Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
Current genealogical work regarding Michael and Mary Kyser
Article of April 23, 1998
Michael Kiser, his wife Mary, and their ten children came to the Shenandoah Valley about 1783.
Initially purchasing 455 acres of land along the south fork of the Shenandoah River, the family settled in what was then Rockingham County. At best contemporary estimates, the current location is in the bend of the river directly to the west of Grove Hill in the Shenandoah Iron Works District of southern Page County.
Married between 1757 and 1760 in southeastern Pennsylvania, Kiser and his wife were children of recent German immigrants. Michael's father was Valentine Keiser, possibly the same Valentine Keiser who, with his wife Agnes, arrived in Philadelphia on 17 August 1729 aboard the English ship Mortenhouse. Mary's parents are believed to have been Jacob Lingel and Anna Ursula Banckard, who arrived in Philadelphia a few years later on 26 September 1737 on the English ship St. Andrews Galley. Both families settled in the area that is now near northern Montgomery and southern Lehigh Counties in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Recently identified through a birth and baptism certificate written in the 1820's for the family of
Christian Strole and his wife Elizabeth Kiser (daughter of Michael and Mary Kiser), Mary has been identified as an Eppert instead of the previously believed Lingel. The document proves that Elizabeth was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1769, lists the names of all of the children of Michael and Mary Kiser, and identifies Michael's father as Valentine.
After their marriage, Michael and Mary lived in Heidelberg Township, Berks County,
Pennsylvania. In 1763, they moved again to Cumru Township, Berks County. All of their ten children (five daughters and five sons) were probably born in Berks County. Michael served in the American Revolution in Capt. Philip Krick's 8th Company, 4th Battalion, Pennsylvania Line. His name appears on a list of fines assessed in the years 1777-1778 for being absent from muster or drill.
In 1783 Michael Kiser sold his farmland (234 acres) and moved his family to Rockingham County, Virginia. At the time of their departure from Pennsylvania in 1783, only their oldest son Valentine was married. He and his new wife Catherine Stiehl accompanied Michael and Mary Kiser and their other nine children to their new home about 150 miles to the southwest in Virginia. Some of the Lingel family had moved there in the 1770s. Michael and Mary would remain in Rockingham County for the rest of their lives. He died in 1798; she in 1805.
Many of their descendants lived in present-day Page and Rockingham Counties, although most of the descendants carrying the Kiser surname (and its variations) moved elsewhere. Of the 2568 known descendants in the first four generations (children through great-great-grandchildren), the most common surnames were Kiser (Kizer, Keiser, Keyser) (551), Kite (330), Strole (184), Foltz (90), Coiner (Koiner) (81), Dovel (80), Spotts (74), Huffman (68), and Shuler (58).
A study of this family shows how the population of post-Revolutionary America increased so quickly. Michael Kiser and Mary Lingel had 10 children, 92 grandchildren, 521 great-grandchildren, and 1945 great-great-grandchildren. Since the youngest of this fourth generation were born after the year 1900, there may be some alive today.
An excellent resource for the Kiser/Keyser/Kayser family has been created by Mark B. Arslan (e-mail address: [email protected]) and now exists on the internet. Access to this site can be gained at URL: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/6359/kiser/kiser.html
Return to the Page News & Courier sponsored directory for
Heritage & Heraldry articles.