York County is in south central Pennsylvania and was created on August 19, 1749 from part of Lancaster County.
The Great Wagon Road was the most important Colonial American route for settlers of the mountainous backcountry. It went from Philadelphia to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. One fork went to the Tennessee Valley and Knoxville and the other to the Piedmont Region of North Carolina.
Most Americans were farmers in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Henry Kessler was born on December 7, 1776 in North Codorus Township, York County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Henry Kellser and Barbara Kenoyer.
He was christened on February 2, 1777 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in York County, Pennsylvania. His sponsors were Christienne Waltz and Jacob Spessard..
As a child he moved to Virginia with his family. They probably traveled along the Great Wagon Road.
Henry's known children were all born in Virginia. They included:
David Kessler (1805, married Sophia Sibert),
Susannah Kessler (1808, married Joseph Campbell),
Catherine Kessler (1810, married David Campbell),
Jacob Kessler (1812, married Anna Printz (Prince)),
Elizabeth (Betsy) Kessler Noh (married Robert Dennis Noh).
Barbara Kessler who lived with Henry in 1850 could have been his daughter or daughter-in-law.
In 1810 Henry Kesler was in Augusta, Virginia. The household consisted of a woman and a man between 26 and 44 and two girls and a boy under ten.
He took his family to Ohio before the 1820 census. They probably took the National Road.
In 1820 "Henery Kesler" was in Green Township, Clark County, Ohio. The household consisted of a man over 45, a woman between 26 and 44, a boy and a girl between 10 and 15, and 4 girls and a boy under 10.
In 1830 Henry was in Jackson Township, Champaign County, Ohio. The household consisted of a man and a women between 50 and 59, 2 women and one man between 20 and 29, two girls and a boy between 10 and 14, and a girl between 5 and 9.
He appeared in the 1850 census in Champaign County, Ohio, Jackson Township. He was from Pennsylvania and was age 73 in 1850. He lived with Barbary age 33 who was born in Virginia. The next household was Jacob age 38 Anna age 40, and their children.
Henry died on November 17, 1852 and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Johnson Township, Champaign County, Ohio with other family members.
Friedens was originally a Reformed Luthern church. It is in the southeast part of Rockingham County near Mt. Crawford. Members of the Kessler and Baker families were associated with Friedens.
Lutherans are Protestants who follow Martin Luther's religious teachings, especially the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
The National Road (Cumberland Road) was built by the federal government and connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland. The road crossed the Allegheny Mountains and southwestern Pennsylvania and reached Wheeling, West Virginia in 1818. It then crossed Ohio and Indiana and stopped at Vandalia, Illinois.
David Campbell, now residing on Section 7, born in 1802, is one of the early pioneers. His parents, John and Magdalene, came West from Rockingham County, Va., when he was but a small boy, and made a temporary stop on Clear Creek, near Springboro, Warren County, this State, where he followed his trade, that of a miller, for several years, when he removed to Nettle Creek and settled in the Norman neighborhood, and for some years was the miller at the John Norman mill. David married Catharine Kesler, who is yet living. They are the parents of eleven children, four boys and seven girls.
