Revolutionary War Soldiers Series: Remembering Jacob Hiestand II
Editor's note: Next year, the United States of America will celebrate its semiquincentennial, its 250th anniversary. The semiquincentennial marks the first nationwide celebration of America's birth since the bicentennial in 1976. Of course, America's independence cannot be celebrated without also honoring the efforts of the Revolutionary War soldiers that led to independence. The Waw-wil-a-way Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, along with the Southern Ohio Genealogical Society, will be presenting a series of articles featuring Revolutionary War soldiers who lived and died within the borders of Highland County.
By Betty F. Crum and Pat Young
Waw-wil-a-way Chapter Daughters
of the American Revolution, 250 Project
Jacob Heistand II was born circa 1750 in York County, Pa., and he died Sept. 12, 1824 in Brush Creek Township, Highland County, Ohio.
His father, Jacob Hiestand I, was born circa 1710, Ibersheim, Rheinhessen, Germany and died 1767, York County, Pa. His mother was Elizabeth. She died in York County, Pa., and nothing more is known of her.
Jacob was only 17 when his father died, and Nicholas Bucher was appointed his guardian. Jacob II married Mary Elizabeth (Eby) in 1775 in York County, Pa. She was the daughter of Christian and Catherine (Huber) Eby. Mary died in Highland County on Aug. 1, 1822. Both are buried Suiter-Williams Cemetery in Brush Creek Township in Highland County.
On Dec. 13, 1799 in Botetourt County, Va., Jacob Hiestand, along with 42 others, signed a petition of the German Baptists, a religious group also known as Dunkards and Church of the Brethren, to the Virginia State Legislature, whereby they asked to give community service in lieu of military duty.
One more major move was to face Jacob II and Mary (Eby) Hiestand. They along with their children moved to Ohio in 1806. Botetourt County, Va. deed Book 9, 1955 states, Jacob Hiestand and Mary sold their 295 acres with its buildings on Looney’s Mill Creek, to Andrew Arnold, on April 16, 1806 for $3,000. The land laid next to Daniel and Catherine Amen, their daughter and son-in-law.
The next year Jacob Hiestand purchased 300 acres on the east side of Bakers Fork of Brush Creek in Brush Creek Township in Highland County, from Nathaniel and Susan Massie of Ross County for $1,000, Deed Book A, 197-8.
The land Jacob II purchased in 1806 is the land on which the Village of Sinking Spring now stands.
Sometime after he settled on this land, he conceived the idea of laying off a town on it, and went so far as to survey and make a plat. But the members of his church, after considerable deliberation, came to the conclusion that making towns and selling lots was an anti-Christian transaction and advised him to abandon the enterprise.
He complied with their wishes and stopped proceedings. He sold the ground on which he surveyed the town to his son-in-law, Allen Gulliford, and his son, Joseph Hiestand, who subsequently finished the work of establishing a town.
The 12 children of Jacob and Mary (Eby) Hiestand include: Catherine (1776-1864), m-Daniel Amen; Christina (1777-185), m- Peter Garman; Elizabeth (1780-1866), m-John Long; Mary Ann (1782-1845), m-John Rhodes; Jacob III (1784-1848), m-Eve Landis; Joseph (1785-1821), m-Elizabeth Grace Edmiston; Daughter (1788-1788); Barbara (1791-1849), m-Allen Gulliford; Peter (1795-1871), m-Jane Breckinridge; Susannah (1798-?), m-John Robbins; John (1801-1872), m-Sally Sprinkle, and Salome (1805-1807).
All children, including those married in Pennsylvania or Virginia, migrated to Ohio. They all lived and died in Brush Creek Township in Highland County, except for the infant who died in Hopewell Township in York County, Pa.
Jacob III who moved to Taylor County, Ky., Peter, Franklin County, Tennessee, Susannah, Dayton, Ohio, and John in Hillsboro. All those who died in Brush Creek Township were buried in either the Suiter-Williams, Old Dutch, or Governor Byrd cemeteries.