Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 444-445.

JACOB McAFEE.

One of the most extensive stock raisers and farmers of Rock Creek township, Wells County, Indiana, is Jacob McAFEE, a native of this township, born February 26, 1851, and a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lesh) McAFEE. The McAFEE family is of Irish origin and the American branch from which Jacob McAFEE descended were early settlers in Virginia, where Samuel McAFEE, father of Jacob, was born and reared, though he subsequently settled in Pennsylvania. Subsequently both the McAFEE and Lesh families came to Indiana and located in Rock Creek township, Wells County, where Samuel McAFEE spent the greater part of his life after moving to the county, though in later years he lived in Liberty township. The family of Samuel and Elizabeth McAFEE comprised five sons and three daughters, of whom six still survive, viz: Jacob, John, Peter, Catherine, wife of Chester Scotton, Prescilla, wife of James Gordon, and Hattie, married to William D. Gordon.

Jacob McAFEE was reared to agricultural pursuits on the farm on which he had his nativity, and received a very good common school education. At the age of twenty-two he was first married, selecting for his helpmate Miss Jane Logan, daughter of the late John Logan, and to this union was born one child, Mollie, a resident of Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Jane (Logan) McAFEE was called away soon after the birth of her child, and Jacob McAFEE in due course of time married Miss Amanda A. Lamm, daughter of Waverly Lamm, of Lancaster township, and this marriage has been crowned by the birth of five boys and three girls, of whom five are still living, and all single.

At the age of twenty-one years Jacob McAFEE was a poor young man as far as this world's substantialities were concerned. But he was possessed of robust health, a clear and comprehensive intellect and an indomitable spirit of enterprise, united with indefatigable industry. He first found a means of earning money by working out by the job at ditching, chopping and clearing, from which labor he realized about three hundred dollars, of which amount he was the possessor at the time of his first venture on the sea of matrimony. For two years after marriage Mr. McAfee engaged in farming, a pursuit to which he had been well trained, and next went into the saw-mill business, having by this time acquired a capital of seven hundred dollars. This mill, known as the McAFEE Brothers' mill, was located near Rock Creek Center, in Wells County, and here Mr. McAfee did custom work, and also bought, cut and sold lumber for thirteen years, at the close of which period he was worth six thousand dollars and the owner of one hundred and forty acres of good land, to which he has since added one hundred and eighty acres, and is now worth twenty-four thousand dollars. Mr. McAfee has also been largely engaged in stock raising, in which he has been very successful, as he has been, indeed, in all his undertakings, being what is usually known as a "hustler" and naturally a shrewd business man.

In politics Mr. McAfee is one of the reliable Democrats of Rock Creek township and is active in his support of his party, but has never sought to advance his personal interests by aspiring to public office. Mrs. McAfee is a member of the German Reformed church, to the support of which both she and her husband are liberal contributors. As the reader will naturally infer from the fact that Mr. and Mrs. McAfee are both natives of Wells County, they are widely and favorably known, and their upright walk through life has augmented the great respect in which they are held throughout the community in which they have their residence.