born August 8, 1838, (Born on Tarr Farm near Titusville PA or in Beaver County, Penn). He was educated in that county, and was brought up at farm labor. He married Miss Mary Shalt, daughter of Michael Shalt, by whom he has had four children: Anna (deceased), Charles, Albert, and John. He came to Mercer County in 1869, and settled on his present farm, where he has been very successful. His wife is a member of the Lutheran Church, while he is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. He is one of the enterprising citizens of the county, and is taking a deep interest in the education of his children.

Paid $300.00 to be exempted from Civil War Draft, Ift, Jacob, Rochester, Beaver Co. PA [Residents of Beaver County Pennsylvania who were exempted from the Civil War Draft in 1863, Published in the Beaver Argus Aug. 5 to Nov, 11 1863, Mark H. Welchley,Beaver County, Genealogical Gleanings, Dec, Mar 1988, Vol XIV, page 79]

Jacob was in Business with John Bensing (1836-1898) in the early 1860's operating a ferry which crossed the Ohio River from Phillipsburgh (now Monaca) to a point between Beaver and Bridgewater, which was known in those days as the lower or Beaver ferry. (Research so far has indicated that the ferryboat was the steamship Messenger, but I'm still not sure.) In 1863 John Bensing sold the business and removed, with brother-in law John Ifft (1839-1917) and their families to north-western Ohio.

The John Bensing and John Ifft families after staying the winter of 1863 with the Pfeiffer family in Kenton, Harding Co. OH, set off to Henry Co., OH and settled. John Ifft left Henry county in the spring of 1864. And the Bensing family after many illnesses, in the fall of 1865 left Ohio, leaving everything behind, and returned to Pennsylvania.

The family stayed with Anna's parents, Peter and Anna (Günther) Ifft Sr. and John Bensing went to join his brother-in-law John Ifft in Petroleum Center, Venango County, Pennsylvania on Oil Creek, to drill oil wells during the big Oil Rush of the 1860's.

According to Jacob F. Buquo's (1842-)(Jacob was married to Gertrude Ifft (1844-) bio; During the rebellion Jacob F. (Buquo) entered the service as teamster, and on his discharge at the close of the war removed to Venango county, Pa. and engaged in the oil business for about two years, at the same time following contracting. He then formed a partnership with Jacob Ifft in leasing land and sinking wells, for some two years more, and in 1868 embarked in the lumbering business in Tennessee.

So it appears that at least Jacob and John Ifft, and their two brothers-in-law Jacob F. Buquo and John Bensing were involved in the Oil Boom in Venango County.

I'm not sure when Jacob Ifft moved to Mercer Co., PA, but as the birth of his son, John J. Ifft (1772-1947) was noted as being in Venango Co., it must have been after 1872. (Note that Jacob Buquo had removed to Tennessee in 1868.) By 1875, most of the oil wells began to dry up and the towns along Oil Creek began to die.

The John and Anna Barbra (Ifft) Bensing family and the John and Sophia (Hohnadel) Ifft family returned to Henry Co., OH in 1866 and in 1867 went into business together operating a saw mill called "Ifft & Bensing" There was an accident, and John Ifft's skull injured by the explosion of a grind stone in the mill. So in about 1869, John Ifft and family moved back to Pennsylvania, settling in Zelienople where according to Ken Weigle he built a home with 3 foot thick walls. In a map of Zelienople in 1901, it shows "Planing Mill and Lumber Yard, John Ifft & Co." on the corner of RailRoad Street and Clay Ave. I'm not sure if this is the same place Ken Weigle mentions as having had a monorail going all over the woodworking shop (which burned).