JACOB SHORT© August 8, 1998 Jacob Short, a pioneer in early Jefferson Co., Ind., was one of the first known settlers in Milton Twp. He was influential in community and church life and his family intermarried with other important community members. Jacob died 12 June 1851, age 84, in Switzerland Co. and is buried in the cemetery in the Old Bethel Cemetery, near Spring Branch Baptist Church in Craig Township, on a hill not far from the Ohio River. Also buried there is his wife, Elizabeth Freeman Short who died July 12, 1837. According to the 1850 census, Jacob was born in Germany. One descendant said there is a tradition the family name was originally Kurtz, German for Short. However, when he registered as an alien in Jefferson Co., Ind., in 1821, he said he was from France. This may mean he was born in Alsace-Lorraine, the German-speaking province in France. His statement, which lists him as age 55 in 1821, says he emigrated between 1798 and 1802. However, Jacob married Elizabeth, daughter of Elisha Freeman, on 28 Nov. 1791 in Lincoln Co., Ky. Jacob either moved to Garrard Co., Ky., or ended up in Garrard Co. when it was created from Lincoln. Jacob Short purchased land in the NE1/4 Sec. 22 Twp. 4N Range 11E on Dec. 30, 1809. The land is located just downstream from Manville in Milton Twp. The obituary of his son, Elisha Short, printed in the Madison Courier of Nov. 19, 1884, stated the family came in April 1810. Elisha's obituary states that Elisha "was one of the early settlers who helped construct a fort where the residence of William Lawson now stands." Lawson owned several hundred acres in the loop of land formed by Brushy Fork, the East Fork and the combined Indian-Kentuck just below Manville, Lawson married Jacob's daughter, Sarah Short. Jacob soon became visible in civic life. In 1814, he served as one of the commissioners who chose the site for the Switzerland County courthouse in Vevay. He served as a Jefferson County Commissioner for at least one term and was serving in 1818. He tried his hand at land development with the unsuccessful town of Elizabethtown. An early newspaper, the Western Eagle reported on Aug. 22, 1815 that Elizabethtown overlooked the Indian-Kentuck about two miles from the Ohio. Mary Hill, who did much historical work in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, wrote that Short later sold the property without developing it. No plat has been found, but references to numbered lots were made in the 1853 settlement of the estate of Jacob Deal of Ripley Co. Jacob Short and Elizabeth patented the land in NE1/4 Section 22 Twp. 4N Range 11E on May 25, 1814. The Shorts sold this land to John Buchanan (who married Jacob's daughter, Rachel, in 1814) on Sept. 15, 1815 for $1,000. Short entered 160 acres in Section 22 on April 26, 1818 and another 160 acres in section 25 on Sept. 25, 1821 This may have been the site of Elizabethtown. Short was also active in religious organizations. He was a founding member of the Indian-Kentuck Baptist Church in 1814, according to a church history printed in the 1870 minutes of the Madison Baptist Association. Short may have been a member of the Milton Baptist Church, which existed from 1829 to 1836 and again from 1840-1883. Although membership records do not exist for that body for 1829 to 1836, it gave birth to the Manville Christian Church. But his association with the Baptists came to a dramatic end. According to a History of Milton Township, written for the Jefferson County Historical Society, sometime after 1908, the Manville Church "began in a somewhat anomalous fashion, having two preachers, Joseph Hankins and Elder Leavitt and these men were not one in doctrine the result was two factions, standing respectively for open and closed communion. At the same time, Jesse Vawter came occasionally to preach. Then, one member, Jacob Short, became a convert to the ideas of Alexander Campbell, invited Beverly Vawter of the Christian or Disciples Church, to come and preach and the doctrines he presented proved so acceptable that the original Baptist Congregation became the Manville Christian Church, which name it still represents." Jacob and Elizabeth Short, John and Rachel Buchanan, son, Elisha, and his wife Mary Ward Short, and son, Joseph Short and wife, Lucy, are among the first 56 members of the Manville Church. As Short's wife Elizabeth died in 1837 and Buchanan purchased a store near Vevay on Dec. 17, 1838, their association with the Manville Church was probably brief. ( Rachel Short Buchanan was a founding member of the Braytown Christian Church about 1838.) It is possible that the association with Old Bethel stems from the fact John and Rachel deeded land to that church on Dec. 8, 1832 and not from any change in affiliation back to the Baptists. Jacob's sons and daughters are not fully proven. Elisha Short's obituary mentions his brothers, Jesse, who lived in Switzerland Co., and later Centralia, Mo., and also Joseph, who died near Osgood in Ripley Co. The will of Sarah Short Lawson, mentions her brothers, Elisha, Joseph and Jesse and her sister-in-law, who was the widow of Jefferson Short. Jacob lived with Rachel Short Buchanan in 1850, so she is presumed a daughter. Isaac Short who married John Buchanan's daughter, Nancy, is also presumed to be a son. Jacob may have been a brother to Daniel Short, buried at Olive Branch Methodist Cem. in Madison Twp. Daniel lived on the Indian-Kentuck Creek near Turkey Branch. He also had a son named Isaac Short. This group of Shorts lived about a mile from Jacob's son Elisha. However, the 1850 census indicates Daniel was born in Delaware. His presence may simply be a coincidence.
Jefferson County INGenWeb.
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