USA > Maryland > Washington County > Leitersburg > History of Leitersburg District, Washington County, Md.: Including Its Original Land Tenure. > Part 15
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SAMUEL HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, December 11, 1835, the son of George and Barbara (Swope) Hartle. His education was obtained at the school house on the turnpike near Leitersburg. In 1860-61 he was associated with his brothers in operating the farm formerly owned by their father. In 1862 he was at Canton, Ohio, where he enlisted as a volunteer, but was not in active service. In 1863 he returned to his native Dis- trict and engaged in farming; in 1870, in partnership with his mother, he purchased the farm of 212 acres which he now owns individually. After operating this farm nine years he built his present residence and retired from farming. His wife, now de- ceased, was Alice Creager, daughter of Jacob Creager, and their children were Jacob M .; Elizabeth; Charles, deceased; Lola, and Victor, who died in infancy. Mr. Hartle is a Democrat in politics.
LEVI HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, October 15, 1837, the son of George and Barbara (Swope) Hartle. The farm upon which he now resides was then owned by his father; here he was born and reared, and here he has lived all his life. His edu- cation was obtained in the school house near Leitersburg. He engaged in farming in 1865 and was in partnership with his brother Solomon for a short time, after which he continued the business individually. In 1865 he purchased the farm of 164 acres which he has since owned and materially improved. In the same year he married Mary J., daughter of Benjamin Slick, and they are the parents of two sons, Harry L. and George F. In pol- itics Mr. Hartle is a Democrat.
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HENRY HARTLE was born July 12, 1826, the son of John and Maria (Lecron) Hartle. He was born and reared and has resided all his life on the farm formerly owned by his father, which he and his brother Frederick have jointly operated since 1857. In 1861 he married Annie M., daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Clopper) Trovinger, who died on the 26th of October, 1897. Their children were Albert L .; John H .; Lilie A .; Joseph F .; Elizabeth T .; Iva D., and Otho M. Mr. Hartle is a member of the Reformed Church, in which he has served as deacon, and in politics he is a Democrat.
CLINTON W. HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, June 1, 1859, the son of Jacob and Amelia (Creager) Hartle. He ob- tained his education at the district school and the Leitersburg grammar school. In 1887 he purchased the farm of ninety-five acres which he has since operated. He married in 1883 Mazie, daughter of Ezra and Catharine (Welsh) Shieldknecht, and their children are Harry; Mabel, and Chester. Mr. Hartle is a member of the Reformed Church and a Democrat in politics.
HARVEY J. HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, March 24, 1864, the son of Jacob and Amelia (Creager) Hartle. His education was obtained at the Leitersburg schools. He engaged in farming in 1887 as tenant on his father's farm, and here he has since resided. This farm became his property in 1897. He married in 1887 Maud H., daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Stephey) Bell, and their children are Rexford B. and M. Inez. Mr. Hartle is a member of the Reformed Church and a Democrat in politics.
GEORGE S. HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, Septem- ber 25, 1849, the son of George and Margaret (Meisner) Hartle. He was brought up principally in Beaver Creek District, where he received a common school education. After working at the carpenter trade two years in Hagerstown he engaged in farming in 1872 near Whitehall, whence in 1880 he removed to the farm of Samuel Hartle in Leitersburg District, which he has since operated. He owns a farm in Beaver Creek District. In 1872 he married Mary E., daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Hains- worth) Gantz, and they are the parents of the following chil- dren: Mary, deceased: William: Maggie, wife of Charles Clop- per; Claggett, deceased; Delia; Kate; Blanche, and Charles. Mr. Hartle is a Democrat in politics.
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HARRY L. HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, March 24, 1866, the son of Levi and Mary J. (Slick) Hartle. He ob- tained his education at the public schools of Leitersburg. He began farming in 1891 at his present residence and here he has since pursued that occupation. In 1886 he married Nettie, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Unger) Shank, and they are the parents of one child, Robert L. Mr. Hartle is a Democrat in politics.
GEORGE F. HARTLE was born in Leitersburg District, April 7, 1870, the son of Levi and Mary J. (Slick) Hartle. His edu- cation was obtained at the local public school, at the Leitersburg and Smithsburg grammar schools, and at Moyer's Normal Music College, Freeburg, Pa. In 1891 he engaged in farming on his father's farm. In 1894 he married Maggie, daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth (Crist) Myers, and they are the parents of one child, Levi M. Mr. Hartle is a Democrat in politics.
