Johann Jacob Fehler left just enough of a paper trail that I can write a few sentences about him. He was the son of Jacob and Anna Margareth Lowenguth, and was born April 13, 1746 in Upper Tulpehocken Townhip, Berks County, Pa. Jacob and Margareth were apparently killed in one of the many attacks by the native Americans, in 1758, and our Jacob was an orphan at the age of 12, He had three older and five younger siblings, except that maybe he didn't. The will of Jacob Lowenguth refers to an only son, Jacob, and two daughters, which would not explain the long list of children I've found for them.
At any rate, our Jacob would have lived with other family members, or assigned a guardian by the court. I've not found a record yet of what happened to the children, but somehow they survived the horror of being orphaned and went on to live their lives.
Our Jacob is next found marrying Anna Eva Behney, daughter of Peter and Anna Barbara Behney, on October 26, 1767, but I haven't yet found records specifying the location. Some say it was in Heidelberg Township, Berks County and some say East Hanover Township, Dauphin County. We know he was in East Hanover Township by 1781, when there is record of the baptism of the ninth of his twelve children. The distance between Jacob's childhood home and his new home was about 30 miles, down a mountain valley and Jacob may have been quite happy to leave his childhood home behind.
We don't know what Jacob did during the Revolutionary War. His name is not found on the digital archives of Pennsylvania web site, or perhaps I didn't think of enough way s to check the spelling for Fehler. It seems that he would at least have been in a militia, since at the start of the war he was only about 30 years old. Certainly news of the war would have reached him and he would have followed the events with interest, if he didn't go off to war for at least a time.
Jacob and Eva had 12 children together. I've not located a death date for Eva but it's possible that Jacob remarried as his will names a wife whose name starts with Pa...Jacob was apparently a successful farmer, for his will lists many items that are to be the property of his wife. His son Christly is to care for his (Step) mother, and daughter Barbara is also to be allowed to live in the house. If Christly and Barbara can't get along, then he is to build her a new house to live in, and a barn. Christly gets the home farm of about 50 acres. Other sons have already received land from their father, and the remaining daughters are to get 50 pounds apiece, to make them roughly equal to what the sons got earlier.
The only other fact we know about Jacob is that he and Eva attended Lutheran churches. He died October 1, 1817 and was buried at the Sattazahn Lutheran Cemetery near Jonestown, which is named for a Revolutionary War hero. There may or may not be a connection there.
Jacob Fehler deserves our admiration. He certainly had a traumatic childhood but he rose above it, made his way through or around the Revolutionary War, married, raised a large family, and when he died at the age of 71, was able to have given or to give each of his children enough to give them a real boost in their financial condition. He was another hard working :German", although he was of the generation born in the colony of Pennsylvania.
The line of descent is
Jacob Fehler-Eva Behney
Christina Fehler-John Harshbarger
George Harshbarger-Mary Kepler
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks
Their descendants
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