Notes of Rozina Fairchild Davis, circa 1920-1930
"The first one of the male line of whom there is certain knowledge is Leonhard Keyser of Scharding in Bavaria. In the early part of the 16th century, he separated from the Catholic Church. He was a Mass Priest in Bavaria, a man of learning, or what passsed for such, in the monasteries. He accepted the writings of Zwingly and Luther and went to Wittenburg, and there held converse with the doctors, partook with them of the Lord's Supper, and joined himself to the Separated Cross-bearing Church of the Anabaptists in 1525. He returned to Bavaria, spreading the gospel with great zeal and power. He was taken at Scharding in Bavaria by the Bishop of Passau and by the other priests and capitulates of the Church and condemned to be burned alive. On his trial he repetedly refused to speak the Romish language. He would answer them only in the German language -- the people's tongue. Three days before Laurentis, in August 1527, he was taken to his execution." (compiled from the "Keyser Book.")
"The colonist Dirck Keyser was born in Holland 1635 and died in Pennsylvania November 30, 1714. He married Elizabeth ter Himple. Their descendants are as follows:
"Peter Dirck, born November 26, 1676, died September 12, 1724, married Margaret Souplis who was born 1682 and died 1700.
"Dirck II (1701 - 1757), married Alitze De Neuss (1702-1756).
"Michael, born August 30, 1745, died October 5, 1825; married Novemver 255, 1767 to Catherine, daughter of John George Knorr, borm July 28, 1728.
"Samuel of Baltimore, born March 12, 1778, died July 11, 1839; married 1804 to Mary, daughter of Henry and Barbara (Close) Stouffer."
Taken from Vol. II, p. 572 "Ancestral Records and Portraits."
"Keyser Family, Descendants of Dirck Keyser of Amsterdam" by Chas. S. Keyser, Philadelphia Press, 1889, 161 pp.