Jacob Strickler (Dec 9, 1728 - June 24, 1842) was an American fraktur artist. Strickler was born in the community of Massanutten, Virginia, in a portion of Shenandoah County which later became part of Page County. He was descended from the company of Mennonites who had moved to the region from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by 1733. Evidence suggests that he was a Mennonite preacher and schoolteacher in addition to creating fraktur. His earliest surviving work, dated 1787, already reveals him to be an accomplished calligrapher with his own distinctive personal vocabulary of symbols, including inverted hearts with flowers at their tips, sawtooth patterns, and comma-shaped serifs. Nearly a dozen surviving pieces, dating from 1787 to 1815, are known, including two birth records; two writing e