Biographical Sketch of Levi Jacoby, Johnson County, Missouri,
Columbus Township.

>From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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Levi Jacoby, proprietor of "Ridge View Farm" in Columbus township is a
son of a worthy and well remembered pioneer family of Johnson county.
He is a native of Marshall county, Indiana and in that state was reared
and educated, but for nearly fifty years Mr. Jacoby has been a resident
of Johnson county, Missouri.  He was born in 1851, a son of Elias and 
Margaret (Schaaf) Jacoby, widely known and honored as the founders of
Jacoby Chapel and cemetery.  Elias Jacoby was born October 8, 1815 in
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania and in 1823 moved with his parents to
Ohio, where he was reared to maturity.  April 18, 1837 Elias Jacoby and
Margaret Schaaf, daughter of John and Margaret Schaaf, the former, a
resident of Germany until 1853, when he came to the United States to
make his home with his children, were united in marriage and to them
were born the following children: Samuel, who was killed while in the
service in the United States army; John E., of Columbus township, who
is unmarried; Elias, Jr., who died in childhood July 11, 1851 in Indi-
ana; Mrs. Mary Ann Stump, Columbus township; David, who lived in Lane
county, Oregon and died March 18, 1917; Mrs. Catharine Grimm, who died
in Indiana, November 2, 1870; Mrs. Margaret Bonduran, Marshall county,
Indiana; Levi, the subject of this review; Mrs. Eliza Jane Summers, 
Hazel Hill township; Isaiah, Hazel Hill township; Mrs. Annette E. Knaus
Knob Noster, Missouri; and William D., Holden, Missouri.  Mr. and Mrs.
Jacoby were married near Waldo, Ohio in Marion county and for ten years
remained in Ohio.  In 1847, they moved to Indiana and resided on a farm
in Marshall county unti 1871, when they came to Johnson county, Miss-
ouri after spending a few months in Oregon.  Mr. Jacoby sold his farm
in Indiana and in February, 1872 settled on the farm on which Jacoby
Chapel is now situated.  Elias Jacoby donated the land for the church
and cemetery and in his honor they were named.  Mr. Jacoby lived but a
few years in the new Western home.  He died July 20, 1877 and burial
was made in the cemetery he himself had established.  Mrs. Jacoby, who
was born January 9, 1819, died at the advanced age of ninety-one years
September 26, 1910.  Levi Jacoby obtained his education in the public 
schools of Indiana.  His boyhood days were spent on his father's farm
in Indiana and until after his father's death he remained at home with
his parents.  Mr. Jacoby purchased his first farm in 1882, a small 
tract of land comprising 67 acres located in Hazel Hill township, and 
to this he added 40 acres, now a part of the Tompkins Rice place, and 
to this farm moved in 1888.  Mr. Jacoby sold the place eight years 
afterward, in 1896, and purchased his present country home, a farm 
embracing 200 acres of land, formerly the C. Sharp land, located two 
and a half miles northeast of Columbus.  All the excellent improvements
on the farm have been placed there by Mr. Jacoby.  The residence, a 
house of six rooms, was built in 1896 and there are two large, well
constructed barns on the Jacoby place.  "Ridge View Farm" is well
watered and neatly kept, one of the attractive homes of this township.
The residence is located on the ridge, from which a beautiful view of
the surrounding country can be had, and thus the place by its name.  A
part of the farm is at the highest point in the county.  Round Grove
creek, a tributary of Honey creek, flows through "Ridge View Farm." 
Mr. Jacoby has raised a large number of hogs annually and has succeeded
well both in general farming and stock raising.  In December, 1880,
Levi Jacoby and May Silvey, daughter of John and Rebecca Ann Silvey, of
Columbus township, were married.  May Silvey was born near Zanesville,
Ohio in 1853 and she came to Warrensburg, Missouri with her parents in
1867.  Mr. Silvey is now deceased and his remains are interred in the
cemetery at Columbus.  The widowed mother makes her home with Mr. and
Mrs. Jacoby.  She is now eighty-seven years of age.  To Levi and May
Jacoby have been born five children: Mrs. Clara May Jarman, wife of 
Milton Jarman, of Columbus township; Hattie Silvey, who is at home with
her parents; Frank Levi, who is associated with his father in farming
the home place and resides at home with his parents; Otto Raymond, who
married Myrtle Greenwell, and he is now deputy recorder of Johnson
county; and Bessie Ann, wife of Frank Coffman, the well known under-
taker of McMeeker's Mercantile Company of Warrensburg.  Mr. Jacoby was
well acquainted with Pleasant Rice, the first settler of Johnson
county and he states that the oldest house still standing in this
county is on the Kelly place and was built by Mr. Rice.  This house 
was originally a log cabin, but it has since been weatherboarded.  It
is about one mile northwest of the Jacoby home.  Senator Francis M.
Cockrell and Governor Crittenden were amoung Mr. Jacoby's earliest
acquaintances in Missouri and amoung the residents of Gay street in
Warrensburg forty-five years ago, Mr. Jacoby recalls Dr. Robinson; M.
C. Shryack; Mr. Hawkins; Ritter, the wineman; Spurling, the barber; and
Mr. Asbury.  A young man, twenty years of age, Levi Jacoby came with
his parents to this part of Missouri and for the past forty-five years
the Jacoby name has been closely connected with the history of the
development and growth of Johnson county.  Mr. and Mrs. Jacoby are both
of good, pioneer lineage and they are highly respected and valued 
citizens of Columbus township.

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