"ABRAHAM FETTERS, son of Samuel and Mary (Acker) Fetters, was born in Uwchlan township, Sept. 17, 1828, and when four years of age went to live with his grandfather, John Acker, in East Whiteland, with whom he remained until he was sixteen. His early education was received in the public school of Valley Creek, in East Whiteland, where he made good progress in his studies, particularly in mathematics. He was fond of reading, and devoted his first earnings, saved from gathering nuts, etc., to the purchase of books, historical and biographical being his favorites. After he was sixteen he returned to his father's, and soon after went one term to Prospect Hill Academy, in East Bradford, kept by Benjamin Price, Jr. In the fall of 1846, at the age of eighteen, he began teaching at Hopewell public school, in Charlestown township. Though the manners of the times and place were rude and the boys large, he had about him a personal dignity, backed by good strong health, a six-foot stature, and plenty of muscle, that enabled him to secure and maintain good discipline and a good reputation as a teacher from the very start. He taught afterwards in the public schools,—three sessions at Hopewell; nine at White School, in Uwchlan; three at Franklin Hall, West Pikeland; and three at School No. 1, Birmingham. He was also in charge of the primary department of the West Chester Academy for two years, under Prof. Wyers as principal. Twelve hundred pupils in all have been under his charge… Always enthusiastic in his profession, he has labored in the cause thirty-four years with an amount of energy and a success of which any man may well feel proud. At White School, in 1856, he established the first public-school library in the county, and he was the first, as far as is known, who had vocal music in his school….




"Mr. Fetters married Rebecca K., youngest daughter of John and Hannah Brownback, of Upper Uwchlan, on Christmas Day, 1866, and moved in the following spring to his present residence, having resigned his position as a teacher in the West Chester Academy, and intending to devote his time and energies to farming. His farm is one of the finest in the county, but the old school-teacher impulse was too strong…, and in the fall of 1868, having the previous winter taught the public school at Prospect Hill, Upper Uwchlan, he opened a day- and boarding-school at his residence. This he named ‘Edgefield Institute,' and it has been in successful operation ever since, with an average attendance of twenty-five pupils of both sexes. The reputation of his school is deservedly high, and his farm and [p. 546] farm buildings are models of neatness, thrift, and elegance. During the Rebellion he was captain of Co. G, 12th Regiment P. V. M., in fall of 1862, and in 1863 was first sergeant of Co. A, 43d Regiment P. V. M. He is one of the jury commissioners for the county…."




Source: John Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches, Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881, pp. 545–546.