Jacob Ihrig
Jacob Ihrig was born February 25, 1792, in Washington county, Pa. He claimed to have some recollection of seeing the army sent out to subdue the Whisky Insurrection, and was a contractor in the war of 1812, to supply provisions to the western army. He emigrated to Wayne county in 1815, settling in what is now Wayne township, and in 1816 aided in organizing the township. In 1816 he was elected Captain of a militia company, and in 1824 Major of the regiment, and in the same year was elected Justice of the Peace, serving until 1851. October, 1827, he was elected County Commissioner. During his term the court house was destroyed and the first county offices and the second court house was built.
He served in the Ohio Legislature from December 6, 1830, to December 4, 1837; and in the State Senate from December 3, 1838, to December 7, 1840. In 1852 he was made District Assessor, and in 1853 he was elected a member of the Board of Equalization. He was married August 10, 1815, to Elizabeth Eberly, of Pennsylvania.
In his young manhood he became a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and remained a faithful and consistent member of the same until death, in 1877. He was one of the founders of Salem's Lutheran congregation, near Madisonburg, and has always been regarded as the honored leader of the same. In his death the congregation has, indeed, lost one of its pillars. He died in peace with God and man, and in the blessed hope of a resurrection to eternal life. His mortal remains were followed to their last resting place, near Madisonburg, by one thousand people.
From History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, by Robert Douglass, 1878