Jacob Saylor in a Mercer County, Pennsylvania, History

I began a more intense search for Jacob Saylor the other day and decided to condense and evaluate the information in a Mercer County, Pennsylvania, county history.  I'm publishing this transcription now as a reference for an upcoming post.

I began a more intense search for Jacob Saylor the other day and decided to condense and evaluate the information in A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests, Prepared Under the General Editorial Supervision of Mr. J. G. White, available at Google Books.  I believe the Jacob Saylor mentioned there is my great-great-grandfather.

I'm publishing this transcription now as a reference for an upcoming post.  Perhaps the information is accurate and perhaps it isn't.  I thought it best to evaluate and compare other evidence I've found about Jacob Saylor.

This is my line to Jacob: me --> Lee Doyle --> Gust Doyle --> Tressa Rose Froman --> Catherine Saylor --> Jacob Saylor.

______________________________________________________________________

PETER SAYLOR, a farmer who tills the fertile soil in West Salem township, Mercer County, was born June 5, 1859, in the township named.  He is the son of JACOB SAYLOR, Sr., born in Baron [or Bayern?], Germany, in 1812.  He came to this country at the age of forty, with his parents, the grandfather being Daniel Saylor, who settled in old West Salem township.  Both were coal miners in Germany and the grandfather was also a shoemaker.  He died in 1845.  JACOB SAYLOR, who was the father of PETER of this notice, upon his arrival here went to mining at the old coal mines known as the Joy & Rankin mines, where he remained for six years.  He then leased and operated a mine on Coal Hill in 1860.  This he sold to Andrew Bennett in 1862 and purchased the farm on which he lived the remainder of his life, dying about 1870.  He was first married in Germany to Elizabeth Shaefer, daughter of J. Shaefer, who was a coal miner in Germany.  By this marriage twelve children were born, five of whom are now living, and seven are deceased.  Among them were Jacob, deceased; Fred, employed in the Bessemer Mills, at Sharon, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, deceased; Catherine, widow of John Frohman, of West Salem township; Theresa, wife of Adam Lininger, of Greenville.

His first wife dying in 1858, Jacob Saylor married secondly Mary Frohman, daughter of J. Frohman, who came from Germany and settled in Sheakleyville and was a weaver by trade.  To this second marriage were born seven children, of whom Peter is the eldest.  The others are: Melinda, wife of August Brooks, of Greenville; Anna, Mrs. Whorton, whose husband is an oil operator at Wheeling, West Virginia; Josephine, Mrs. Callahan, of Greenville; Louisa, Mrs. G. Welk, of Meadville; Otto, a conductor on the Erie Railroad, at Greenville; Alexander, of Greenville.  In all, the father had nineteen children, by the first and second marriages.

Peter Saylor had the advantages of the public schools until twelve years of age, then was employed in the coal mines for a period of fifteen years.  He then followed farming for two years on his father's farm.  But seeing it to his financial advantage, he shifted from the farm to the mines again and operated the old Morford mine, abandoned by P. I. Kimberly.  This mine he tunneled at great expense, and the project finally proved successful and he made a good profit on his outlay and general investment.  He then bought additional land to the old homestead now owning one hundred and eighty-eight acres of well improved land, styled the "Prospect View Farm," the same being the highest tract of land in West Salem township.  This was originally known as Joy's Corners, of Coal Hill.  Mr. Saylor is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and in church faith is an adherent of the Reformed denomination.

He was united in marriage when twenty-three years of age to Caroline, who was born November 19, 1860, in Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Schank.  The following children were born by this union.  Five are deceased and the living are Fred Charles, a farmer of West Salem township, who married Silva Ruff; T. Pearl, wife of William Ruff, coal miner; Stanley, Harry, Ralph, Lottie, Raymond, Grace and Rosetta.

______________________________________________________________________

Source:
White, John G., A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests, Prepared Under the General Editorial Supervision of Mr. J. G. White, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1909, Volume 2, pp. 725-726.