Abraham (Tope)was killed in the War of
1812 and was thought to have a wife and two children, so it is very
probable that our Abraham is the oldest son
of John, mentioned in the little book revised by A. D. Maddux.
Abraham's wife, Elizabeth Roop Tope,
married John Farver on November 3, 1816. Her daughter,
Elizabeth, married Jacob Kerstetter and
died when her son. Lee, was five years old. The boy's
grandmother,
Elizabeth Roop Tope Farver, raised him along with the rest of her own
children.
In the following pages are copies of what we read in the library.
"John Farver, Sr., who was born August
4, 1791, died March'7, 1862,
married Elizabeth Roop Tope on November 3, 1816. Elizabeth
Roop Tope was born September, 1795, died April 14, 1878. John
Farver,
Sr., was the youngest son of Christian and Susannah Farver, and was
born in Somerset County,
Pennsylva while it was still a part of Bedford County.
Somerset County
was formed in 1795, four years after John Farver, Sr. was
born. He
migrated to what became German Township, Holmes County, Ohio, from
Somerset County,
Pennsylvania, during April, 1815, with his mother and brother, William,
Sr., and wife, arriving here at their new home on May 2, 1815.
He had filed his claim for the 160 acre
tract—now owned by
Henry A.
Raber—in 1811. It is very likely that he had made a
trip here to contact
one of the land agents who had charge of the allotting of the various
many tracts of land, as there was much activity in German and Mechanic
Townships in Holmes County from 1808 to 1815.
John, Sr. came to Ohio during the fall
of 1814 to build himself a
cabin.
Evidently, he had taken the full three years allowed to settlers after
filing a claim to pay the entire amount, after which the deed was
issued. When the cabin was finished, he rented it to a man
named Myers for the winter, then
returned to Somerset County, Pennsylvania, for the winter and likely to
be back
home when his brother, William, Sr. . was married in January, 1815.
When weather became fit to begin a
migration, they started, taking the
latter part of April for the trip. His deed had been granted
on November 10, 1814. and he took possession when he built the cabin
and moved in on
May 2, 1815. His brother, William, Sr., and wife and their
mother
lived there until the following spring in March or April, William and
his family (Solomon
Wm. was born April 3, 1816) moved to their 160 acres, lying directly
southeast,
and on which during the past year they had built their cabin.
The records are vague, but from
handed-down information, it is known
that the mother made her home with William, Sr. until she died, but
when
William, Sr. and his family moved in the spring of 1816, their mother,
Susannah
Martin Farver, remained with John, Sr. until the following fall when he
was
married to Mrs. Elizabeth Roop Tope, born in Dauphin County,
Pennsylvania, who
had been previously married to a man named Tope, to whom two
children were
born, a son and daughter, born 1811 and 1813, respectively.
The records of these two step-children
are missing. No one
seems to
have them, but they did settle in Holmes County, as deed records show
many transactions by the Topes. The daughter, Elizabeth Tope
(named Margaret in one record) was married to Jacob
Kerstetter. His son. Lee Kerstetter, well-known
Millersburg blacksmith, was only five years old when his mother died,
after which he was raised
to maturity by his grandmother, Elizabeth Roop Tope Farver.
John Farver, Sr. and his wife,
Elizabeth, lived on this tract, the
original
Farver tract, in this and adjoining counties all their lives.
That they
carved a home out of the wilderness of forest-land, raised twelve of a
family of thirteen to maturity, besides the two Tope step-children and
the
maternal grandson. Lee Kerstetter, sets forth a lesson for the seventh,
eighth,
and ninth generations of Farver descendants of the 1950's worthy of
more
than passing study. Go back 125 years in your mind, remind
yourself how they did things then: no roads, no near-by
stores, not even kerosene
light, no window glass, all foot and horseback travel, clearing land
almost entirely
with an ax; if they wanted salt, someone had to go to Zanesville, Ohio,
fifty
miles south to bring in a supply. Stack these and a hundred
other
things against 1955 conditions and conveniences, then think of John
Farver, Sr.
raising 15 children to maturity and never anyone going hungry, and
don't ever
think anyone ever did go hungry. The pioneers didn't
operate that way, not
the Farvers, or the other thousands who settled in Ohio.
With his large family, he was kept busy,
and he did not take part so
much in public affairs as did our great-grandfather, William Farver,
Sr.,
his brother. However, John, Sr. did assist quite often in viewing
newly-laid out
roads, etc., being one of German Township's earliest settlers.
He entered claim to his tract in 1811,
and then in 1818, he and his
brother, William, Sr., received a government deed to the 160 acre tract
in
Mechanic Township, later occupied by John W. Farver, Jr., his
son. In
1820, the brothers dissolved partnership, John, Sr. taking this entire
tract, never
acquiring any more land, while William, Sr. at one time owned 500 acres
in German and
Mechanic Townships in Holmes County and Crawford Township in Coshocton
County
The reader will notice that they named
two sons Abraham. The first one so named died at the
age of eleven days. Thirteen months later twins were born and
being very anxious to have a son named Abraham, they named one of the
twins Abraham.
There is no record of where John Farver,
Sr. is buried. Elizabeth, his wife, is buried in the Reformed
Church Cemetery at New Madison, Ohio, with a marker. Quite
likely he was buried in the same cemetrey without a marker since it was
some 16 years earlier.
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