Johann Heinrich Keppele

Johann Heinrich Keppele (born August 1, 1716 in Treschklingen , † 1797 in Philadelphia ) was a German emigrant and the first president of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Life

Keppele came from a family of mayors and bailiffs of the Barons von Gemmingen in Treschklingen. In 1738, together with his uncle Johann Michael Mayer (* 1703) and his family of eight, he was one of the first known emigrants to the small Kraichgau village . Most of the few emigrants from Treschklingen before 1738 had also turned to Pennsylvania . After a 25-week voyage, during which 250 people died of typhus , Keppele arrived in Philadelphia on November 9, 1738 on the Charming Molly . There he built up a trading and importing company for wine, sugar, powder, lead, paper and pewter dishes. In 1764 he was elected to the General Assembly , Parliament of Pennsylvania. In the same year he was one of the founders of the German Society , which particularly opposed the practice of selling destitute immigrants and cared for them in a charitable manner. As President of the German Society , Keppele achieved changes in the law for the benefit of immigrants as early as 1765.

The German Society , which Keppele headed until 1780, was later active in other places besides Philadelphia. In 1784 the German Society of the City of New York was founded.

In Philadelphia, Keppele married Anna Catharina Barbara Bauer from Meckesheim . The union had eight sons and seven daughters. Son Heinrich and grandson Michael were also involved in German society. The grandson Michael Keppele became mayor of Philadelphia in 1801.

literature

• Anne and Helmut Schüßler: Treschklingen - From the knightly Kraichgaudorf to the district of Bad Rappenau. City of Bad Rappenau, Bad Rappenau 2004, ISBN 3-936866-02-3