MARTIN JACOBS was from Preussdorf, Alsace, a village on the edge of the battlefield of Woerth, where the Bavarians, as the reserve of the German army, were stationed during that memora- ble engagement. His migration to America' was doubtless prompted by the same considerations that induced thousands of his countrymen to leave the Fatherland-the larger political freedom and better material advantages offered by a new country. Leaving his native village in the summer of 1753, he embarked at Rotterdam in the ship Richard and Mary, arriving at Phila- delphia on the 17th of September in that year. In the list of passengers published in the Pennsylvania Archives the name is given in one place as "John Martin Jacob." Martin always wrote the name ".Jacob," and so did his son Henry until late in life. The present orthography, "Jacobs," seems to be an Anglicized form.
Martin Jacobs settled first on the Carroll tract, in Frederick County, Md., between Fairfield and Emmittsburg. Thence he removed in 1761 to the locality of Jacobs church, where he se- cured a tract of land that continued in his possession and that of his descendants a hundred and twenty years. He gave to this tract the name of Martin's Fabian. Its area was 103 acres. In the original title deed, which is still in existence, the courses and distances are described as "Beginning at a bounded white oak
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standing on the west side of the head of a marsh known by the name of Fabian's marsh." The marsh gradually contracted in area as the surrounding country was reduced to cultivation and eventually lost its primeval character; its former site is now em- braced in the farm of Upton W. Harshman and like land of this character in general it possesses great fertility. The survey was made in pursuance of a warrant issued August 18, 1760; the pat- ent is dated February 10, 1761, and bears the autograph of Horatio Sharpe, Governor of Maryland. By this instrument "Frederick, Absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Provinces of Maryland and Avalon, Lord Baron of Baltimore, etc.," reserved an annual quit-rent of four shillings one penny half-penny pay- able at St. Mary's "at the two most usual feasts of the year, viz., the feast of the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel." It is not likely that this was ever paid, however, for in the same year that Martin Jacobs secured his land the location of the line between the two Provinces was fin- ally settled, and when Mason and Dixon surveyed it he found himself a resident of Pennsylvania holding land under Maryland tenure. This did not affect the validity of his title, however, that having been guaranteed by general agreement between the Penns and Baltimore. He subsequently secured three other tracts, viz., Peter's Good Will, from Peter Shiess, February 9, 1770, forty-four acres, consideration, £5; Jacobsburg, original patent, June 14, 1787, fifty acres; and Good Hope, original pat- ent, September 21, 1790, eighteen acres. The two tracts first named are both in Pennsylvania, the former northeast, the latter northwest of Martin's Fabian. Good Hope is in Maryland, and the warrant for its survey was issued August 21, 1787. The site of the church and burial ground are embraced within its limits. This land was presented to the congregation by Martin Jacobs in 1799, although the church was built thereon some years pre- viously and interments were made here as early as 1790.
The old pioneer died in 1803 and is buried at Jacobs church. A low sandstone headstone once marked his grave, but this has disappeared and its location is now a matter of conjecture. His landed possesions comprised the tracts above specified, aggregat- ing 218 acres. Forty years of continuous toil had doubtless re- duced a fair portion of it to cultivation. His farm buildings
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were located west of the church, near the State line, where lilacs and blue bells and other garden flowers still grow among the rocks. Here, too, several old and gnarled apple trees, doubtless planted in pioneer days, survived until a few years ago. Below the orchard was a small brook, the outlet from the marsh above. It was not, as now, an intermittent stream, running in the spring and dry through the summer, but flowed all the year round and was no doubt considered a valuable feature of the property. The fields cleared by the first owner are still tilled, but not a vestige of the buildings he erected now remains. The exact time of his death and place of his burial are unknown, but the old pioneer has left a lasting memorial of his character in the church that bears his name.
Martin Jacobs was twice married. His first wife. Barbara Mus- selman, was a member of the family of that name still represented in the vicinity of Fairfield, Adams County, Pa. To this union three sons were born, viz., George, Henry, and Michael. As his second wife he married a widow, Mrs. Anna Barbara Fichls, who survived him eleven years, dying in 1814. By the terms of his will she received an annuity of 600 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of pork, 2 pounds of coffee, 2 pounds of tea, 6 pounds of sugar, 10 pounds of flax, 3 pounds of wool, 1 bushel of salt, 2 pairs of shoes, "peaceable house room and fire-wood in the old house," and forage for one milk cow.
