My Genealogy Hound

MANUEL HERSHEY, farmer and minister, Sec. 28; P. O. Gettysburg. Jacob, his father, was born in Lancaster Co., Penn., on 17th of November, 1796; he married Elizabeth Miller, who is a native of the same State and county, born on the 17th of May, 1804. Mr. Hershey lived, died and was buried in his native county, his death occurring on the 12th of August, 1872. Elizabeth, his widow, is living at present writing and resides in Lancaster City, Penn. Emanuel, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Lancaster Co. on the 4th of February, 1821; spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm, receiving his preparatory education in the district schools of his county, and, at the age of 17, he entered Litiz College, where he obtained a good academic education. After his return from college, he worked two years in his father’s flouring-mill, where he learned the trade, after which he went to Buffalo, N. Y., and worked in the Black Rock flouring-mills six months, when he returned home and worked in his father’s mill till the spring of 1849, when he started for the West, and on the 9th of May arrived in Darke Co., and then rented the flouring-mill one mile west of New Harrison, on Greenville Creek, which mill he operated for about seven years, when he moved on his farm of 30 acres, which he had purchased in 1853, and then commenced to burn lime, and at the same time operate his farm, to which he has added 112 acres, making in all 142 acres, with good farm buildings; he has been manufacturing sorghum molasses for about fifteen years, making from fifty to eighty barrels during the season, and has the credit of making the best grade of molasses in the county. He celebrated his marriage on the 14th of November, 1844, with Magdalena Bear, who was born in Lancaster Co., Penn., on the 10th of September, 1825; ten children have been born to this union, of whom nine are living, viz.: Adam B., born Jan. 9, 1846; Samuel, born Sept. 28, 1847; Jacob, born Sept. 12, 1849; Barbara Ann, born May 15, 1852; Sarah E., born Jan. 28, 1854; Emma, born Feb. 19, 1857; John, born Feb. 12, 1859; Eliza, born March 19, 1861; Mary, born Jan. 20, 1868. Mr. Hershey has had his full share of township offices, viz., served as Trustee of Adams for five years, and in 1879 was elected Land Appraiser of Adams Township. He takes a very active part in religion, being a member of the German Baptist Church and minister of Oakland Church for a period of ten years; his wife is also a member of the same church. Mr. Hershey has accumulated a considerable amount of property, in which he has been nobly assisted by his good and amiable wife. He is strictly temperate in all his habits.