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NAVIGATION
Michigan
Histories
Kalamazoo County
Biographies
Online Biographies
Illinois
Histories
Also see [Railway Officials in America 1906]
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JACOB KIMBLE was born in Wayne Co., Pa. His grandfather's family was driven away from his farm (which he had
bought from the government) by the Indians, but went back to it as soon as peace was made. On this farm Benjamin,
Jacob's father, lived until his death, in 1837. He cleared and improved the farm, and became a wealthy man. On
the old homestead. Jacob grew to manhood, working during summers and attending the district schools in the winters.
His leisure hours were passed roaming through the forests in search of game, and he became famous as a hunter and
marksman; a panther being one of his trophies. He remained with his father until his marriage, in 1826, when he
bthlt a house on the farm of his father, and ran a sawmill which his father had given him and his brother. In 1836,
Mr. Kimble sold his interest in the mill and several hundred acres of timber, from which he realized one thousand
dollars. He had become weary of rocky farms, and in June of that year, with his wife and three children, in a wagon,
moved to Holmes Co., Ohio, where he had a brother. Not liking the country, he again traveled Westward, stopping
in Calhoun Co., Mich., where he rented a farm. A few months later he came to the Indian reservation in St. Joseph
and Kalamazoo Counties, and located a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the town of Park, on which he built
a log house and planted an orchard. The Indians were then living on the reservation, and the same party that murdered
Wisner came to his residence when Mrs. Kimble was alone with her children and a neighbor's girl, and demanded admittance;
but finding the door too strong, finally went away. In 1840 be bought L. C. Kimble's claim to the southwest quarter
of section 31, in Brady. On this he built a house and log barn, and began to improve; but he was not to see the
fruition of his hopes, and in his death the county lost one of its most useful pioneers. After his death Mrs. Kimble
continued to manage the farm, and when it came into market, proved her pre-empLion and received a deed for the
same, and still owns it.
Mr. Kimble married, Sept. 15, 1826, Miss Margaret Adams, who was born Feb. 8, 1809. Their union was blessed with
four children, viz., Amelia, born Aug. 3, 1827; William, Oct. 17, 1829; Eunice, Oct. 27, 1831; and Elizabeth, June
29, 1837.
FROM:
History of Kalamazoo County, Michigan
With Illistrations and Biographical Sketches
of its Men and Pioneers.
Everts & Abbott., Philadelphia 1880
Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia.
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