My Genealogy Hound

JACOB BISH, grocer and tobacco dealer, Arcanum; born in Carroll Co., Md., Nov. 19, 1823, where he remained until about 1839, after which, during life, he learned three trades, viz.: tanner, carpenter and machinist; in his youthful days received no education; after his maturity, voted to introduce the public school system and donated the land for the first school house in his township; on April 24, 1845, he united in marriage with Mary Jones, and by this union have one child; they remained at the place of his nativity until 1855, when they emigrated to Dayton, Ohio, where he soon found employment in a machine-shop and was engaged in various pursuits until 1866, at which time he bought a farm, for $6,000, near West Sonora, Preble Co., Ohio, and moved on it; he soon after sold it, and in 1872 came to Darke Co. and bought a farm near Arcanum, what was then known as the Coons farm, which he afterward laid out in town lots and sold; in 1874, moved to Arcanum, located on lot No. 56, where he engaged in his present business, and since 1878 his entire attention has been turned to the tobacco trade for W. S. O’Neal, of Dayton, Ohio, and since a resident of Arcanum, has held the offices of Town Marshal, Town Councilman and Pike Superintendent of Twin Township; our subject is a man who has, during his whole life, done a great deal of traveling, thereby having viewed the scenes of the Alleghany Mountains a number of times and served four months in the late rebellion; when Mr. B. commenced in life, he had an amount of property so small that his tax receipts have increased from 25 cents to $75.