This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: audianaq41 Surnames: DeTURK, KEIM, BERTOLET, YODER, KERST, GELBACH Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks/9860.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: According to an article in the Reading Eagle 6/26/2007: "Johannes Keim came to America in the fall of 1698 from Speyer (I have also seen it spelled Speier), the Palatinate, an area that today is in southwestern Germany. He found a large grove of walnut trees in Oley Township, which was then part of Philadelphia County, and decided to settle there. Keim went back to the Palatinate in 1701 and married 'Bertha' deTurck. The two returned to America in 1707. Their first child was born in 1708. (I show Katarina born 9/29/1708) The Keim Homestead was built by Johannes' son Jacob in 1753 - it has sat along a quiet stretch of Boyer Road in Oley Township for more than 250 years. Its owner, The Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County, who acquired the homestead in 1978. The Trust is pushing for the federal government to designate the Keim Homestead a national historic landmark. Johannes Keim was the first settler to stake out a claim in the Oley Valley, according to the trust." Now I have that he married Katarina DeTurk, in 1706, 14 days before St Michael's Day which I think was in Sept. I don't know where the Bertha firstname came from in the article. In Oley Valley Heritage: The Colonial Years, by Philip Pendleton, p 177: Johannes KEIM or John KIME/KYME, was shown as early as 1719 in Oley. There is nothing in the DeTurk Genealogy book, pub in 1934, by Eugene P DeTurk, which establishes any relationship of Katarina(Bertha) DeTurk to Isaac who 'was' in the camps in NY before he made his way down to PA. She is not even mentioned at all in the DeTurk genealogy. Later KEIMs are. I would be interested if anyone knows more about this Bertha or Katarina DeTurk and her family, too! Isaac is one of my early ancestors. He was born in Frankenthal c Jan1684/5 per DeTurk genealogy. And he and Katarina were living in abt the same era. Not sure where Frankenthal is in relation to Speir. His daughter Esther DeTurk m Abraham BERTOLET and are my line. Their son Daniel D BERTOLET m Maria YODER and their dau Esther Yoder BERTOLET m Jacob KERST, my gr3, son of George KERST and Elizabeth GELBACH. Diana in AL audianaq@msn.com Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.