BIO: John P. Kast, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2011.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
______________________________________________________________________ 

History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
______________________________________________________________________ 

                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

                              CHAPTER LVI.

                        SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP.

541  SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP.

  JOHN P. KAST, teacher, P. O. Mechanicsburg.  Among the prominent 
families of Cumberland Valley and the earliest settlers appears the 
name of Kast, of hardy German stock; the family retain many of the 
characteristics of the stalwart pioneers who first settled in this 
beautiful valley.  Michael Kast, the great-grandfather of our subject, 
emigrated from Germany in 1761, and bought land of the proprietary 
government about six miles west of Carlisle, in South Middleton 
Township, this county.  Here he settled and remained until his death.  
He was the father of two sons, of whom, George, was born, lived and 
died on his father's homestead.  He, George Kast, was the father of 
four sons:  George, Philip, John and Jacob.  Of these, Jacob was born 
in 1792, on the original homestead, where three generations of Kasts 
had now been born.  In 1820, Jacob Kast married Miss Margaret, daughter 
of Benjamin Swartz, of Cumberland County, and to this union were born 
nine children:  Catharine I., J. Benjamin, Jacob K., Margaret, Samuel 
J., David E., John P., Sarah and J. Theodore.  Jacob Kast bought a farm 
in Silver Spring Township, where he settled and lived until his death.  
He was a Lutheran in religious belief; in politics a stanch Democrat.  
He was a man of strong determination and great will power, but though 
always strict with his family he kept his promises and was kind and 
gentle to all.  John P. Kast, his son, was born on his father's farm, 
in this county, in 1831.  He acquired his education in the common 
schools and at the Cumberland Valley Institute, Mechanicsburg.  He 
began teaching at nineteen.  In 1856 he went to Nebraska, then a 
Territory and considered in the far West, where he located land (of 
which he still owns), taught school, and subsequently was elected 
county superintendent of schools of Sarpy County, and later passed his 
time farming and surveying.  In 1859 he returned home and resumed 
school-teaching.  In 1865 he married Miss Sarah C., daughter of George 
and Eliza (Hacket) Longsdorf, of this county.  This union has been 
blessed with six children:  Ella L., George A., Laura M., Charles L., 
Foster F. and Wilber B.  Mr. Kast has taught school in all twenty-nine 
years, a record only equaled in this county by his brother, David E., 
who has been engaged in school work for thirty-eight years, and the 
number of pupils who have been instructed by the two brothers number 
thousands.