OF A CERTAIN PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY. 13 



III. SURVEY OF THE STRAINS; THEIR FOUNDERS. 



In the latter part of the eighteenth century there came to a fertile 

 section of western Pennsylvania a German immigrant, Aaron Rufer^ 

 by name, with his wife and three small children. They acquired there, 

 either by purchase or grant, 400 acres of land, which they cleared in 

 great part and farmed successfully for a period of 30 years. 



Aaron was shrewd, honest, plucky, persevering, and progressive. 

 He never learned to read or write English; he signed his will with a 

 cross; but it is said that he had a fair education in his native tongue. 

 The conditions of his will, drawn up in 1828, only a few years before 

 his death, show prudence and foresight. That he had, in addition to 

 these qualities, great strength and physical courage, is indicated by 

 the story that in his old age he once caught a live otter and in spite of 

 its biting and scratching carried it to the village half a mile away. 

 Nothing is known of his ancestry, but all available accounts would 

 lead us to regard him as a fair specimen of that splendid pioneer type 

 which has been so important a factor in the development of this coun- 

 try's resources. 



Hardly as much can be said of his wife. "Aaron had married her 

 for the dowTy she brought him," is asserted by some, while one infor- 

 mant insists that since she had become pregnant by him without the 

 intention of marriage, he "stood by her" and "set matters right" by 

 making her his wife. She was totally lacking, it would seem, in any 

 sense of number and quantity, for before Aaron went to work in the 

 morning he had to measure out the proper amounts of meat and 

 vegetables for the family dinner. This done, his wife would "get a 

 sort of a meal." Their log cabin was built with two wide openings 

 hung with sacking, so that a horse might drag in the logs which fed the 

 great open fire, and in the absence of doors the family pig ran in and 

 out and warmed itself, first on this side, and then on that— a condition 

 of affairs decidedly below the standards of the pioneer community. 

 Furthermore, with her lack of neatness and accuracy, Aaron's wife could 

 neither sew, spin, nor weave acceptably. Aside from these defects, 

 however, she is said to have been a pleasant and obliging neighbor and 

 a faithful, hardworking wife and mother. 



From Aaron and his defective wife were derived seven children, 

 who may be designated as Isaac (II-I, Chart A), Jared (II-3, Chart A), 

 Ellen (II-7, Chart A), Stephen (II-9, Chart A), Darius (II-ll, Chart 

 A), Dorcas (11-13, Chart A), Herman (11-14, Chart A). 



When Aaron died, about 1830, he was able to leave to each of the 

 four youngest a farm of 50 to 70 acres of cleared land without incum- 

 brance. He also bequeathed to his daughter E llen $50 and to Isaac and 



^All names in this history, siuname as well as Christian, are fictitious. 