GEORGE JACOBS, the oldest son of Martin and Barbara, was born March 14, 1763, and died November 16, 1790. As the date of his death is the earliest inscribed on a tombstone at Jacobs church, it is presumed that he was one of the first persons buried there. He married Magdalena Leiter, a member of the family that has given its name to the village of Leitersburg.
GEORGE JACOBS, the only child of George and Magdalena, was born November 24, 1790, eight days after his father's death. He married Elizabeth Johnston, of Hagerstown, Md., June 16, 1812, and engaged in farming in Washington County, Md. Subse- quent to 1824 he removed to Fulton County, Ill., where he was as truly a pioneer as his grandfather had been in the Jacobs church neighborhood seventy years before. The overland jour- ney of nearly a thousand miles was made with two covered wagons, one of which carried his family and the other their household
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goods. Several years after he reached his destination Black Hawk's war occurred, and he served for a time as a volunteer in defense of the frontier. In 1844 he removed to Iowa County, Wis., and there he resided until his death, May 16, 1878. Eliza- beth, his wife, died March 26, 1866. Their family consisted of ten children, viz., Sarah Ann, who married Herman Liscum, a farmer and teacher of Plattsville, Grant County, Wis., where she died on the 28th of November, 1863; John, who died in child- hood; Maria M., who married Stephen Arnold; Martin, who died in childhood; Susanna, who married James W. Burns; Eliza Jane, wife of John Wrisley, Medford, Ore .; George F. and Cyrus W., who died in childhood; Robert S., harness maker, Livingston, Wis., and Nathan J., farmer, Linden, Wis. Robert S. Jacobs was in the military service during the Civil War as a musician in the band of the Second Wisconsin Volunteers and was discharged in September, 1862. Nathan J. Jacobs was in the service from September, 1862, until June 12, 1865, as a musician in the Iron Brigade Band, First Regiment, Third Division, Fifth Army Corps.
MICHAEL JACOBS, the youngest son of Martin and Barbara, sur- vived his father but little more than a month, dying June 15, 1803. Michael and Margaret Jacobs had four children, viz., .Jacob, George, Henry, and Mary, but one of whom, Mary, grew to maturity. She married Jacob G. Smith, of Washington County, Md., and died March 28, 1826, in her twenty-eighth year.
HENRY JACOBS. the second son of Martin and Barbara, sur- vived both his brothers and succeeded to his father's estate, to which he made extensive additions on the east. On the 7th of May, 1799, he purchased from Christian Gilbert forty-two acres, for which he secured a patent under the name of Rossgarland, March 12, 1802. From Colonel Daniel Hughes, the proprietor of Rock Forge, he purchased two separate tracts, one north, the other south, of Rossgarland. the former comprising ninety-seven acres, the latter forty-six. The larger was originally part of Poor Robin's Almanac, patented to Richard Wooten April 23, 1765: it extended along the public road from Antietam creek to the cross- roads. The smaller was originally part of Balsher's Misfortune. The purchase from Colonel Hughes was made in 1805, at the consideration of £8 per acre. January 31, 1821, a patent for nine acres at the western end of his farm was issued in his name.
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The Jacobs lands had thus, through the continued acquisitions of the pioneer and his son, attained an area of about 450 acres, and constituted one of the largest individual holdings in Wash- ington Township, comprising the farms of Samuel Hykes, David B. Shoemaker, Upton W. Harshman, and Henry Crider, and part of the estate of the late George V. Mong. The tract was nearly rectangular in form and its length from east to west was about two miles. The road from Antietam Junction to Union school house was its northern boundary (except where this road passes through the farm of Henry Crider) and Antietam creek was the limit of its extent on the east. The improvements were also among the best. In 1816 the stone house and barn across the meadow from the church were erected. They were the scene of an active and busy life in the days when grain was cut with the sickle, threshed with the flail, and hauled in wagons to Balti- more, when modern agricultural machinery was unknown and farming operations were performed almost entirely by manual labor. The establishment was almost patriarchal in its propor- tions. In addition to his own family of eight, Henry Jacobs reared the children of his deceased brothers, and there was always a full complement of servants, both men and women. German was the language of the household, the church, and the commun- ity generally. The old stone mansion was also the scene of a generous hospitality. People came to the church from long dis- tances and were easily prevailed upon to stay here for dinner be- fore returning home. This was the invariable custom of the preacher as long as the farm remained in the family.
