FAMILYBOOK KETEL
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TO OUR READERS IN AMERICA
American correspondents of our foundation:
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. and Rina Silvera-Ketel
1140 Canterbury Drive
Hercules, CA 94547
phone: (510)-799-4341
Address of the foundation:
Mr. Jaap H. Ketel
Secretary
Postbox 344
3840 AH
Harderwijk, The NetherlandsToday quite a number of families with a "KETEL" name are living
in the USA, although some of the spelling variations may hide
that the origin of their family name is Ketel.
The majority of present day Ketels' are descendants of migrants
from the northwestern parts of Europe where Ketel (N-Germany
and Holland) and Ketil or Ketel and Ketelsen (Scandinavia)
are common family names.
Both names are patronymics of the Scandinavian Christian name
KETIL of which the meaning is 'protector'. Migrants from Great
Britian brought the Anglo-Saxon equivalent "Kettle" to America.
In the course of the centuries many spelling variations evolved
from Ketel, Kettle and Ketil, such as Kettel, Ketele, Ketell,
Cetill, Ketyll, Kyttell, Kittle, Kittel, Kittelle, and many more.
Early migrants from Great Britian with a Ketel name are reported
(1) to be Richard Kettle (1633, Charlestown, Mass.), Peter Kettle
(1635, New England) and Thomas Kettle (1635, Virginia).
They were followed in 1642 by Joachim Ketel from Demmin, Mecklenburg,
Germany. With a group of Dutch settlers he sailed from Amsterdam to
New York and up the Hudson River, where they joined the Dutch colonists
at Fort Orange (now called Albany, the capital of the state of New
York).
There Joachim Ketel married a girl of Holland Dutch blood and for
several generations his descendants did likewise. In the early 1800's
they changed their name via Kittle into Kittelle and it was Rear
Admiral USN S.E.W. Kittelle (born 1867) who in 1946 published the
book "The Ketel Family ".(2) Some of his ancestors were known under
the name of Ketelhuyn, refer also for more information on them and
other Ketel families in "The Ketelhuyn Chronicles".(3)
Two centuries later two sons of Carl Christoph Ketel, the elder one
called Wilhelm Karl Friedrich (William Carl) Ketel, born December 3,
1843 in Borrentin, Mecklenburg, Germany, and his younger brother
August Ketel migrated to the USA arriving in New York by the end
of 1868. Their father arrived in the USA two years later with his
other son Herman and daughter Ernestine.
William Carl Frederic Ketel married in 1871 to Mathilda Mueller at
Kewaunee, Wisconsin and a few years later they moved to Neillsville,
Wisconsin where he was admitted as a citizen September 6, 1884. His
descendants are still living in Oregon and Washington. Because his
birthplace, Borrentin, is only 7 miles south of Demmin; it would not
be a total surprise if he possibly might have ties with the family
of Joachim Ketel mentioned earlier.
Several Ketel families in Michigan are the fourth generation of
Christoff Ketel who came to America about 1870 from the vicinity
of Essen, Germany.
A Kittle family has been living in West Virginia for two centuries.
Their ancestors came from Kingston, New York, were they were baptized
and married in the Old Dutch Church as of 1675 (4).
Several other Ketel families in South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana
are descendants from Gorus Ketel and Lawrence Ketel (1834-1926) who
arrived in the USA from Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, in 1871 together
with their sister Logina Ketel with husband and children.
Some families in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, are the children
of Johannes Ketel, whereas his second cousin Jan Ketel had settled in
Fairport, New York.
We have to admit that our publication is far from complete where the
American relatives are described. Any further help from our readers
to fill the many open spots will be appreciated highly. Please send
your corrections or additions to the American correspondents of our
foundation or to the secretary of the foundation, their addresses are
listed on the title page of this leaflet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For further reference we list here the bibliography of early Ketel/Kittle
families in the USA.
(1) The Name and Family of Kittle, manuscript nr 1493 of
Roots Research Bureau, New York, 1984
(2) The Ketel Family, by S.E.W. Kittelle, Washington DC, 1946.
(3) The Ketelhuyn Chronicles, by Arthur James Weise
(4) Baptismal and Marriage Registers of Old Dutch Church of Kingston, New
York from 1660 to 1809, published by Roswell R. Hoes
This was found online, and I thought I would include it here for those interested in the history of the Kittle (and its various derivations)name.