Jacob Kettering
BIRTH 15 May 1737
Oberfrohnstetten, Landkreis Deggendorf, Bavaria (Bayern), Germany
DEATH 3 May 1821 (aged 83)
Wythe County, Virginia, USA
BURIAL
Saint Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery
Rural Retreat, Wythe County, Virginia, USA
AKA Johann Jacob Kettering or Catron
Jacob Kettering was born 15 May 1737 in Germany to Johann (Hans) Adam Kettenring and Anna Magdalena Gampfer. He came to Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania in 1740 with his parents. Jacob was married to Rebecca Guntsorn/Kinder. He and Rebecca, along with others from Pennsylvania, moved to Montgomery Co., Virginia prior to the American Revolution. Jacob was an Innkeeper and had a saw and grist mill (Wythe County, Va.). During the American Revolution he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance for the patriots and was considered a Tory. (WikiTree -Johann Jacob Kettering (1737 - 1821)
Jacob died on 3 May 1821 in Wythe County. Supposedly, he was found dead under some oak trees, by the side of the road. According to family lore, the remains of the trees were know locally as the "Tory Oaks." There was a Jacob Kettering Bible, which was published in 1727. It was purchased at an estate sale in 1827 by James Gibboney, who sold it to a sister of Rosalie Brown. Brown of Tennessee and Alabama owned the bible in 1936. It was translated from the German and lists Jacob Kettering, born May 15, 1737, son of John Adam Kettering. Rebecca Kettering, born April 15, 1745, daughter of John Peter Gunstron (Kinder). Jacob died May 3, 1821, Rebecca 1830, both in Wythe County. Their daughter, Elizabeth married George Kreeger (Creager) on November 17, 1789.
An inn/tavern was established under the spelling Ketrene in Jacob's house as early as April 1796. A later tavern under the name the Rising Sun Tavern was operated by his son, John. Louis Philippe, the future king of France, stayed at the inn in 1796, and mentions Jacob by name (Kettenring) in his book, Dairy of My Travels in America (p.52) (Bio info- Early Adventurers on the Westen Waters, Families section, Jacob Kettering, Miller; Vol 5; p.301-15 by Mary Kegley)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/237050075/jacob-kettering
