Husband Rudolph Frederick Kelker 1 2
Born: 17 Feb 1820 - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA 1
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Father: Frederick Kelker (1780-1857) 2 3
Mother: Catharine Fager (1798-1846) 2 4
Marriage: 17 Jun 1844 5
Wife Mary Anne Reily 2 5
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Father: Gen. William Reily ( - ) 5
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Children
1 M Frederick Kelker 5
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Died: Bef 1883
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2 M Luther Reily Kelker 5
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Died: Aft 1883
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3 M Rudolph Frederick Kelker 5
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Died: Bef 1883
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4 M William Anthony Kelker 5
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Died: Aft 1883
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General Notes: Husband - Rudolph Frederick Kelker
In March, 1835, he entered the hardware-store of Oglesby & Hinckley, successors to his father, to learn the business, and continued with them until May, 1838, when, owing to delicate health, he left the establishment and gave attention to the improvement of his father's lands in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On the 18th of November, 1842, he purchased the interest of Mr. Hinckley and carried on the hardware business with his partner, Mr. Oglesby, until the death of the latter, March 21, 1846. He continued the business alone until May following, when he associated with him his two brothers, and conducted the same under the firm-name of Kelker & Brothers, remaining in business until May 14, 1851, when, on account of failing health, he retired from mercantile pursuits. In 1852 he was elected a director of the Harrisburg Bank, in which institution he served a number of triennial terms, and became a member of the board. For several years he was a director of the First National Bank and a manager of the Harrisburg Cemetery. In the incorporation of Harrisburg as a city, he was appointed, with seven other citizens, by the Legislature on the commission to lay out the streets and avenues necessary in the new territory included within its limits. Beginning in 1854 he served as a trustee of the Harrisburg Academy, and was for a long time secretary and treasurer. From 1866 to 1872, Mr. Kelker was one of the directors of the poor for the county of Dauphin, and through his instrumentality proper legislation was secured, new additional buildings erected, and such improvements made in the general management of the almshouse as greatly alleviated the condition of the unfortunate inmates. He was one of the founders of the City Hospital, a manager beginning from its organization in 1873, from March, 1878, its treasurer, and was on the committee to superintend the construction of the new building. In 1873 and 1874 he was one of the trustees of the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital at Harrisburg, and at the organization of the Harrisburg City Passenger Railway Company, in 1874, was made a director, and also on Nov. 2, 1874, became its treasurer. Apart from these active duties of citizen-life, Mr. Kelker's labors in the Reformed Church, of which he was a prominent member, are here summarized. His parents were also members of the Reformed Church, and on the 27th of April, 1823, he was enrolled as a scholar in the Sunday-school. On the 27th of December, 1835, he was confirmed by Rev. J. F. Berg, D.D., a member of the church, a deacon of the church from 1841 to 1849, an elder in the same from 1849 to 1875, excepting the year 1867, and again in May, 1883, began filling the same position. From October, 1836, until April 29, 1850, he served as a teacher, and from the latter date until January, 1870, as superintendent of the Sunday-school, when, at the request of the consistory of the church, he took charge of an adult Bible class, which during the first year increased from twelve to ninety members, and at the close of December, 1874, it numbered one hundred and sixty-one, when the class was assigned by the consistory to the pastor of the church on account of Mr. Kelker's anti-ritualistic views. Being thus relieved of his work in the Sabbath-school, he accepted an invitation to organize and take charge of an adult Bible class of both sexes, to be composed of persons of all denominations, as well as of those who had no church relation, which organization was effected under the name of the "Salem Bible Class of Harrisburg," which came to number two hundred and sixty-eight members, and had connected with it during its existence more than seven hundred persons. The class had a valuable library, and for years was one of the established religious institutions of the city. For many years Mr. Kelker was one of the vice-presidents of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath-School Association, and for some years one of the vice-presidents of the board of managers of the American Sunday-School Union. In 1845, Mr. Kelker was elected a trustee of Marshall College, Mercersburg, and subsequently, until 1869, a corporate trustee after its union with Franklin College, of Lancaster, as Franklin and Marshall College. The Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church was incorporated in 1859, and he was one of the five trustees named in the charter and the first president of the board. For a number of years he was treasurer of Synod, and became vice-president of the board of trustees. Beginning in 1863, with the exception of three years (1875-78), up to the 1880s he served as treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Reformed Church. He was a member of the synodical committee to prepare the "Triglott Tercentenary Heidelberg Catechism," published in 1863, but dissented from the final action of that body, believing the many changes made in the new English translation as wholly unwarranted and uncalled for. He repeatedly represented his congregation in Classis, and the Classis as delegate to the Synod; was a member of the Synod of York in 1866, and made powerful opposition to the adoption and reference of the "New Order of Worship" to General Synod. In 1867, with others, he united in a call for a convention of the ministers and elders of the Eastern Synod, which assembled at Myerstown, Pennsylvania, to protest against the "Order of Worship," as being contrary to the doctrines and cultus of the Reformed Church. One of the results of this movement was the establishment, in 1869, of Ursinus College, at Freeland, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, under the presidency of Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., with a university charter, thus enabling the institution to teach theology as well as the classics. In 1879, Mr. Kelker served as a member of the "Peace Commission," a body consisting of twelve ministers and twelve laymen, chosen by direction of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States by the several District Synods to assemble at Harrisburg, and adjust the differences existing in that church in doctrine, cultus, and government. After eight days' discussion a basis of union was unanimously adopted, and a new era in the history of the church was opened up, which brought peace and harmony. The work of this commission was unanimously approved of by the General Synod, and the same persons were at once appointed by it to prepare an "Order of Worship" for the denomination suited to its wants and evangelical in its character.
In June, 1839, at his suggestion the Sunday-school teachers of Harrisburg founded the Harrisburg Sunday-School Union, and of which he was the first secretary, and upon its reorganization, in 1854, was chosen president thereof. He was one of the founders of the Young Men's Christian Association, in December, 1854, and president of the same in 1856. Mr. Kelker was likewise deeply interested in temperance work. In 1837, at the suggestion of and in connection with an intimate friend, James Cowden, they started the first total abstinence society in Harrisburg, as previous to this date the temperance organizations allowed the use of malt and vinous liquors. In 1840 he took a prominent part in the Washington temperance movement, and often represented the cause in state conventions. Beginning from their organization he was the chairman of the executive committee appointed by the Christian citizens of Harrisburg, to watch the applications for license, so as to prevent improper persons from obtaining the same, and to require all engaged in the liquor traffic to conform to the provisions of the license laws. As foreman of the grand jury of the county in 1871, 1873, and 1879, he made presentment of the license law as a public nuisance, and gave valuable statistics on the subject which attracted great attention. The report of 1873 was widely circulated, more than fifty thousand copies being printed by the friends of the temperance cause. In accordance with the suggestions of this report, almost one-half of the applications for that year for hotel and saloon liquor license were refused by the court.