My Genealogy Hound

DAVID KETRING, retired farmer; P. O. German; another of the early pioneers of the county, coming to German Township, with his parents, in 1818; he was born in Fairfield Co., Ohio, in 1808; he is of German descent, his father being a native of Germany and his mother of Pennsylvania; his parents settled on land about one mile south of the present site of Palestine, in 1818; they then constituted one among the first families of the township. Our subject was brought up to pioneer life, and was early inured to its hardships; he assisted his father on the farm till his death, which occurred in 1829; he then took charge of the homestead and rendered support to his mother till her death, which occurred in 1845; he then inherited the home place, which he continued to farm till 1865, when he disposed of it and went to Randolph Co., Ind.; at the end of eleven years, he returned to the place where he now resides; he celebrated his marriage with Miss Martha Brant June 3, 1830; she is a native of Preble Co., Ohio, and came to this county when only 6 months old, making her home with Jonathan Pearson, one of the first settlers in the township. Mr. Ketring has witnessed the changes wrought in this section of the county by the unflagging industry of man for upward of sixty years. He has seen the wilderness “blossom as the rose” and bring forth a hundred-fold. Mr. and Mrs. K. are the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living, viz., Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Ellen and Jonathan (twins, now deceased), Malinda, Phebe Jane, Benjamin F., Clarissa, Martha; they have all attained to majority and are all married but two.