JACOB CASNER, merchant and postmaster, of Shanks Run, Ryde Station, Wayne township, Mifflin county, Pa., was born August 4, 1833, in the Kishacoquillas valley, Menno township, Mifflin county, He is a son of Joseph and Martha (Williams) Casner. His grandfather, Jacob Casner, was a native of England, who came to America when a young man, and settled in Juniata county, where he lived all his life. He served as a private in the war of 1812-15 against Great Britain. One of his sons was Joseph, born in Juniata county in 1804. He had but a limited education, and began life on the farm, working for farmers in the vicinity. At an early age he learned shoemaking, at which he subsequently worked both in Juniata and Mifflin counties. He removed to Mifflin county and settled in the Kishacoquillas valley, Menno township, where he followed his trade and spent the remainder of his day, dying there in 1847. In 1829, he married Martha Williams, a native of Juniata county, of Irish descent. They had six children, as follows: James, of Juniata county; Samuel, deceased; William, was a soldier in the Civil war, now resides in Allensville in the Kishacoquillas valley; Joseph, was killed in front of Petersburg, Va., while a soldier in the United States service; and Margaret (Mrs. George Bordel), of the Kishacoquillas valley, deceased. Joseph Casner was a democrat. His wife survived him a few years, dying in White Hall, in 1850. Jacob Casner attended the public schools in the valley, and at the age of eleven years began life on the shoemaker's bench, with his father. When at the age of fourteen he lost his father, he continued working at the trade in order to support his widowed mother and the family. At the age of seventeen he lost his mother, which also imposed upon him additional care in raising the younger members of the family. Nobly and well did he discharge his duty. He continued at his trade at White Hall until 1865. He then removed to Ryde Station, then called Manayunk, in the Kishacoquillas valley, where he continued working at his trade, and also bought a farm which he cultivated during the summer season. His first purchase of land was fifty acres, which he paid for with money he had earned and saved by hard labor at his trade. For eleven years more he continued this work during the winter season and at night, when he could not attend to farm duties. In 1875, he opened the first store ever kept at Ryde Station, and made a success of his undertaking. He has now been in mercantile business at that place for twenty-one years; he has also been postmaster for twenty-one consecutive years, without any change being made under the successive administrations. Mr. Casner was married in 1858, in Menno township, to Amanda Morgan, daughter of Francis Morgan, of Allensville. They have had eleven children, as follows: Clara (Mrs. William A. Bratton), of Ryde Station; Anna J. (Mrs. John S. Nepp), of Roanoke, Va.; Barbara E. (Mrs. George W. Kauffman), of Bratton township; Mary F. (Mrs. George S. Appleby), of Huntingdon county; Sarah E. (Mrs. R. L. Bratton), of Bellwood, Blair county, Pa.; Frank, a farmer; Gertrude V.; Blanch; Ida; Naomi, deceased; and Martha L., deceased wife of William Marshman. Mr. Casner filled the office of township auditor; he was also elected a justice of the peace, but never served. He is a Democrat. Mr. Casner is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and active in Sunday-school work, having been for a number of years a teacher, and also assistant superintendent. The life of Jacob Casner indicates in a remarkable manner, how a youth beginning life in poverty, can achieve worldly success and command the unlimited confidence and respect of the community, simply by industry and integrity.

The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 532-533.

Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944 about Jacob Casner

Name:Jacob Casner
Gender:Male
Race:White
Age:77
Birth Date:4 Aug 1834
Birth Place:Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Death Date:31 Jul 1911
Death Place:Wayne, Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA
Father Name:Joseph Casner
Father Birth Place:Germany
Mother Name:Margaret Williams
Mother Birth Place:Pennsylvania
Certificate Number:66320