Jesse Fisher, Man of God

It's hard to write a biography of a man that is shrouded in mystery, I will try to provide a sketch that will fill in the facts with speculation. Mostly facts.

Jesse Fisher was born February 22 1774, somewhere in New Jersey. He was a son of Joseph and Rebecca Fisher. We don’t have many facts about his childhood because we don't have many facts about his parents. New Jersey in the middle 1700s was a very busy place. Many immigrants passed through or settled temporarily in that state. The records that (I believe exist) are hidden. In some cases, Records were destroyed, but in most cases there were no records kept. There were many Fisher Families that were living in New Jersey at the time, one of which (I believe) are the ancestors of our Jesse Fisher. From this assumption I will draw a Picture.

Peter Fisher and his wife Maria, came to America before 1725 and settled first in Somerset county. Tradition has it that they were married in Germany. Tunis, (Anthony) was christened November 14, 1725 in Readington, Somerset, New Jersey. Peter and Maria remained in somerset until 1730, when he purchased a farm about 1/2 mile east of Rocktown, in Hunterdon county New Jersey. The Farm stayed in the family over the years.

Peter and Maria had 8 children: Tunis (Anthony), Christopher, William, John, Peter, Jacob, and Elizabeth. Tunis is the child that we are going to follow for the purpose of the story. Tunis Married Elizabeth Snyder (who was sister to the man whom the town of Snydertown was named after). They settled on a farm west of Mount Airy. There Children where John, Christopher, Jacob, Tunis, Joseph, Mary, Margaret, and Elizabeth.

Of Joseph, all that was said is that he Married Miss Broom and went west. I believe that this Joseph was the father of Jesse Fisher. If that conjecture is true, then it would follow That Joseph Married Rebecca Broom and Went west. Broom was a name that can be found in the records of the time but there are many other possibilities of name derivations: Bloom, Blum, Broome, Brown, Bloomfiled, and others.

Where Joseph and Rebecca went is still a mystery, there are many possibilities but no hard facts. Joseph had cousins that settled near Williamsport PA. He may have gone there. He had other relatives that settled near Philadelphia, and a cousin who went over to the Brittish in the revolution He later settled in Nova Scotia.

About Jesse's Childhood we can draw from the words of S. H. Brockunier who wrote an obituary about Jesse when he died. He said, "From his youth he imbibed a sacred regard for the Holy Sabbath, which led him to avoid associations with his young companions on that day.

So we learn that God was important to Jesse. There is a record of a group of citizens that had contracted with Rev Francis Reno to preach for a year beginning May 1, 1798 and Jesse Fisher was one of them. There was also a Joseph Fisher and Christopher Martin. This was from history of Allegheny County.

What we do know is that Jesse came to Sewickly (Pronounced swick-lee) bottom on the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh Pa in 1796. He rented a farm from Daniel Leet As near as I can determine the farm was located between Edgeworth and Swickley by the river where the Conrail tracks are today.

The Geography of the area is rolling hills. The roads were originally cattle and game trails that follow the hill sides and wind around down and up with no particular pattern. Today there are two Sewickley's there is Sewickley heights and sewickely the difference is obvious. While having breakfast in a café in Sewickley, I asked a waitress where Sewickley bottom was, she just gave me a blank stare. In other words she didn't know. If you view the area from looking at a map and from the Sewickley Bridge you can see that there is an obvious valley with surrounding hills, which in the 18^th century would have been called bottom land.

In 1797, Jesse Married Elizabeth (Betsy) Martin. Elizabeth was the Daughter of Christopher and Prudence Martin who had settled for time in Sewickley. Jesse worked the farm and Betsy kept house. What an inviting house she kept, many a visitor was welcomed at her hearth. As illustrated by Joshua Monroe in the obituary of Elizabeth Martin Fisher:

In 1798, Thomas (the first born) came along. Followed by Martin, Joseph, Samuel, Charles and David. It was during this time that Jesse was chosen as a class Leader (the person who conducted Sunday school meetings in between the ministers coming to town). Many of the great Methodist preachers of the day had their beginnings in Jesse Fishers class. Also During this time the Shenango circuit was established. It was a route that the Methodist ministers would take in their effort to cover the territory that was assigned to them. Jesse and Betsy's house was one of the stopping places. As well was Christopher Martin's who was residing in Trumball County Ohio at the time.

