Jacob J. Fisher

JACOB J. FISHER. The thrift and enterprise that brought success to the early Kansas farmers were well illustrated in the case of Jacob J. Fisher, who; now resides in a comfortable home at Salina, has abundance of this world's goods for all his future needs, has reared an honorable and honored family, and has now reached that time in life when he can properly shift the heavier responsibilities to younger shoulders.

He was born October 10, 1847, on a farm in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. His father, Oleriet Fisher, was born in Germany. Jacob J. was the third in a family of six children, four sons and two daughters, as follows: John, deceased; Elizabeth; Jacob J.; Margaret and George, both deceased; and Joseph.

Jacob J. Fisher remained with his parents on the farm until twenty-one, where he developed the strength of body and the resourcefulness of mind which were even more practical assets in his business career than the training he received in the public schools of Cambria County. At the age of twenty-one Jacob Fisher went West. One year was spent in Nebraska, building bridges. In 1870 he came into Kansas and located on government land in Rice County, where he had residence for two years. In 1872 he removed to Saline County, and here again was employed as a bridge carpenter, being connected with the Union Pacific Railroad Company for several years. After three years as a farmer in Saline County, Mr. Fisher bought land in Ottawa County, and his farming enterprise and his land holding interests are chiefly centered there, where he now owns 1,400 acres, a large part of which is under cultivation; and his active supervision and personal labor have largely redeemed it from a wild prairie. Mr. Fisher has spent upwards of forty years as a Kansas farmer, and while he would be the last to profess a complete knowledge of the subject his experience entitles him to a voice of authority in all matters pertaining to the growing of crops and the handling of land in this district of Kansas.

From the time of his early settlement he showed himself willing and eager to help forward any movement for good roads, better schools and other community improvements, but has never been a seeker for the honors of office, though a loyal republican. He retired from the farm in 1907, and has since lived in an attractive home in Salina.

Mr. Fisher is a member of Salina Lodge of Elks No. 718. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Fisher's wife, whom he married at Salina December 12, 1875, was formerly Miss Caroline Link, and her record introduces another prominent pioneer family in this part of Kansas. She was the fourth daughter of Christian and Catherine (Robb) Link, and was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, April 7, 1853. Christian Link, a native of Germany, came to America in 1837, and died in 1857, when he and his family were en route to Kansas. He was a jeweler by profession, and an active member of the Lutheran Church. Christian Link was married in 1840 to Miss Catherine Robb, also a native of Germany. She died at Minneapolis, Kansas, in 1894, and she also was a life-long member of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Catherine Link had a distinctive place among the pioneer women of Central Kansas. She was the first white woman to locate permanently in Saline County. She remained on a farm there until 1878, at which date she retired and lived in Minneapolis the remaining portion of her days. She was well fitted for the vicissitudes and hardships of pioneering She was courageous, devoted to her family, willing to make any sacrifice in their behalf, and when necessity put her to it she could do a man's work. As already stated, she and her husband were on their way to Kansas in 1857 when the former died and was buried at Springfield, Illinois. After his death the widowed mother continued the journey with her children, and lived to see most of them established in homes of their own. She was the mother of five, four daughters and one son, as follows: Anna, who was born February 2, 1842, in Germany, was married in 1858 to Jacob Geisen, and now lives at Minneapolis, Kansas; Jacob, who was born in 1844, was with a Kansas regiment during the Civil war and died at Salina in 1865; Mary Markley, also born in Germany, married Israel Markley, one of the old-time settlers of Central Kansas; Mrs. Jacob Fisher, who was the fourth in order of birth; and Elizabeth, who was married in August, 1889, to John C. Williams, and they now live on a farm in Saline County.

Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have three children, two daughters and one son. Charles, born September 13, 1876, was married in 1905 to Miss Maude Dale, and in their farm home in Saline County they have two children, Willa J. and Jacob Dale. Mae, born September 17, 1878, was married in 1908 to Harold M. Link, and their one child is named Helen Carolyn. Bessie, born January 14, 1883, became the wife of Barr Merrill in 1911. Barr Merrill is a son of J. F. Merrill, president of the Farmers National Bank of Salina.

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