Isaac Lyon Jackson

As printed in 1902

ISAAC LYON JACKSON.

Almost an octogenarian, Isaac L. Jackson has spent his entire life on the farm where he is now living, his birth having there occurred on the 25th of March, 1823. He has since been identified with the work of agriculture, which Washington said "is the most honorable as well as the most useful business to which man can devote his energies." He is of English and Scotch extraction and is descended from good old Revolutionary stock. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Jackson, was a native of Morris county, New Jersey, and when the colonists fought for freedom he became a major in the American army and valiantly aided in the cause of independence. He was a bloomer by trade, and, living near Valley Forge at the time the American troops were there encamped, he was employed in making chevaux de rise, a large pronged iron to cast in the river in order to obstruct the stream and render it unnavigable. He married Abigail Mitchell, who was also a native of Morris comity, New Jersey, and some years after the removal of his son Ziba to Ohio he also came to

Knox county and settled in Morris township.

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Two of their children were born to Ziba and Phoebe Jackson in the state of their nativity, and with his little family he started westward in 1805. Being a poor man he had to remain in Pennsylvania for eighteen months in order to earn the funds necessary for the completion of the journey. In 1807 he again turned his face toward the setting sun, arriving in Knox county, Ohio, in the spring of that year. We of the twentieth century can scarcely realize what were the conditions of the country at that time. Nearly all of the land was still in possession of the government and was largely covered with a dense growth of timber. There were marshy districts and here and there, at rare intervals, a blue line of smoke rising from amid the trees indicated that a settlement had been made by some brave frontierman and the work of improvement had been begun. Mr. Jackson purchased a small place near the Salem church in Wayne township, and the first year cleared a little patch of ground and planted some corn. Steadily he continued the work of development, planted an orchard and made other improvements, but later he sold that property and removed to what is now known as the old David Ball farm, also in Wayne township. In 1814 he traded that property for the present Jackson homestead upon which our subject now resides. He there built a log cabin and in the spring of 1815 removed his family this new home, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1848, when he was in his seventy-second year. During the year of 18 1 2 he served his country as first sergeant, and in the paths of peace he also performed an active work for his native land by carrying civilization to the frontier and aiding in reclaiming the wild land for the improvement of the white race. He was a Democrat in politics and for several years he was trustee of his township, proving a very capable officer. His wife passed away July II, 1836.

Isaac L. Jackson was one of a family of seven children born to this worthy and honored pioneer couple, but only two of the number are now living, the other being Chalon, of Lynn county, Missouri, now in his eighty-seventh year. Amid the wild scenes of frontier life Isaac L. Jackson was reared, sharing with the family in the hardships and trials which are the inevitable lot of pioneer people, but there were certain pleasure to be enjoyed that are unknown at the present time, and thus the years were checkered with work and happiness. In the primitive schools of the time he pursued his education, and on the 13th of April, 1848, there occurred an important event in his life: his marriage to Miss Sarah A. Jackson, a native of Knox county and a daughter of Ephraim and Nancy Jackson, and who was formerly his pupil. They began their domestic life on a part of his father's farm, of which he had charge from his twenty-first year, receiving a share of the crops. Upon his father's death he purchased the place from the other heirs and has since made his home thereon, through all the years keeping his land under a high state of cultivation and making many improvements, so that the property has ever been valuable and attractive.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson was blessed with seven children, of whom five are yet living: Mary E., the deceased wife of Theodore Haines; Sarah E., the wife of William H. Gordon, of Miorris township; George F., of Oklahoma; Nancy S., the wife of Dr. M. F. Cole, a practicing physician of Columbus; Albert M., deceased; Amanda Anna, the wife of G. M. Sipe, an attorney of Utica, Ohio; and Eva B., who married C. K. Conrad, of Mount Vernon. The mother died in 1877, and Mr. Jackson was afterward married, in Delaware, Ohio, in 1878, to Mrs. Sarah J. Converse, nee Douglass. Her death occurred in 1890, and February 16, 1892, Mr. Jackson wedded Miss Anna Moffit, a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, and daughter of Rev. A. S. Moffit, of the Northern Ohio Conference.

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vation of the home farm, and the rental from his place and the harvests garnered here in Morris township supply him with an excellent income which furnishes him with all the comforts of life. He is a stanch Republican, and though he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, he has served for thirty years as justice of the peace and has "won golden opinions from all sorts of people" by his absolute fairness and impartiality. He has served for several terms as trustee, assessor, clerk and constable. These offices have been conferred upon him from time to time without his solicitation by his fellow citizens, who recognize his worth and ability. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has for many years held office. No trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree. He has ever been found true and faithful and his life has been characterized by marked fidelity to duty. In the long years of his residence here he has become widely known and his friends are numbered among the rich and the poor,' the old and the young.

As printed in The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.