Friday, April 11, 2014

Peter Jacoby (1766-1814)

Even though the Revolutionary War was technically over with the signing of the Peace Treaty in 1783, Peter, at the age of 19 in 1785 is recorded as having served as a Ranger on the Frontier.   To be a Ranger he would have had to have been adapt in using the Pennsylvania Long Rifle. 

 
Peter  was the son of Henry Jacoby (1733-1809), who served throughout the conflict of the Revolutionary War.  Evidence shows that Peter also provided service to the newly formed United States of America.  Henry Sylvester Jacoby, in his book, The Jacoby Family Genealogy, 1930,  provides an extensive account of the military service of Peter.

Jacoby, page 155
 
Long after the war with Britain was over, the hostilities on the frontier continued, as the Peace Treaty was not signed by or recognized by the Indian Nations.   I would imagine  that Peter provided protective service for  his family and neighbors during this time period leading up to the War of 1812.  But I do not believe that he  participated in the  War of 1812.  Jacoby quotes, the History of Northampton Co., PA, 1877,  "Drummer, P. Jacoby and Private, P. Jacoby" in the Rifle Company of Captain John Ott, (p82) as evidence of Peter's service.   A closer look at  the records in the Pennsylvania Archives, actually shows that this was Phillip Jacoby, drummer and another Phillip Jacoby, private, not our Peter who served in the War of 1812.

Around 1788 he married  Mary Lomison  in Lower Mount Bethel.  She was a daughter of Lawrence Lomison (more about him in a later entry).   Together, Peter and Mary  had a family of 15 children.

A list of the names of all the children of Peter and Mary was discovered in a family Bible passed down through the Jacoby family and shared with the author of the The Jacoby Family Genealogy, Henry Sylvester Jacoby (p154).  Their children and dates of birth are:  John, August 23, 1789;  Margaret, October 17, 1790; Susanna,  November 16, 1791; Henry, January 1, 1793; Sarah, July 20, 1794;   Sarah, July 30, 1795;  William, June 2, 1797;  Elizabeth, January 31, 1799;  Peter James, June 15, 1800;  Mary,  December 17, 1801;  Daniel, June 5, 1804;  George, March 6, 1806;  James, August 11, 1807; Jeremiah, September 13, 1809;  and  Eleanor, December 1, 1811.

The first census after the Revolutionary War  taken in 1790  places Peter and family in Lower Mount Bethel township, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania.  Jacoby  interviewed a descendent of Peter in 1914.  Mary Snyder, his granddaughter, remembered that he had  been a tenant farmer in Lower Mount Bethel, never having owned any land. She also stated that after Peter died, most of the children had to help in  supporting  the family by "working out" (p154). Ten of his children were under the age of 21 when he died September 7, 1814.  and eight of them required guardians.  I would very much like to know more about the statement Mary made in her interview, "Peter Jacoby's widow married a Mr. Bartel of Moore twp., but did not like him and so left him and lived with her children...(p157)."   Now that is an interesting comment: such was the way of life for a poor widow who needed to marry to have a home and support for her children.  My ancestor, Mary, who was 13 when her father died,  would have been one of the children fostered out and in need of a guardian.

They are buried in the Scotch Irish Cemetery in Lower Mount Bethel  where a bronze plate marks their graves.
http://www.findagrave.com
Their daughter Mary became the wife of Joseph Snyder, whose grandfather, John Knappschneider, was also a Revolutionary War Veteran. I am grateful to genealogists such as Henry Sylvester Jacoby who painstakingly  did the research  and leg work back in the days when you had to travel to local areas to comb through old records to piece together the story of our ancestors. Their efforts point a modern day researcher in the right direction to look for original documentation. Since many of these old records have been digitized, such as land records, census records and  church records, they  can now be examined on line.

Source: 
Jacoby, Henry Sylvester. The Jacoby Family Genealogy - A record of the Descendants of the Pioneer Peter Jacoby of Bucks Co., PA,1930. 

                           Please see this list of all My Revolutionary War Ancestors
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