Jacob Feaster
“JACOB FEASTER was born in Huntingdon County, Penn.,
December 14, 1816. His parents, Martin
and Ann (Agelley) Feaster, both natives of Germany, born near Strasburg
in 1776 and 1782, respectively, had ten children, six boys and four girls;
three sons and one daughter are still living. Martin, the eldest son, served as a soldier under Bonaparte, for a short time, on the Rhine. He was
furnished means by his father and came to America in 1799. While on board ship he met Miss Agelley, and
on arriving in America they were married. They located in Huntingdon County, Penn., and later in Bedford County, Penn., where he died in 1832, leaving eight small children. Jacob Feaster was brought up on a farm and
received a very limited education. When
sixteen years old his father died and he engaged as apprentice in the
millwright trade, but three years later started out for himself. He came to Rush County, Ind., in 1837, where
he worked at his trade and was soon foreman of a corps of hands. He worked at his trade until 1859, when he
located upon his present farm. He now
owns a farm of 172 acres of improved land worth $100 an acre. January 29, 1845, he married Miss Sarah A. Pence, of Rush County, born in Warren County, Ohio, daughter of Lewis
and Rachel (McDonald) Pence, natives of Virginia and Ohio. By this marriage seven children were born, Royal
P., Manford, Leander, Lura, died aged two years, Allie
J. and Rachel A. Mr. and
Mrs. Feaster are respected by all who know them.”
Submitted by Don T. Mitchell, great
great-grandson of Jacob & Sarah (Pence) Feaster.
NOTES: (1) Feaster is the anglicized version of the German surname,
Fiechter. At the time of Martin’s
emigration, Strasburg was the capital of Alsace, a German-speaking province of France. (2) Agelley is one of the anglicized versions of the Swiss
surname, Egli, now spelled Eagley by descendants of Ann’s only brother. The family story handed down says the Egli
family came from the vicinity of Bern, Switzerland. (3) Martin Fichter and Anna Eglin were married May 14, 1804, at
the Lutheran-Reformed Church in Arendtsville, Adams Co., Pennsylvania. Their first four children were also baptized
there 1805-1811. (4) Probate records in
Warren Co., Ohio, give Rachel’s maiden name as McDonnal.
From pp. 726-7 of Brant &
Fuller’s 1887 History of Shelby County,
Indiana–
Biography Index
Main Page