History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1887
Neff Family - JACOB A. NEFF Biography
Jacob Arthur Neff, numbered among the most active and enterprising of the business men of Williamsport, was born in Loyalsock township, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. May. 27, 1874, a son of Jonathan and Harriet (Winter) Neff. He is of German ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Abram Neff, having been born in Stuttgart, Germany, whence he came to the United States after his marriage with Mary Daller, who was born in the same city with himself. Abram Neff came with a company of colonists and settled in Blooming Grove, where he passed his life as a farmer, and there died, as did his wife. They were members of the Lutheran church. They were the parents of ten children: Abram, David, Frederick, Jacob, Jonathan, Michael, Isaac, Barbara, Margaret, Mary. Several of these children located in Indiana, where they followed farming, and all were known as industrious and upright men.
Jonathan Neff, of the above named family, was born in Upper Fairfield township, Lycoming county, in 1832, and was reared upon the paternal farm and learned the carpenter's trade near there. He married Miss Harriet Winter, daughter of John Winter, whose ancestry is noted in sketch' of John C. Winter, preceding this. Shortly after their marriage they removed to Williamsport. Pennsylvania, where he conducted a grocery store for a number of years. About 1866 he disposed of his business and purchased the farm upon which he now resides, situated in Loyalsock township. His wife died July 16, 1889. He is a Republican, as are all his sons, and a member of the Evangelical church. They were the parents of twelve children, all of whom came to maturity and entered upon honorable and successful careers : 1. Hiram, a farmer in Rochester, Indiana ; 2. William, a roofing and paint manufacturer in Denver,. Colorado; 3. Margaret, wife of Oscar Wilder, a merchant in Newberry, Pennsylvania ; 4. Annie, unmarried ; 5. Albert, died at the age of thirty-five years; 6. Addie, unmarried; 7. Charles, a practicing physician at St. Mary's, Pennsylvania ; 8. Jacob A., to be further mentioned hereinafter; 9. Samuel, at home; 10. Howard, who is prospecting in Oregon ; 11. Carrie, wife of George Kober, residing in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; 12. Ernest, at home. All the sons are of the same political faith as the father.
Jacob Arthur Neff, eighth child and fifth son of Jonathan and Harriet (Winter) Neff, passed his boyhood days upon the home farm and attended the district schools. He afterward completed a course in the county normal school at Muncy, Pennsylvania, and for a number of years taught school in various places in the county, making an excellent record as an instructor. He subsequently took a business course in the Williamsport Commercial College, and broadened his literary education by pursuing advanced branches in the Dickinson Seminary. After leaving that institution, he became associated with John C. Winter in the planing mill and building business, which under their industrious and sagacious management has long been recognized as among the most important enterprises of the city, and which has been a potent factor in its development and growth. Mr. Neff takes an active and intelligent interest in community affairs, and bears a full share in advancing every cause which contributes to its prosperity, along moral and intellectual as well as material lines. In politics he is a Republican, and he is affiliated with Amazon Lodge No. 662, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
March 22, 1905, Mr. Neff married Miss Carrie Oberfell, who was born in Williamsport, a daughter of George and Maggie (Hughes) Oberfell, natives of Lycoming county, and numbered among its most honored citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Neff are members of the Evangelical church. Their residence is one of the most beautiful pieces of home property in the northern part of the city.
Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Lycoming County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1906.
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