More on my Ohio Trip

I went to Ohio feeling extremely giddy and hopeful to find out more about Louella, Martha, and Martha’s parents; Sarah Ann Keyser & Jacob Ginter Fast.

For Martha Magnora Fast Bender Couts, I thought I would certainly be able to locate a marriage announcement from December 1890 which would tell me who William G. Bender’s parents were. But there was no announcement following their marriage and no announcement of Jesse Preston Bender’s birth in 1892. I also thought I would be able to find articles concerning her second marriage in 1903 to James McClellan Couts and subsequent divorce after between 1910 and 1920. I anticipated finding out if Martha’s daughter, Louella Bender was born with a mental disability or if it was caused by illness or injury, but I found nothing on her. Not even a birth announcement.

I was also looking for more on Martha’s parents. Especially on Jacob G. Fast’s stomach troubles and his red automobile which he supposedly drove through his barn.

Even though I didn’t find all I had hoped to find on the Fast’s and the Bender’s, I was glad to finally stand at the Riverside Cemetery and see their graves in person. There they were, all next to each other and next to family. To the left of Sarah and Jacob is their daughter Laura Ethel Fast Pennell and an infant. Martha and Louella are in two different rows, but you can walk almost in a straight line from one to the other. I think Louella was buried next to Pennell relatives.

Above: Louella’s marker in the foreground with her mother Martha’s directly across.

For me, visiting a grave in person instead of just seeing a photo that a stranger posted for Findagrave is a way for me to pay my respects. I’ve seen so much lately about cemeteries being “pointless” because everyone forgets about the people buried there, but not me. I may not be able to visit every grave, but the ones I do just fill me to the brim with gratefulness. I exist because they pressed on in the face of challenges. So much had to go right (and perhaps more had to go wrong) in order for my existence to be possible. If that isn’t enough to make someone appreciate life just a little more, then I don’t know what will.

52 Ancestors #7: Jacob Ginter Fast is my 3x great grandfather. He was born June 4, 1840 in Fairfield County, Ohio to Abraham Fast and Mary Jane Ginter.

On October 7, 1861 at around 20 years old, Jacob entered service with the Union for the Civil War, serving with Company D of the 71st Ohio Volunteer Infantry alongside his younger brother Abraham. He came back home and married Sarah Ann Keyser on March 6, 1864 in Mercer County – their first son Charles was born that year but died before reaching adulthood.

After marrying, Jacob returned to service and on January 1, 1865 he was appointed corporal. After three years of service, he was mustered out on October 17, 1865 at Camp Dennison, Ohio by order of the War Department.

After the war, Jacob returned home to Mercer where he and Sarah raised their ten children while he became a pretty successful farmer. He was the first in the county to own a car, which he kept in his barn and some sources say that he actually went through the barn in his red auto.

In 1900, Jacob G. and Sarah took in their daughter, Martha Magnora Bender and her two children Jesse Preston Bender (my great grandfather) and Louella Bender after Martha was deserted by her husband, William G. Bender.

Fast loved to eat, but suffered from chronic stomach problems which made it necessary for him to carry a stomach pump. He is said to have gone back behind his barn to pump his stomach.

He died February 13, 1912 in Dublin Township, Mercer, Ohio of his stomach problems. On February 14 the local news wrote:
Jacob Fast, a well-known and aged resident of Rockford, died early Tuesday morning at his home in that village. He was about seventy years of age, and is survived by a large family. The funeral is to be held in the United Brethren church at Rockford, Thursday afternoon at one o’clock, and is to be conducted by the Rev. L. T. Lemunyon of this city, assisted by Rev. E. A. Lilly and Rev. Thomas Coates.

Jacob is buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Dublin, Mercer, Ohio next to his wife and near many of their children and grandchildren.

52 Ancestors #5: Jesse Keyser is my 4x-great grandfather on my father’s paternal side. He was born on July 16, 1816 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania to Jacob and Rebecca Keyser.

He married Martha Yost, daughter of Eli and Susan (Hendricks) Yost, on April 25, 1835 in Pennsylvania. That same year, the newlyweds and their firstborn daughter Audora Keyser Fast moved to Ohio, first settling in Miami County and then moving in 1837 to live in Mercer County. Jesse, on of the pioneer settlers of Mercer, bought and cleared a tract of land and built a round-log cabin, later building a cabin of hewed logs.  In time the latter was replaced by a frame house and this in turn by a brick residence.

The Fairview Church of God was established on January 30, 1868 in the Keyser residence with nineteen members.

Keyser passed away on August 29, 1895 at the age of 79 years, 2 months, and one day. He was buried next to his wife Martha in the North Grove Cemetery in Celina, Mercer County, Ohio