Henry Jacobs was born December 16, 1764, and died October 24, 1821. He married Ann Maria Miller, daughter of Henry Miller, a soldier of the Revolution, who was a resident of Antrim township, Franklin County, Pa., as early as 1773, and was one of the founders of Salem Reformed Church. She was born No- vember 17, 1770, and died July 20, 1809. They reared eight children, viz., Susanna Barbara, who married Michael Eyler: Henry; Elizabeth; John; George; Ann Maria, who married Jacob E. Bell; David, and Michael.
Henry Jacobs, Jr., and John Jacobs jointly operated the ex- tensive farm of their father for ten years after his death. It was then divided, Henry receiving the eastern part and John the
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western. The line of division, which now separates the farms of Upton W. Harshman and Henry Crider from that of David B. Shoemaker, was surveyed by Joseph Snively, November 9, 1830. The principal part of the lands thus divided continued in pos- session of the two brothers and their families for more than fifty years. When the lands had all been alienated there yet remained the dower of Mrs. Elizabeth Jacobs, widow of Henry, in the lands owned by her husband at his death; after her death in 1886 this was extinguished, and thus, of the extensive estate owned by Henry Jacobs, Sr., eighty years ago, not an acre is now in the possession of his descendants, comparatively few of whom reside in this locality.
In this respect the family history is a representative one. In almost every agricultural community throughout the Atlantic States it is the exception and not the rule to find farms that have continued since their first settlement in possession of successive generations of the same family. But it would be a grave mistake to suppose that the old pioneers lived and labored in vain because ancestral acres are no longer a family possession. Present social conditions-moral, religious, educational, and industrial-would utterly fail of adequate explanation without admitting the mo- mentous influence of early settlers. The Alsatian emigrant who located in the neighborhood of Jacobs church one hundred and thirty-seven years ago was certainly a most important factor in de- termining the entire future of that locality. He served his gen- eration faithfully and well; and since Time has left him no epi- taph in stone, let it be said of him, in his own vernacular and in the language of the old Book that was doubtless his most familiar and cherished possession, "Redet er noch, wiewohl er gestorben ist."
HENRY JACOBS, Jr., was born February 24, 1795, and died March 15, 1863. He married Elizabeth Crider, who was born Feb- ruary 10, 1804, and died April 3, 1886. Their children were Henry, deceased, a doctor by profession; Barbara, deceased, who was the first wife of Joseph S. Mentzer, deceased; Athalinda, de- ceased, who was the first wife of the late John Harbaugh, Jr .; Ann Maria, of Tacoma, Wash., widow of John Harbaugh, Jr., who, after the death of his father-in-law, purchased his farm and resided thereon for many years; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Sam-
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uel Speck; Dr. Luther D., a practicing physician at Emporia, Kans., and Louisa, who died in childhood.
JOHN JACOBS was born November 4, 1798, and died November 8, 1854. His wife, Elizabeth Mowen, was born February 2, 1804, and died January 23, 1884. Their children were David, who succeeded to his father's part of the ancestral estate and resided thereon until his death; Rebecca, wife of Henry Gilbert, of Wash- ington Township; Mary Ann, widow of Isaac Jacobs; Jeremiah, who died at New Orleans, La., whither he had gone in the military service of the United States during the Mexican war; Elizabeth, deceased, and Malinda B., of Washington Township.
GEORGE JACOBS was a farmer by occupation. The farm east of Waynesboro now owned by C. W. Good was his property, and here he resided during his active business life. He represented Franklin County in the Legislature in 1857. He was born May 2, 1801, and died November 2, 1869, in Knox County, Ill. He married Susan Bell, and their children were Mary A., widow of David O. Blair, of Abingdon, Ill .; Helen, widow of David W. Eiker, of Knoxville, Ill .; Susanna, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased . wife of Daniel Tritle, of Waynesboro, Pa .; Louisa, deceased; Ma- linda K., wife of George Foltz, of Abingdon, Ill., and Georgiana B., deceased.
REV. DAVID JACOBS was born November 22, 1805. He ob- tained his education at the Hagerstown Academy and at Jeffer- son College, Canonsburg, Pa., graduating from the latter institu- tion in 1825. He then began the study of theology under the private tuition of Rev. Benjamin Kurtz at Hagerstown, but when the Lutheran Theological Seminary was established at Gettys- burg he entered its first class. While he was pursuing his studies here a classical school preparatory to the seminary was projected and he was solicited to take charge of it. He did so, opening the proposed school with two pupils on the 25th of June, 1827. This small beginning developed into Pennsylvania College, the first college under Lutheran auspices in the United States and now a prosperous and influential institution. Professor Jacobs was an accomplished scholar and a thorough teacher. For three years he gave to the incipient college his unremitting attention. In September, 1830, he left Gettysburg for a journey through Vir- ginia and the Carolinas, and while returning home he died at
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Shepherdstown, W. Va., November 4, 1830. His remains were interred in the burial ground at Jacobs church.
