The Keifer Cabin Site

The Keifer Cabin Site. Pioneer Archeological Work. You are standing on the site of a cabin built by John Keifer in 1824. John Keifer (1802- 1863) and his wife Elizabeth Donnel (1805- 1865), daughter of surveyor Jonathan Donnel, resided here until 1830. That year the family moved to another farm closer to Springfield. John and Elizabeth’s daughter, Caroline was born in the cabin in 1829.

Elizabeth’s father, Jonathan Donnel came from Pennsylvania and may have settled in Bethel Township, just west of George Rogers Clark Park, as early as 1795. John’s father George Keifer, originally from Maryland, settled in the Township in 1812. John Keifer’s cabin sat on a 100 acre tract that was once part of his father’s much larger farm, which encompassed most of the 1780 Peckewe (Piqua) Battlefield. When George Keifer died in 1845, John and Elizabeth returned to Bethel Township and resided the rest of their lives on what was left of his father’s original farm along the west side of Tecumseh Road. John Keifer was a farmer, US Marshal, Federal census taker, and the cousin of Civil War general Joseph Warren Keifer.

From 1831 until 1835 the cabin which stood on this site was home to Frederick Mennert, (sometimes spelled Minert or Minard), born 1795, his wife Elizabeth Bachman, born 1791, and their five children. Their fifth child Frederick, Jr. was born in the cabin in 1833. Frederick Mennert had formerly owned a grist mill in Blair County, Pennsylvania. In 1830 the family moved to Ohio and in 1831 Frederick purchased John Keifer’s cabin and the old Leffel Mill located along the Mad River just downstream from the cabin. After going bankrupt in 1835, Frederick and his family moved to Tazewell County, Illinois. There he opened a tavern and later purchased another grist mill. Frederick and his wife died in Illinois.

After the Mennert family left the area, the Keifer cabin and surrounding 100 acres went through several owners. By the time Daniel Hertzler purchased the property in 1853 the cabin had long been abandoned and was probably in a state of disrepair. Any remaining foundation stones and bricks from the chimney and a nearby smokehouse were probably reused in the construction of the Hertzler mansion. All that remains of the Keifer cabin is the stone hearth foundation, which was discovered here during an archaeological excavation carried out in the spring of 2012.