Continuing the family history reaearch of
Dr. Ezra Clayton Saylor
(1881 - 1954)

1922 1923 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

1999 Saylor Reunion

JULY 17, 1999
Learned Since Last Year

Jacob Seiler, born January 30, 1714, arrived at the port of Philadelphia on the ship Phoenix, September 15, 1749, 250 years ago this year.

He settled first near Hershey, Pennsylvania. Then he moved to Bedford County (now Somerset) before 1772, probably to avoid the Revolutionary War.

He was the first Amish/Mennonite minister in Somerset County and farmed the land known as "Saylor Hill" overlooking the Meyersdale fair grounds. His only son, John, was the second Mennonite minister in Somerset County.

Jacob died April 15, 1793 and he is buried in the Saylor Hill Cemetery. His tombstone can be identified today. Construction of the new Route 219 bypass has cut off easy access to the cemetery. The cemetery needs preservation work. I have documentation of the cemetery and plan to form a non-profit corporation for the preservation effort.

We do have Revolutionary War heritage for DAR or SAR membership through Jacob Burkhart. According to his application for a pension found at the Somerset Historical Center, he and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of 28 children.

Our best known relative may be William Jeffrey (Jeff) Hostetler, the NFL quarterback.

I have collected names and dates for over 16,800 descendants of Jacob Seiler. I would like to add stories of family members. Please write down what you remember.

One other Seiler/Saylor/Sayler family settled in Bedford County about the same time as our Jacob. I recently acquired a genealogy of this family and will be adding it to my data since there are intermarriages.

Our ancestor Jacob Seiler had a brother Daniel who also settled in Eastern Pennsylvania. He and his descendants moved to Maryland, Tennessee and south. I recently acquired a genealogy of this family that was published in the early 1900's.

Prepared by Stewart R. (Rick) Saylor