Biographical Sketch of Jacob HIGH (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1893, pp. 273-4. "JACOB HIGH, an excellent farmer and deservedly popular citizen of this county, residing near Vincent, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1827, and is the second son of Henry and Anna (East) High. He was reared on the farm, inured to hard work, and has spent a long and rather active life in agricultural pursuits, in which he has been remarkably suc- cessful. He now owns two fine farms in East Vincent township, one containing seventy-two acres and the other eighty-two. Each is well improved and valu- able. His education was obtained in the common schools of his neighborhood, and he has always manifested considerable interest in public questions and kept himself well posted on passing events. Though never taking an active part in politics he is a stanch republican, and being a man of deep religious convictions, has long been a strict member of the German Reformed church, which he has served for many years in the capacity of elder. "In 1857 Mr. High was wedded to Hannah Keyser, a daughter of Isaac Keyser, of Vincent, and by that union had two children. The eldest, Anna E., married John W. Culp, who now resides with Mr. High. The younger child was a son named William H., who is now deceased. Mrs. High died in 1862, at the early age of thirty years, and on Christmas eve, 1865, Mr. High married Elizabeth Tyson, a daughter of Mathias Tyson, of East Vincent township. To them was born two daughters: Mary F., now the wife of Winfield S. Wismer, a prosperous farmer of East Coventry township; and Lilia B., living at home with her parents. "Mrs. High's father, Mathias Tyson, was born in 1809, in Worcester township, Montgomery county, this State, where he lived until 1840, when he removed to Chester county, settling in East Vincent township, where he died in 1874, aged sixty-seven. He belonged to the yeomanry of the land and spent his life principally in the cultivation of the soil. In politics he was a whig and republican, and by religious conviction and church membership a Dunkard or German Baptist. He married Kezia Ranck, of Lancaster county, in 1838, and had a family of four children: Anna, deceased; Elizabeth, now Mrs. High; Susan, who married David G. Burgey; and Emaline, now deceased. "The Highs are of German descent, but have been native Pennsylvanians for many generations. Jacob High, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Cumberland county, this State, where he lived all his life and where he died at an advanced age. He was a farmer and stock raiser, and in politics identified himself with what is known as the old-line whigs. He married Magdalene Gable, by whom he had a family of two children, and after her death married again, and had a family of four or five children. "Henry High (father) was born in East Vincent township, this county, about 1798, and died at his home in North Coventry township in November, 1858, aged sixty years. He was a farmer by occupation, a whig and republican politically, and a member of the Mennonite church. In 1825 he married Anna East, a daughter of Samuel East, of Berks county, and to them was born a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters: Samuel, Jacob and Henry, the latter now deceased; Mary, Sarah and Leah, also dead; Elizabeth, the wife of Adam Mench, of Upper Providence, Montgomery county; Kate, now the wife of John Mench, of Pottstown, Montgomery county, and Anna, unmarried. "The High family is an old one in Pennsylvania, and has given the Common- wealth a number of useful, industrious and honorable citizens."