In 1818 Twin girls were born, Hetty and Mary. Sometime between 1810 and 1818 Jesse obtained a patent on some congress land in New Sewickley Township, Beaver County. He moved the family north of Big Nob and built a farm. It was there that Able, Rebecca and Flemming were born.

Jesse had a lot to be proud of, but he was too humble to boast or to forget the source of his blessings. His son Martin was a businessman and served as Justice of the peace in the town of freedom. He was on the board of elders in his church, Thomas was a successful farmer as well his son Charles. Joseph married the grand daughter of some of the patriots of the American Revolution. She was cousin to Andrew Jackson. Together, they were the first of Jesse's children to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints and finished life as a successful fruit farmer in Utah. I believe that all of Jesse's children married well and he has a posterity that have done many wonderful things in their lives.

The obituary that was referred to before, Mentions that Jesse was in the habit of finding solitude on Sunday mornings. He would get away to pray and meditate. He would call the family together for Family Worship and would expound scripture with some of the prestigious ministers of his time. He was a man of great faith. And together with Betsy, his companion, he brought his household together for a time and then sent them out to make their own way in the world.

Life in western Pennsylvania in the early 1800's was like life elsewhere in the country. Most people were farmers. Some were tradesmen, some were merchants. There was a large amount of river traffic on the Monongahela and Allegheny as well as the Ohio and Beaver rivers. There was also a great excitement on the subject of religion and as people are want to be today, everyone had their opinion and everyone felt that they were right. Jesse spent many hours at camp meetings and trying to further along the right cause as he saw it.

It was during this time of excitement that his children became adults and married. Thomas Married Susanna Wagoner. A woman who wasn’t of the faith that Jesse espoused. She later converted as was mentioned in her obituary. Susanna became a close friend to Betsy and I'm sure they helped each other and chatted about the news of the times. It was said that when Susanna died, Betsy followed because of a broken heart because she died one month later on 30 June 1841.

There were other children and I am sure, other conflicts. Not all of the conflicts were about Religion I am sure. But the conflict that was created when Joseph Married Evaline Mclean, must have been tough. She was the grand daughter of a Presbyterian minister and I am sure was brought up to believe that they were right as Joseph was brought up to be a Methodist. I am sure there were conflicts on both sides  of the family as well as in their own marriage. As someone once mentioned, "they must have found compromise and peace in their marriage when they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

I don't think that Jesse took it well. He must have found it hard to swallow. His own son had become a Mormon. He didn't disown his son though as evidenced in Joseph's mention in Jesse's will. His beloved Wife was gone and his third son was going to move to the west, some place in Illinois. He pressed on and persevered. He had his large family to help him and I suspect that most of the day to day farm work was gradually taken over by his sons.

In February 1850, in a family worship service, he read from the 5^th chapter of 1^st John in the bible, sang a hymn, and kneeled down in prayer. He was unable to get off his knees and was helped onto his feet by his kids. Two days later on 17 February 1850, at the dawn of a new day, he closed his eyes while seated in his chair and went on to meet those who had gone before.

At his funeral, there were many great leaders of the Christian Faith who shouted praises to this great man. Many who told of being in his Sunday school class and learning about the gospel through him.

In his Will Jesse asked that his remains be buried in Boggs burying grounds. There are a few readable headstones in Boggs cemetery, Jesse's Son Charles is there. The headstone has fallen over and has been weathered with a name erasing acid rain that could've only been produced in the three rivers area of yesteryear. Thomas is buried in Oak grove, Freedom. But If Jesse ever had a stone, it is not readable now.  

In the years that followed, there were many of his own family who were caught up in the great war between the states. Many didn't return. Joseph And Evaline went west with their family were they raised their children, and taught them the timeless values and passed on their heritage. Jesse did a fine job.

It has been over 150 years since Jesse passed away. Some say the trail has grown cold and we may never learn the whole story, at least not in this life. But for me, in my minds eye, this 230 year man lives. He walks about on the pages of my family records with reverence. Perhaps with a snicker and a twinkle in his eye because his posterity hasn't quite gotten to the point in their thinking that will help them start asking the right questions about who this man was.

There are many theories and many opinions about the origins of this branch of the Fisher family, many who think I am wrong. I have only listed a possible story.

Many years ago, it was this man and the mystery surrounding him, that sparked my interest in family history work. I have poured over many records and spent many late night hours trying to piece together his life. I am still trying, so what you have read may change. I hope it will. For It will mean that I will have found out. Even if by someone telling me the correct story, I will know the answer.