BIO: DAVID KOSER, SR., Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
   
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
  OCRed by Judy Banja

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
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  _____________________________________________________________

  >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
  Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 364-365
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  NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
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    DAVID KOSER, SR. After a long, useful, honorable and helpful Christian
  life, David Koser, Sr., died Jan. 1, 1904, at his home in Shippensburg. He
  was born July 2, 1825, in Franklin county, Pa., son of Jacob and Elizabeth
  (Plasterer) Koser, and grandson of Jacob Koser, who came of Holland ancestry.
    
    Jacob Koser, father of the late David Koser, was born in 1781, in Lancaster
  county, Pa., and he died July 26, 1850. He married Elizabeth Plasterer, born
  in 1784, also in Lancaster county, and these children were born to them:
  Margaret, who married William Green; George, deceased; Elizabeth, who married
  John Reside; William; Mary, who married Samuel Rank, and removed to Ohio in
  1855; Samuel, deceased; Sarah, who married William Martin; Lydia, who married
  John Etter; David; and Jacob Jr.
    
    The late David Koser grew through boyhood on his father's farm and attended
  the subscription school held near his home in the old log school-house, this
  training ending at the age of fourteen years. From then until his marriage he
  remained at home, assisting his father on the farm, learning all the details
  which helped to make his own farming successful. In the spring of 1849 he
  settled in Southampton township, Cumberland county, and engaged in farming
  and stock raising on a farm belonging to his father. Later he purchased the
  farm in Southampton township, where he spent so many years. It contained 140
  acres which he placed under a fine state of cultivation, as he also did
  another farm in the same township, which contained eighty acres and was long
  known as the old Kanagy farm. All of his property was accumulated by Mr.
  Koser, through his own efforts, the reward of his industry, thrift and good
  management. Mr. Koser improved his property with excellent dwellings and bank
  barns, and had accommodations for the sheltering of his large amount of stock
  and cattle. He had demonstrated the value of the best breeds and long was
  recognized as a successful grower of fine stock of all kinds.
    
    In 1848 the late Mr. Koser was married to Margaret C. Hoover, daughter of
  Jacob and Mary (Smith) Hoover, of Franklin county, and a family of five
  children was born to them, as follows: George A., a successful farmer; David
  C., a resident of Shippensburg; Joseph, residing near Newburg; Benjamin F.,
  of Strasburg, Va.; and Mary C., wife of William Coffey, of Shippensburg.
    
    In early life, Mr. Koser was a Whig, but later became identified with the
  Republican party. Through life he felt a lack of education which made him
  frequently anxious to decline political honors offered him, although his
  fellow citizens recognized in him the sturdy qualities which no amount of
  mere book knowledge could have alone given him. They prevailed upon him to
  serve two years in the city council, where his excellent common sense and
  practical ideas were beneficial to the municipality. All his life he favored
  legislation for the advancement of education, and for a time was one of the
  directors of the Cumberland Valley State Normal school. Both he and wife were
  early members of the Lutheran Church, and for twenty-four years he served as
  an elder in that religious body, having been elected when but twenty-eight
  years of age. Prior to his decease he had refused re-election to this
  honorable and re-
    
    CUMBERLAND COUNTY.	365
    
  sponsible position, claiming that younger men should assume these duties. For
  a number of years he served as director of the First National Bank of
  Shippensburg. Few men of his city enjoyed more fully the respect and esteem
  given to age, than did Mr. Koser.
    
    The death of Mr. Koser was not altogether unexpected as the vital forces
  had been failing for about a year previously, but an apparent improvement had
  caused his kindred and friends to hope for a longer survival. To a remarkable
  degree Mr. Koser had retained his vigor and mental faculties, a condition
  which he ascribed in part, to an exemplary and temperate life. He will long
  be recalled as one of the honorable men of this community, one whose
  departure from it left it better than at his entrance, and one whose
  influence was always directed to the advancement of what was highest and
  best, what was charitable and kind, what was generous and Christ-like.