Keppele, Henry, 1716-1797.

Born Johann Heinrich Keppele in the village of Treschklingen, in what was then the autonomous imperial barony (freie Reichsritterschaft) of Kraichgau, in the northwest of today's German state of Baden-Württemberg, in the county of Heilbronn (Treschklingen today is part of the city of Bad Rappenau). In 1738, at the age of 22, Keppele emigrated to America, arriving in Philadelphia, where he settled, and after beginning as an innkeeper, became a prosperous merchant and importer. In 1741 he married Anna Catharina Barbara Bauer (1725-1774), who was born in the village of Meckesheim, in Baden. They had 15 children, of whom 5 daughters and 4 sons survived into adulthood. Their daughter Maria Barbara married the pastor J.H.C. Helmuth; and their daughter Maria Susanna married Adam Zantzinger, of Philadelphia. Keppele was an active member of St. Michael's and Zion Lutheran Church. On 26 December 1764 he was one of the co-founders of the German Society of Pennsylvania, dedicated to helping German immigrants; and he served as its first president, from 1765 to 1781.