Roth. - Jacob, son of Nicholas and Catherine (Christner) Roth, was born in Tavistock, Ont., Canada, Dec. 22, 1850; died May 23, 1928, near Albany, Oreg., aged 77 y. 5 m. 1 d.

When 8 years of age, he moved with his parents to Iowa, where he grew to manhood. On Nov. 4, 1873, he was married to Hannah Eicher of Henry Co., Iowa. To this union were born 4 sons. His wife and 2 sons preceded him in death. On Nov. 16, 1880, he was married to Mary Eicher, Hannah's 18 year old sister. To this union were born 6 sons and 3 daughters. He left his wife, 3 sons (Martin, John, and Frank) 1 daughter (Barbara Neuschwander), 1 adopted son (Edward), also 29 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, 2 brothers, 1 sister, and a host of relatives and friends. He accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of 17 and united with the Amish Mennonite Church to which Church he was faithful until death. Jacob moved to Nebraska about 1880 and was ordained to the office of deacon in 1883 by Bishop Joseph Schlegel, the first person ever ordained in the Fairview church, and to the office of bishop in 1895.

In 1886, Jacob was one of three men who went to Northeastern Colorado to look at free homestead land near Thurman where some of his relatives already lived. He moved to Colorado in 1887 where he was soon ordained to the ministry for the newly organized congregation at Thurman. By 1892, Jacob had filed on vast tracts of Homestead land in the community, but drought forced him to move to Oregon about 1894 where he helped to organize the Fairview Amish Mennonite church near Albany. The first meetings were held in his home. In 1903, he moved to Creston, Montana where he helped to organize the Mountain View Mennonite Church. The first meetings were also held in his home. About 1916, he moved his family to Texas near Tuleta where a small Amish Menonite congregation existed for several years, one family from Milford, Nebr. In 1918, he returned to Oregon where he died from cancer.

While living in Milford, Nebr. Jacob often accompanied Bishop Schlegel on trips to smaller, remote Mennonite settlements in Western Kansas and Nebraska. He and his wife experienced much sorrow and death in the family. Of the ten children only two grew to maturity. Family members were buried in Iowa, Milford, Thurman and Oregon. Jacob was known to be very conservative in his theology, even forbidding his children to wear buttons. His constant aim and purpose throughout the many years of active service was to faithfully uphold the full and simple teachings of the Gospel as believed and practiced by the church of his choice.