Henry Martyn Kieffer

Born in 1845 and dying in 1930, Henry Martyn Kieffer was an American clergyman and writer associated with Easton, Pennsylvania. He is most clearly documented as the author of Some of the First Settlers of "The Forks of the Delaware" and Their Descendants, a 1902 volume based on the records of the First Reformed Church of Easton.

That book reflects the work he is best known for: translating and organizing older German church records, then shaping them into a useful history of a community and its families. Because of that effort, his writing has had a long life beyond its first publication, especially for readers interested in early Pennsylvania settlement, church history, and genealogy.

He also appears in later religious and historical catalogs under the name Henry Kieffer or Henry Martyn Kieffer, showing that his writing continued to circulate after his lifetime. Even when biographical details are scarce, his surviving books make his role clear: he helped preserve local memory by turning archival material into something ordinary readers could still use.