Now for the mystery of our first years in America. It could be that after arriving that the KEICHERs remained in Pennsylvania until moving on to North Carolina. This does not mean that they were land owners. They may have signed a contract for their transportation to America in return for a few years of work (trade or farming) until they earned the money to buy land in North Carolina. This area of Pennsylvania was mostly German, over populated, and to be land owners most moved on to the Shenodoah Valley, Virginia and then on to North Carolina.
If deed records or other court records do not exist in Pennsylvania, then we will have to hope that there will be Lutheran Church records which give information. GEORGE ADAM KEICHER's birth should be the easiest record to locate. That would give the parents names. We would then need to look for other births under the parents names. If there were older children, then Confirmation records will help. Then when the Communicant dates stop appearing with their names, then that will help tell the year that they moved on. This research in Pennsylvania is still to be completed, but the North Carolina Lutheran records have been looked at and the records do not exist with the years that we need (mostly in the 1770;s), so on to Pennsylvania everyone. From there we should be able to find the rest of our ancestors in Germany. Possibly in Erlenbach, Neckar, Wuerttenbrg, Germany.
Early family information or family tradition is not good in giving us early family history in North Carolina or how or when the KEICHERs arrived there. However, we do have a fair amount of information of the KEICHERs in North Carolina that comes mostly from Church and Civil records. Finding the KEICHER spelling in Rowan County court records is rare but the records found to date (1994) that spell KEICHER in several ways according to the sound can probably apply to our family. The Reverend Storch kept records of his doings and this is where the spelling is always "KEICHER" (in old German script the 'h' draws below the line as 'y' or 'g' does). In GEORGE ADAM'S Bible, he signed it that way and CONRAD's Will is signed the same. That GEORGE ADAM and CONRAD were brothers is agreed upon, although there is no record stating so. GEORGE ADAM KEICHER's descendants use the spelling KIKER and most probably do not know about KEICHER so we will spell his name KIKER when we refer to him.
The earliest date that we have is that of GEORGE ADAM KIKER that comes from his Revolutionary War Records (to obtain benefits) where he states that he was born in the State of Pennsylvania, Bucks County, in the year of 1754 and that his age is recorded in the Family Bible which he has at home (the date reads 15 March 1754). The records indicate that CONRAD did not enter the Revolutionary War and to further keep us in the unknown, his Family Bible has not surfaced so we do not know his birth date. However, in the 1870 census CONRAD KEICHER, JR. stated that his father's place of birth was Germany. This would make him older than GEORGE and we might say that he was born around 1750. We also believe that there were three or four sisters but some work is needed to prove that.
The parents of these children are UNKNOWN except a letter written in 1911 stating that the father's name was CHRISTIAN. There is no record that proves this and the same letter also stated that there were three sons, GEORGE, JOHN and CONRAD. Again, there is not record to date of a JOHN but court records do show a CHRISTIAN in the late 1700's that would indicate that he might be a brother to GEORGE and CONRAD.
With the birth dates that we use for GEORGE and CONRAD, we might assume that the KEICHERs came to Pennsylvania from Germany around 1750. It would be a good guess that they stayed in Pennsylvania until moving on to North Carolina. MARY KYKER HUNT gave information that Doles Town, PA., might be a place that the KEICHERs settled. We believe that the wife of CONRAD was MARGARET LAYRLY. If this is correct, we know that her father, JOHANN CHRISTOPHER LAYRLE, arrived at the port of Philadelphia on 30 Sep 1754 from Germany. He bought land in Culpepper County, Virginia (mostly German population) in May 1757. His last land sale in Virginia was in July 1765. In 1772 the members of the Organ Lutheran Church, Rowan County, North Carolina sent LAYRLE to Germany to secure a minister. So it is guessed that he moved to North Carolina in 1765 (the earliest land record found to date for him in NC is 1780). Both families probably spent time in Pennsylvania but it is not known if they knew each other before North Carolina.
The Original Land Grants in the Irish and Trading Camp Settlements 1744-62 does not show KEICHERs (under any spelling) or LAYRLY. This is our clue that they arrived after 1763 to Rowan County, NC. Since we can not locate the records as to when father KEICHER bought land in Rowan County or when it was passed on or to who, we can only guess that other deed descriptions as to the location that they may have settled. It is probably the same land that GEORGE sold when he moved in 1790 down to Crooked Creek in Mecklenburg County (Anson and Union County today), so the old Homestead was probably near the fork of Second Dutch Creek and Reedy Creek in Rowan County. All of the families for several miles were German. We do know that CONRAD received land a little north on Second Dutch Creek and the Yadkin River which is recorded under the spelling "KIHOR" and this is the land that he sold part of to CHRISTIAN KIKER when CONRAD moved to Tennessee in 1797.
To profile our CONRAD KEICHER in North Carolina, we can see that he must have been active in his Lutheran Church, trust worthy to be listed as an administrator or witness for several neighbors, stubborn enough not to take the Oath of Allegiance to the State (unless I read this abstract wrong), and loved and respected enough to be chosen to be a guardian of an orphan of a Reverend. (Orphan usually meant the father had died but mother was alive and an orphan over the age of 14 could choose his guardian and trade). PAUL NAUSSMAN was to 'learn the art and mystery of a blacksmith'.
