My Genealogy Hound

JACOB WOLF was born in Prussia, October 13, 1846, and came to America with his parents when seven years of age, locating on a farm in Erie county, Pa., where he lived for eight years, laboring on his father’s farm and attending school in the neighboring district at odd intervals. At the age of fifteen years he moved with his parents to St. Clair county, Ill., where he spent two more years of his life on a farm, and then moved to Effingham county, Ill., where he resided and labored on a farm until June, 1872, when, actuated by a desire to come West and grow up with the country, he accordingly came to Harlan county, Nebr., and filed claim under the homestead laws on a quarter section of land in section 19, township 2, range 19 west. The settlers in Harlan county at that early time were indeed few and far between and were only to be found here and there along timber-lined creeks, and in the valley of the Republican river — the broad and grassy plain known as the Divide, which has since yielded its millions of bushels of golden grain and has been dotted over with palatial residences and spacious barn and granaries, being left for the buffalo and antelope to graze over in peaceful quietude. Mr. Wolf had little to begin with when he entered his homestead in Harlan county, and the tales of hardships and privations endured during his early frontier life are, indeed, heart rendering in the extreme. He first constructed a 14 by 16 ft. dug-out, in which he lived for two and a half years, frequently being compelled to sleep under an umbrella within, during the hard storms of those early times, so fierce and driving were the winds and the rains that the roof of an ordinary dug-out afforded but little shelter. The old dug-out did duty for a period of two and a half years, when it was replaced by a neat log cabin of similar dimensions, which afforded shelter for three years, and was finally replaced by a frame store building which Mr. Wolf bought and moved from Furnas county, and converted into a residence. Wild game, such as buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, roamed over the hills and through the narrow valleys in herds numbering from a dozen up into the thousands, and afforded meat for the hungry settler who was fortunate enough to possess a rifle and ability to handle it with the necessary skill to bring down the game. Mr. Wolf, though not an experienced hunter, managed to kill buffalo and keep his own table well supplied with meat, and whenever possible divided with his neighbors. Crops for the first eight years were anything but good, and it was a continual struggle with Mr. Wolf for existence. The grasshoppers and drought totally destroyed the crops some years and made farming an uncertain business. Many settlers became discouraged and left the country, but Mr. Wolf, with his characteristic pluck and industry, stuck to the old homestead through thick and thin and has since been richly rewarded for his many years of patient toil. He sold his original claim of Sappa creek in 1884 for $1,625.00 and purchased his present home in the Republican valley, south and east of Orleans, he has a fine tract of two hundred and sixty acres of well improved land.

He was married April 2, 1868, to Eva Coontz, who was born in Mainland, October 6, 1851. Their happy union has been blessed with three children, only one of whom is now living. The first born, Lizzie by name, was bitten by a rattlesnake when but a few years old, from the effects of which she died; the second, a boy, Henry by name, died when young, and the third, Lena B., is a handsome and intelligent young lady of eighteen. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are active members of the Presbyterian church, and Lena B. of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, Mr. Wolf is a republican and has held several offices in his township.