Husband Jacob Kepler 1 2
AKA: John Kleckner 3
Born: 1795 - Maryland 2
Christened:
Died: 1877 4
Buried:
Father: Peter Kepler ( - ) 5
Mother:
Marriage:
Wife Margaret A. Peiffer 5
AKA: Anna M. Pieffer 1
Born: - Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John Peiffer ( - ) 3
Mother: Susannah Hetrick ( - ) 3
Children
1 F Sarah C. Kepler 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jacob Siverling (1817-Aft 1885) 1
2 M Samuel W. Kepler 5
Born: 19 Jun 1821 - Crawford Co, PA 5
Christened:
Died: 15 Mar 1891 2
Buried:
Spouse: Christine Sherred ( - ) 4
Marr: 1843 4
Spouse: Martha C. Strouss ( -Abt 1913) 4
Marr: 1860 4
General Notes: Husband - Jacob Kepler
He began his business career in 1817, in Woodcock, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, conducting a hotel there for twenty-one years, at same time keeping the postoffice. He was the father of thirteen children. In 1843 he abandoned the hotel business and removed on a farm in Hayfield Township, Crawford County, where he remained about twenty-six years, and then came to Venango and opened a tavern. Much of his time was occupied in the manufacture of domestic wines. He served through the war of 1812.
His father brought the family from Maryland to Le Bouef Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 1798, when Jacob was three years old. He spent his boyhood on his father's farm and after the outbreak of the War of 1812 he enlisted in his country's cause and served in the war to its conclusion. In 1817, with his younger brother, William, he left the Erie County farm for the wilderness of Crawford County and settled in the eastern part of Rockdale Township, where he began to clear 150 acres of land in accordance with a contract he had entered into with the Holland Land Company. At the time of his arrival he also purchased a lot in what became Keplerville, later Woodcockboro, and built a house there. By 1822 the turnpike destined to connect Philadelphia with Erie was so far completed that a horde of immigrants to the West began to make use of this through route, which passed through Woodcockboro. Recognizing the opportunity, Jacob Kepler, in 1822, erected a tavern on what was later the southwest corner of Main and Center streets, a two-story structure with twelve rooms, on the upper floor of which was a large public hall. It became the principal community center and also housed the post office, over which Jacob Kepler presided by virtue of his appointment as postmaster. A sketch of this old tavern, the first in Crawford County, would later adorn the lobby of the Kepler Hotel in Meadville. For twenty-one years it was operated by Jacob Kepler, who subsequently removed to Venango, then called Klecknerville, and continued his career as an innkeeper. Until his death he was one of its leading citizens and upon the incorporation of Venango in 1852 he served as one of the first councilmen of the town. Among the distinctions he valued most was the privilege of acting as host to Lafayette, when the great Frenchman made his second visit to America.