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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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JOHN FISHBORN MYERS, one of the prosperous and well-known farmers of Penn township, Cumberland county, comes from a family which has been numerously and creditably represented in this part of Pennsylvania for over a century. He is a great-grandson of Abraham Myers, one of the early pioneers of Dauphin county, this State, and a grandson of Abraham Myers, the well-known pioneer of Cumberland county, who came hither from York county. The latter had children as follows: Samuel, who died in Philadelphia; James, the father of John F.; Benjamin, who died in West Pennsboro township, Cumberland county; Abraham, who died in Altoona, Pa.; William, who died in Philadelphia, while on a visit to his sister, Mary A.; Mary A., who died in Philadelphia: and Elizabeth, who died in Dickinson township, Cumberland county.

James Myers, father of John F., was born in Dickinson township, Cumberland county, and there received a common school education. When he started out for himself he located in Penn township, along the Chambersburg pike, and there bought 196 acres of land, upon which he erected all the buildings and made the other improvements. He was a prosperous farmer, and his industrious and thrifty habits were as apparent in the appearance of his property as in his increased wealth. He died on the homestead June 20, 1879, and was buried at Carlisle. After that Mrs. Myers moved to Newville, where she resided for ten years, thence removing to Carlisle, where the remainder of her days was passed, and where she died Dec. 8, 1903. She is buried in Carlisle cemetery. Mrs. Myers’s maiden name was Barbara Fishborn, and she was a native of Dauphin county, Pa., coming to Cumberland county with her parents when thirteen years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Myers were born ten children, namely: Catherine A., Mrs. Leidigh; Sarah E.; Abraham George; John Fishburn; Barbara Elizabeth, Mrs. Keller; James P.; William Albert; Charles Calvin; Annie B., Mrs. Caldwell, who died in Frankfort. Ind., and is the only one of this large family who has passed away; and Edwin E.

John F. Myers, whose name introduces this sketch, was born Nov. 20, 1845, in Penn township, and with the exception of a few months spent in the West has lived there all his life. He received his early education in the district schools, and for two terms attended a graded school at Newville. He commenced work under his father, on the home farm, and during his early manhood was also engaged in clerking at Newville. After his marriage he located on a farm in Penn township, a well improved place of ninety-three acres equipped with substantial buildings and in every way desirable as a residence. In the spring of 1888 the family went West to Ford county,Kans., where Mr. Myers followed farming for seven months. Returning, he settled upon the farm in Penn township where he has since resided, and he is justly regarded as one of the representative farmers of his section. He is intelligent, and well-directed efforts have brought deserved prosperity, until he is now ranked among the substantial agriculturists of his section. His business ability has been recognized by his fellow citizens, who have chosen him to various positions of trust, in which he has proven himself worthy of every honor bestowed upon him. He has served two terms as supervisor, six years as school director, is now auditor of the county (which office he has held since 1902), and is also acting at the present time as member of the board which urged the building of a high school in Centerville. Mr. Myers’s political connection is with the Democratic party, of whose principles he is a stanch supporter.

On Dec. 27, 1870, Mr. Myers was united in marriage with Miss Frances J. Eyster, and to this union have come eight children, as follows: Laura H., who is the wife of Elmer Evans, and lives at Hockersville; Nora E., who was accidentally killed by falling off a load of corn in 1875, when two years and ten months old; William Oliver, who married Lillie Adams and is living in Penn township, where he engages in farming; Josephine C., who married Ezra J. Brandt, and is living in Iowa, where he is engaged as a fireman on the Northwestern railroad; Nettie May, at home; Harold, who died when ten years old; Frankie, who died in infancy; and John C., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are members of the Lutheran Church.

The Eyster family, to which Mrs. Myers belongs, has long been known in Pennsylvania. Her grandparents, John and Susan (Booz) Eyster, were natives of Berks and Adams counties, Pa., respectively, and after their marriage moved West to Ohio, being pioneers in Columbiana county. There Elias B. Eyster, father of Mrs. Myers, was born July 16, 1809, and there he was reared and educated. When twenty-one years of age he left Ohio, coming to Berks county, Pa., where he was married Dec. 5, 1835, to Helena Drescher. In 1837 they settled at Oyster Point, Cumberland county, which is within two miles of Harrisburg, and there they kept the “Oyster Point Hotel” for five years. At the end of that time they moved up the Cumberland Valley to Penn township, where they purchased the “Long Meadow Hotel,” carrying on that place for forty years. This building was erected in 1780, and is still standing and occupied. Mr. Eyster became very well known in his capacity of host throughout this section of Pennsylvania, and as his hostelry was a favorite stopping-place for travelers in its day he prospered in the business. In 1855 he purchased the mill on Yellow Breeches creek which was afterward known as Eyster’s mill, and his acquisitions also included five fine farms, comprising some five hundred acres of fine land, which is now owned by his children. Mr. Eyster was a prominent man in the community in public as well as business life, and filled most of the township offices with characteristic ability, among them that of director of the poor from 1870 to 1873. Mr. Eyster passed away in August, 1887, his wife, who preceded him to the grave, dying Sept. 20, 1878, aged sixty-six years, six months, eight days. She was a member of the Lutheran Church for the greater part of her life, and Mr. Eyster also held membership in that denomination. They were the parents of the following named children: Thomas Jefferson (deceased), Angelina (deceased), Elias G., Helena Jane, Sarah Ann (Mrs. Moore, deceased), Charles J. (deceased), Frances Josephine (Mrs. Myers), Laura Elizabeth (deceased), Margaret M. (deceased), and William L.

Elias G. Eyster, son of Elias B., was born March 27, 1840, at Oyster Point, and was but two years old when the family settled in Penn township, where he has ever since had his home. In May, 1861, he left school to join the Union army, in response to the first call for troops. The company was not accepted at that time, but later, in August, on the first call for three years’ troops, the command was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and Mr. Eyster took part in the historic campaigns in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, participating in the engagements at Williamsburg, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Mine Run, and the battles of the Wilderness, up to Petersburg, besides many skirmishes. At Hartford Church, in February, 1863, he received a gunshot wound through the neck which prevented him from being present at the battle of Chancellorsville. On the last day of the battle of Gettysburg he was captured, and was confined for one month in Libby Prison and Belle Isle. He was honorably discharged Aug. 6, 1864, with a fine army record.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

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