Why at the age of near fifty would one cross the mountains in those days to start over is somewhat mystifying unless it was to assure his children of more land as it opened to the west. Washington County certainly was not as heavy German as where he left. He was still active in church as he was a witness on the deed for Emanuel Lutheran Church. The Historical marker near the Nolichucky River, about eight (8) miles from Jonesborough, on the road to the Erwin area, calls this the "Old Dutch Meeting House". They built a German School across the road, so speaking German must still have been important going into the 1800's. The German language was fazed out during the period of 1825 to 1850. The church began having both German and English sermons. The German school was closed around 1850 if not several years earlier. Only the cemetery remains (private property) there today and that is where CONRAD and MARGARET are buried in unmarked graves. There are 62 pages of these church records remaining (copies can be found in the archives at the Library at East Tennessee State University at Johnson City. The KEICHER's are found on every page. CONRAD must have been a master blacksmith, carpenter, and farmer as you can see by his tools in his estate inventory and by the skills handed down to his descendants. It is said that his son, JOHN, built the clock hands on the Washington County Court House and we all know about the skilled carpenters and farmers on down the line.
It looks like CONRAD set the pattern and he must be quite proud that for the most part his descendants have continued to apply great effort and pride in what we call work so that we provide for our family and church and pay our debts. That seems to be what his life was about.
It has taken several clues and records to list the children of CONRAD KEICHER, SR. and this is believed to be correct and complete. But for GEORGE ADAM this has not been an easy project.
There are a few families of KIKERs that can not attach directly, but live in the same area of Mecklenburg (Anson & Union) County that GEORGE moved to. GEORGE's bible has some missing pages that would probably have listed the rest of his children, so some work remains with this generation of GEORGE ADAM (KEICHER) KIKER.
Possible areas of research for GEORGE ADAM KIKER: -- his wife was ELIZABETH________. She was born 8 March 1762 and they married May 1781. Her name could be BULLEN, as the BULLENS lived just north of what is thought to be the KEICHER homestead. Her name could be PEELER/BEELER, as Michael PEELER was a neighbor of the KEICHER's in Rowan Co., NC. In the will of MICHAEL PEELER, dated 1807, he mentioned a daughter, ELIZABETH. To this date (May 2000) no further information is known about this ELIZABETH. The original spelling of PEELER was BEELER/BIEHLER. GEORGE is mentioned at least once in Rev. Storch's records. This could have been either at Peint Church or at Crooked Creek.
GEORGE ADAM has left us two sources that help very much in putting his story together. First, there are Revolutionary War Pension Applications by GEORGE and ELIZABETH. Second, his Bible survives to give us a list of his family. But there is a problem here as some pages are missing that would give us a complete list of children and probably their marriages. DONNA LIDDELL, JAMES R KIKER, and RICHARD KYKER agree that ELIZABETH's maiden name is not BOLTON or BOLTO (if one studies some German script and some signatures of the people of that time, we believe that this will be agreeable to everyone even though the writing is somewhat faded). To date (2000), neither a will or estate papers have surfaced for GEORGE that might help to record his wntire family, if there are more children than are listed in the Bible.
CHRISTIAN KEICHER---DONNA and RICHARD believe CHRISTIAN to be a brother to CONRAD and GEORGE ADAM and not the father as first believed. Of course, CHRISTIAN could have been a second name, but to put this together we will work only with the 'NAMES OF RECORD' and they are not real clear.
Rev. Storch married CHRISTIAN KEICHER and ELIZABETH LINEBERGER in 1789. The 1790 census (the first U.S. census) listed CHRISTIAN KYGER as 2 males over 16, 1 female no age. The 1800 census list WIDOW KEYHER 00100-01110. This is read as 1 male age 10-15 and females age 5-10, 10-15, 15-20 and the age of the Widow is missing (this listing needs to be re-checked). But as read then these children belong to CHRISTIAN unless ELIZABETH had children by a previous marriage. If so, why do they not show on the 1790 census?
Rev. Storch buried a KEICHER in 1804. A CONRAD KIKER is shown as 1 WP on 1803 Rowan Co. Tax list, with the WIDOW KIKER as having the 124 acres (sold to CHRISTIAN by CONRAD in 1797. There is an Estate Sale record of ELIZABETH KIKER dated 22 August 1819. No mention of th 124 acres. We need to know when, to whom, and from whom that 124 acres were sold and also with that record, we may have an explanation of the Supplementary inventory to CONRAD KEICHER's estate in Washington County, Tennessee in 1831. It could be that descendants of ELIZABETH KIKER my have continued to live on the 124 acres thru the 1820's before a title change was made. A CONRAD KIKER was listed as neighbor of 'KIKER' line on several deed transactions in Rowan Co thru the late 1820's.
another refercne made to his land: Book 30, page 485/435; Nov 4, 1828, VALENTINE BROUGHER(heir of deceased JACOB BROUGHER of Jennings Co. Indiana, lets JACOB TREXLER of Rowan Co. NC have 49 acres on South bank of Yadkin River, next JOHN PEELER, WIDOW KIGER & JACOB BROWN, formally --LOWASSER's --also 160 acres on the river bank next to the old Granville line & JACOB BROWN, for $180.00. Witnessed by Ezra Allenong & Peter Weldbrand & proved by the latter in Feb. 1829. NOTE: Perhaps the CONRAD mentioned in the above paragraph had died and left a widow - thus the settlement of the estate in 1831?
