Jacob Wissler, son of Andrew, was born in Clay township in 1778, andwas one of the successful farmers of that section, giving his entireattention to agriculture until his death, which occurred in 1850. Hehad accumulated a fine property at the time of his death, owning fourfarms. He was one of the old Mennonites of the county. Jacob Wisslerin 1800 married Miss Anna Ely, and they were the parents of tenchildren: Andrew, a farmer and merchant, who died in Michigan; Jacob,the father of Jacob B.; Christian, a miller and farmer; Ezra, a farmerof Clay township; Magdelina, wife of Jacob Landis of Ephrata township;Levi, a farmer and tanner; Samuel, a miller of Canada; Mary, wife ofLevi Erb; Catherine, deceased; and John, a tanner, who died inVirginia.
And again where the Annals recorded the following:
"He was a man of considerable energy and made three trips to Canada onhorseback. He belonged to the Old Mennonite Church, but he did notignore altogether the law of self-defense, and one of his descendantsstill cherishes a cane which which he defended himself against theattack of an Indian, upon one of the trips mentioned."
"He was one of the successful farmers of his day, followingagricultural pursuits until his death...He had prospered by thrift andindustry, and at the time of his death owned four farms."
FindaGrave says
"Jacob prospered greatly from a land deal in Canada, and four oftheir children moved there.
One son stayed in Canada, one son returned to Pennsylvania, and oneson and one daughter moved to Virginia."
The above deal was expanded in the bio of son Sem at FindaGrave:
"Sem's father Jacob was one of the many Germans who, during the firstfew years of the 19th century, bought land in Waterloo, Ontario,Canada. Between 1802 and 1805 he bought over 7000 acres in Waterloo,and although he sent his sons to Canada he remained in Pennsylvania onthe same farm until his death.
He gradually sold all the land in Canada with the exception of twofarms and in 1834 he gave the two farms to his son John, who hadlearned the trade of tanner."
History recorded: "He had prospered by thrift and industry, and atthe time of his death had added considerably to the old Groffhomestead, dividing the whole into four farms, giving a portion eachto his sons, Jacob, Christian, Ezra, and Levi. He provided otherwisefor his other children."
