Rev. Abraham Horst
Biography from Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, PA, pages 159-160
REV. ABRAHAM HORST, who, since 1868, has been a faithful and devoted minister of the Mennonite faith, was born Sept. 20, 1821, a son of Peter and Elisabeth (Heisey) Horst, who were born on adjoining farms in Lebanon county, Pa., and there passed their lives. Peter Horst was a farmer by occupation and passed to rest in July, 1840, while his wife had preceded him to the better land in 1829. Their remains lie buried in a private burying ground on their old farm. In life they were consistent followers of the Mennonite faith. The children born to Peter Horst and wife were as follows: Peter, who died in 1890, married Nancy Shaffer, and has a family of five children; Jacob, who died in 1894, married Nancy Kraybill, and had no family; Elizabeth married Peter Smith, and became the mother of seven children, but is now deceased; Sarah is the deceased wife of Michael Shank, by whom she had six children; David, who died in 1875, married Eliza Brightenstein, and had eight children; Benjamin, now deceased, married Sarah Shawk, and had six children; Rev. Abraham is next in order of birth; and Mary, deceased, married Jacob Bachman, and became the mother of eleven children. Previous to his marriage with Elisabeth Heisey, Peter Horst had wedded Catherine Smith, a native of Lebanon county, Pa., who became the mother of four children, all now deceased. The children by this first marriage were: Nancy; Joseph; Catherine, who married Samuel Gaman, and had seven children; and Samuel, who married Catherine Shaffer, and had eight children.
The old home of the Horst family in Lebanon county was originally purchased many years ago, and consisted of four hundred acres. The place is now occupied by the fifth generation from the original owner. The Heisey family were also of Lebanon county and were farming people. They originally came from Switzerland.
Rev. Abraham Horst remained with his parents until they had both passed away, and then leaving the home farm, began milling, first in Manheim, and then on the Conestoga, but after a year and a half he went West, locating in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he followed the same occupation for one and one-half years. He then returned to Lebanon county, Pa., and there worked in the sawmill business for his brothers. This he continued until his marriage, when he began farming in that same county, but a year later located in Penn township, Lancaster county, and after five years located on the farm he still owns, and which he continued to operate until 1890, when he retired and moved to the present comfortable home, leaving his son and namesake to continue the cultivation of the fields. In 1868 he was admitted to the ministry of the Mennonite faith, in which he had been reared, and has continued to expound the doctrines of his Church to the present time, after the manner of Chaucer's "good man of religion," who "preached, but first he practiced it himself." In his political faith he was a Republican until his admission to the ministry. He is one of the prominent men of his community, beloved alike for his genial manners and his unquestioned integrity.
Rev. Horst has been twice married. First in 1847, in Lancaster, he wedded Miss Anna Brubaker, and to this union were born the following children: Susannah B., who married Henry Shank, of Penn township, and had fourteen children; Maria B., who married Martin Risser, a farmer of Mt. Joy township, and has eight children; Elizabeth B., who married Rev. Abraham Kauffman, a Mennonite preacher of Port Huron, Mich., by whom she has four children; Anna B., who married Anthony Fauser, a farmer of Penn, and has ten children; Sarah B., deceased in infancy, Catherine B. , who married Jacob Risser, a farmer of Mt. Joy township, and has three children; Abraham B., a farmer residing on the old homestead; Miss Fanny B., residing in Rapho township; Benjamin B., unmarried, and residing in Fulton, Ohio; Barbara B., who died in infancy; and Martha B., who married Oscar Kreider, a painter of Rapho township, and has three children. Mrs. Anna (Brubaker) Horst was born in 1823, and died in 1872, her remains resting in Hernley's Meeting House cemetery. She was the daughter of Jacob and Maria (Eby) Brubaker, of Lancaster.
For his second wife, Rev. Horst married, June 17, 1879, in Perry county, Pa., Miss Rebecca J. Lauver, daughter of Fred and Mary (Auker) Lauver, and to this union was born one daughter, Naomi L., who lives at home.
Fred Lauver was actively engaged in farming in Perry county, until about ten years prior to his death which occurred March 17, 1876, when he was aged seventy-five years. His wife, Mary Auker, a daughter of Casper and Mary (Brandt) Auker, of Perry county, was born in 1802, and passed away March 25, 1882, and was buried at the side of her husband in Fautz Valley. They, too, were members of the Mennonite Church, in which her father, Casper Auker, was a minister. The following is a brief record of their family of children: Fanny, who married Jacob H. Lehman, of Franklin County, Pa.; Belthasor, of Juniata county, Pa., married Mary Kraybill; Mary married Christian Martin, of Lancaster county; Anna married John Kraybill, of Snyder county, Pa.; Susannah, deceased; Lydia married Isaac Winey of Snyder county, Pa.; Catherine married Benjamin Dillman, of Juniata county, Pa.; Elizabeth married Eli Grubb, of Perry county; Isaac was deceased in infancy; Simeon married (first) Margaret Grubb, and (second) Elizabeth Book; and Rebecca J., wife of Rev. Horst. Fred Lauver was a son of Michael and Anna (Kindig) Lauver, of whom the former, Michael, was a farmer and Mennonite deacon in Juniata county.
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