REV. MICHAEL JACOBS, D. D., a member of the first faculty of Pennsylvania College, was born January 18, 1808. His early education was obtained in the schools of his native township. Graduating from Jefferson College in 1828, he began his peda- gogical career as teacher in a private school at Bel Air, Md. In April, 1829, he became associated with his brother David as teacher of mathematics and sciences in the Gettysburg Gym- nasium. When this institution was merged into Pennsylvania College he retained his position in its faculty, of which he was a member until 1866. He was a man of deep and thorough cul- ture, of acute perception, and sound judgment; as a teacher his character and attainments commanded the uniform respect of his students. In 1845 he was secretary of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church. In 1833 he married Julia M. Eyster, of Har- risburg, Pa., and they were the parents of four children, viz., Rev. Henry E., D. D., Professor of Systematic Theology in the Luth- eran Theological Seminary at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Dean of the faculty of that institution, and a well known author in the province of dogmatics and church history; Michael William, at- torney-at-law, Harrisburg, Pa .; George Edward, optician, Den- ver, Col., and Mary Julia, wife of Rev. J. H. Harpster, D. D., a missionary of the Lutheran Church at Guntur, India.
JACOB LEITER, from whom the Leiter family of Leitersburg is descended, was born in Europe and probably emigrated to Amer- ica about the middle of the last century. In his will the orthog- raphy of the name is "Lyder"; other variant forms are "Leidro," "Lighter," and "Lider." Authentic information regarding the personal history of the pioneer begins with the year 1762, when he purchased from George Poe 362 acres of land, embracing the present site of Leitersburg. This land was part of The Resurvey on Well Taught, and a second resurvey was pending at the time of his purchase; he completed the title to this, and on the 19th of April, 1763, secured a patent for The Resurvey on Poe's Part of Well Taught, a tract of 1294 acres, embracing many of the finest farms in the central part of the District. The selection of this land is tangible testimony to the sound judgment of the pur- chaser, while its value and extent show that he was evidently a
Joseph Leiter :>
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man of substance. His residence was probably the oldest part of the present dwelling house on the farm of Joseph Barkdoll adja- cent to the village of Leitersburg on the Hagerstown turnpike. Here he died in February, 1764, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, who was his second wife, and seven children, viz .: John; Christian; Abraham; Jacob; Peter; Barbara, and Anna, wife of Peter Good. One daughter, Fronika, died before her father, leaving two chil- dren.
JOHN LEITER received the following mention in his father's will: "I give and bequeath unto my son, John Leiter, the sum of ten shillings, money of Pennsylvania, and one shilling Sterling." Nothing further is known regarding him beyond the fact that he had a son, also named John, who, by a legal instrument duly executed in 1791, renounced all claim to the real estate owned by his grandfather at his death.
CHRISTIAN LEITER, by the terms of his father's will, received a tract of land called Spruce Bottom, comprising thirty acres, to which he subsequently made considerable additions. His resi- dence was northwest of Leitersburg on the Greencastle road where Mrs. Joseph Strite now lives; but about the year 1792 he became financially embarrassed and removed elsewhere. He is said to have died in Washington County in 1817. Christian and Eve Leiter were members of the Lutheran Church. They were the parents of the following children: Elizabeth, who was born on the 13th of June, 1758; Abraham; John; Jacob; Mary Ann; Magdalena, and Susan. Elizabeth probably died before her father. Magdalena married George Jacobs, a son of Martin Ja- cobs, one of the founders of Jacobs Church. One of the other daughters married a Mr. Messersmith.
ABRAHAM LEITER purchased in 1774 from Dr. Henry Schnebley of Hagerstown 142 acres of land, now embraced in the farm of Franklin M. Strite near Jacobs church in Leitersburg District. In 1782 he sold this land and removed to Hagerstown, where he died in 1818, leaving the following children: Mrs. Susanna Moles; Mrs. Judith Morgan; Mrs. Catharine Shank; Mrs. Eliza- beth Oswald; Mrs. Juliana Hink; Mrs. Eva Boward, and John, who was born on the 12th of June, 1779. The name of his wife was Joanna Catharine, and they were members of the Lutheran Church.
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