Jacob Etter was born on January 28, 1842, in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, to Samuel and Elizabeth Etter. His father was a farmer who owned $600 of real estate and $360 of personal property by 1860. The family immigrated to America around 1851 and settled in Bexar County, Texas. He fractured his left leg as a child, and the injury bothered him until at least the early 1860s.

 

In 1860, he served in the Texas Rangers. He sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. He enlisted in the Confederate army on June 8, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 2^nd Texas Cavalry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. His health deteriorated during his military service; he dealt with leg pain, partial blindness, and severe nose bleeds that kept him “constantly weak.” The regimental surgeon concluded that he was “incapapble of performing the duties of a soldier.” He was discharged for disability around September 1862.

 

He returned to Bexar County after leaving the army. His eye continued to plague him, and he eventually had it removed. He married Catherine Keller on August 13, 1866, and they had ten children, including: Henry, born around 1866; Eliza, born around 1867; Mary, born around 1869; Edward, born around 1879; Catherine, born around 1881; Ida, born around 1885; and Fred, born around 1886. He worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $200 of personal property. His wife died on August 2, 1911. In May 1917, he successfully applied for a federal pension for his service in the “Indian Wars.”

 

By 1920, he was living in his daughter Catherine’s household in Justice, Texas. In March 1929, he applied for a Confederate state pension. He reported that he had “No property,” clarifying that “I have nothing but my walking cane.” He had trouble supporting his claim. His discharge certificate had been destroyed in the intervening years, and “to the best of his information all fellow soldiers who served with him are dead.” State officials rejected the claim due to his “failure to prove service.” He died in Medina County, Texas, on November 25, 1929.

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