug. 30, 1823) is buried in the Stone Valley cemetery. Children:

Joh. Adam, Born Aug. 28, 1757, Died after 1806

Johannes, Probably born about 1760, Married (2?) Catarina Wolf, Died in 1813 in what is now Centre County, Pennsylvania

Anna Margaretha, Born in July 1766, Married Jacob Brosius

Elisabetha, Married Heinrich or Henry Löfler

Rudolph, Born about 1770, Died after 1850 in Stephenson County, Illinois

Anna, Married John Bingaman

Barbara, Married William Emick or Emrich

Catarina, Married Joh. Georg Yaeger or Yeagle

Early tax records for 1771 and 1772 show Martin and his family living near Jonestown (formerly Williamsburg) at the forks of Swatara Creek in present-day Lebanon County. By 1778, the family had moved to Mahanoy Township in Northumberland County. The township covered much of the southern part of the county at the time, and Martin served as one of its first constables in 1778. (Bell's "History of Northumberland County", notes from Castetter and McQuillis. Bell says the administration of township affairs was usually given to “men of some prominence and influence in their respective neighborhoods.”)

The family soon had extensive land holdings in the county and a grist mill acquired in 1785. There was the tract of 79 acres on the Susquehanna River at Dalmatia. There was a tract of 187¾ acres known as Fairview that Martin acquired by a land warrant dated March 29, 1774. He purchased 245 acres of land with buildings and improvements in 1792 at a location about two miles from the Susquehanna. Still another holding was located north and a bit east of the community of Pillow and just north of Jacob’s Ridge.10 It is not clear from the land records if all these properties were kept by Martin.

Martin’s will was dated Sept. 19, 1798, and filed on Nov. 17 at the Northumberland County courthouse. The original will, written in German, is still on file. Martin signed the document in a child-like hand that appeared to have little control. The will lists Martin’s occupation as a miller, gives the first names of his eight children and indicates all eight were adults by offering Elisabetha the choice of where she wanted to live after his death.

Martin asked that one piece of land be sold to pay his debts. The rest of the estate was to go to Elisabetha until her death, then be divided among the children. The will added: “But in case my said beloved wife should marry, she shall then have no more than is allowed by law. And in case she would marry then all shall be divided equally amongst my eight children . . .”

Whether Elisabetha remarried or not is not known, and it is not known where she and Martin are buried."^[1] These details need to be traced to original sources.

Martin, living in Mahanoy Township, wrote a will 19 Sep 1798 and his estate passed probate on 31 August 1798 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, making his dead about Aug 1798. In it he mentions (all living): wife Elizabeth, children John Adam, John, Margaret, Elizabeth, Rudolph, Barbara, Catharina and Anna.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ THE KERSTETTER FAMILY: THE EARLY YEARS, 1727-1850; Steve Kerstetter; self published; 2010; pp 6, 17-18.
2. ↑ Probate: "Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993"
   Wills, 1772-1907; Index, 1792-1930; Author: Northumberland County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Northumberland, Pennsylvania
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8802 #1985808 (accessed 26 February 2023)
   Martin Kerstetter probate on 31 Aug 1798 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA.

Family Treemaker-Descendants of Wolff Kurstetter

Rudolph Kerstetter Birth: 1754 Death: 1840 (aged 85–86)

Burial: Old Schracktown Cemetery, Loganton, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, USA Memorial #: 30661980

Bio: Soldier of the RevolutionParents: Johann "John" Martin Kerstetter, Jr 1733-1798 and Elizabeth Bickel 1736-1798Spouse: Anna Maria 9Margaret) unknown 1774-____Known children: Samuel 1799-1832; Adam 1800-1841; Michael 1802-1871; Elizabeth 1804-____; Jacob 1805-1874; Peter 1809-1886; Catherine 1811-1901; Sarah 1814-1887; Phoebe Louise 1819-1880 Originally Created by: jbowers (46897861) Added: 18 Oct 2008 URL: Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 25 August 2020), memorial page for Rudolph Kerstetter (1754–1840), Find a Grave Memorial no. Find A Grave: Memorial #30661980, citing Old Schracktown Cemetery, Loganton, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by jbowers (contributor 46897861) .