Jacob Miller SENEFF, CIV WAR VET

                   "Person Sheet - 1/15/94

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Name: Jacob Miller SENEFF

Birth Date: 25 Mar 1833 Birth Place: Fayette Co., PA

Spouse: Mary CLAHK
Maniage Date: 11 Sept. 1854
Maniage Place: Fayette County, PA
Children: Elizabeth, Sarah Katherine, Hosanna, Ellen H., Haniet Etta, John C, Martha Jane, William Otterbein, Henry
E., Arthur	/

Death Date: 12 Apr 1912
Death Place: Springfield Twp., Fayette Co., PA

Burial Date: 15 Apr 1912
Burial Place: Seneff Cemetery, Fayette Co., PA

Occupation: Fanner

Heligion: United Brethren

Notes:
Jacob Miller Seneff was the eldest child of John Seneff and his wife, Elizabeth Miller Seneff. At his birth his father wrote in the family Bible, "Jacob M. Seneff was born in the year of our Lord 1833, March 25, in the sine of the Bull in Springfield Township, Fayette Co., PA."

Jacob was reared on the family fann and learned fanning at an early age. He became something of an eHpert in horseback riding and always wore spurs when riding.

Jacob Seneff attended school in a one-room school house. The most important subjects were spelling, writing, reading and arithmetic. Spelling contests were held between schools at that time and were more important than football or any sports were in that day. When you knew as much as the teacher did in those days, your fonnal education ceased, and there was no graduation. "There were only three months of school in the winter, and the teachers of that time had little formal education. John Seneff was far aboue the auerage of men in his time. He had some knowledge of arithmetic, geography and history and could read and write well both the Gennan and English language. He interested himself in the education of his children and helped them to the eHtent that he could. "

"In 1841 John Seneff bought a large tract of land lying on the west slope of Laurel Hill, about a mile aboue Indian Creek, that flows between Laurel Hill and Chestnut Hidge. The land was heauily timbered with chestnut, poplar, hickory, maple and oak and couered with undergrowth. Father and sons cleared the land at the rate of fiue to ten acres a year, 125 acres in all.

"The family rose at 4 o'clock in the summer and 5 o'clock in the winter, and the inuariable rule was for all to be on hand for morning worship and breakfast. stock feeding was done by lantern light in the winter, and each of the boys knew what his chores would be for the day. A good part of their winter employment was deuoted to thrashing with flails the wheat, rye and oats stored in the barn the preceding Fall, on the barn floor. Later this wor< by hand was replaced by a horse-power, tumbling shaft threshing machine.

About 1856 "about 48 bushels of potatoes were traded for a Hathaway cook stoue, the first cook-stone they had had. Hitherto, a fireplace and a tin-plate stoue seroed for heating and cooking.

"Sleds seroed a long while for purposes of hauling. At length they procured a second hand wagon. Their first dwelling comprised a four-room, two-storey log house; chinked, daubed and couered with clapboards, held in place by poles. Access was had to the upper storey by a ladder. In winter, by the time the family arose in the morning, the beds upstairs where they slept were couered with the snow that sifted through the roof. At their father's call, they bounced out, dressed wannly and hunied to the perfonnance of their tasks.

"Flowing out of the mountain side was a neuer failing pure, cool stream of soft water. A stone-walled basin,

four feet square and two feet deep into which the water poured made dipping it easy. Across this stream, about ten feet below its eHit, John Seneff built an 8-room, two storey frame house. It had a full basement, walled with stone, floored with flagstone, furnished with troughs for dairy use through which this cooling water flowed; and supremely eHcelient were the mill< and butter produced. The basement semed, too, for the storage of apples, potatoes and fruits. The house was weatherboarded, lined, ceilinged and partitioned into rooms with dried, yellow poplar boards, the planing of which was done by hand and a tremendous job.

."The sister, Catharine, was prouided with a horn fiue feet long with which she could blow a blast that reached them in the remotest comer of the farm. There was no need for a dinner bell."

Jacob Seneff manied Mary Clarl<, daughter of John Clarl< and Rosanna Geary Clarl< on September 11, 1854 in Springfield Township, Fayette County, PA. The minister who married them was Reu. William K. Shimp. They were the parents of ten children - Elizabeth, Sarah Catherine, Rosanna, Ellie R., Henrietta, John C., Martha Jane, William Otterbein, Henry E., and Arthur.

Jacob Miller Seneff continued to worl< on the farm and prouide a good liuing for his family. His sons worked alongside him until they were of age to go off on their own.

Physically Jacob Seneff was a good looldng man with blacl< hair and blue eyes; he was fiue foot eight inches tall and had a fair compleHion. He wore a beard in later years and was referred to as "wiry" in physique.

During the Ciuil War, when a man who was drafted did not wish to seme, he was allowed to hire another man to go in his place. Jacob Miller Seneff was paid $300 to tal