Joshua Jacobs North Carolina Circa 1740 - 1790

 

In the previous post we established a well known relationship between the Seminole County, Florida Jacobs family and the Columbus County Jacobs of North Carolina. I have photos of my 3rd great grandfather Needham Noah Jacobs (N.N.) hunting with the W.C. Jacobs family in Florida Circa 1920's. 

It was from William Canada's line that we gained this lineage path. Even if it is not 100% accurate, what I always believe is accurate in these stories is the names. The naming patterns of the 17th century were strict and not usually crossed. By the time of the Civil War, as our nation's pride was taking shape, many families loosened up and began naming their children on their own terms. 

But in the early 1800's the naming patterns were still fairly in tact. According to the story that was passed along at Gaston Jacobs 90th birthday party, Joshua Tilden Jacob's presented a history of the family all the way back to England 1500's.  The problem was that Gaston and later Tilden's house both burned taking much of the research family history. From this document we have: 

 William Canada Jacob's father was George Jacobs who died sometime after 1820 leaving a family of four children to be raised by other relatives and neighbors. 

George's father was Col. John Jacobs and he had Henry, Gabriel and George. 

John Jacobs father was Joshua Jacobs and he was from North Carolina. 

Before we  begin this discussion it needs to be noted that I have searched in every county in the state of North Carolina and have never been able to discover one record of George Jacobs. This would make sense if he died young, especially if he was living on his father's estate. 

I can find a John Jacobs who served in Wilmington during the Revolutionary War helping keep the town safe. 

I also happen to know that there is another Jacobs family that came to America and settled in Massachusetts. That is my Grandmother Geraldine Jacobs Jacobs line. She was a Jacobs when she married my grandfather W.O. Jacobs in Florida. 

It is quite the task to sort out the Joshua and John Jacobs from Massachusetts from the North Carolina Jacobs family. They are two very different families. 

I have a few clues that might connect John Jacobs to Noah Jacobs but the strongest lead I have at this time is the naming patterns that William C. Jaocbs, Noah, and Nathan Jacobs all followed. Their father was John, their grandfather was Joshua. 

So we are skipping over John for the moment and concentrating on Joshua Jacobs of North Carolina. 

The thing is we have most of our DNA from the 4th generation and occasional 5th gen. coming from South Carolina, Richland and other counties around the Columbia area. People traveled and moved especially after the Rev. War. 

But I digress. Back to Joshua Jacobs of North Carolina 

Our timeline is key here:

1. 1803 Noah Jacobs Born 

2. 1780's circa George Jacobs born   (these dates are approximate and used to help discover candidates)

3. 1750's John Jacobs born 

4. 1730's ish Joshua Jacobs born. 

During the Revolutionary War age did not matter. All men who wanted to fight could fight. I have a Joseph Jacobs (from Vermont and my Grandmother Geraldine Jacobs line who fought at the age of 13 as a drummer boy). Men of all color fought. Slaves fought in place of their masters. Indian and other free people of color fought for the promise of freedoms, land and voting rights. 

I found 2 Joshua Jacobs from North Carolina who fought in the Rev. War. 

Jacobs, Joshua	1st NC Regiment	1782		A Private under Capt. Peter Bacot for 18 months.
Jacobs, Joshua	5th NC Regiment	1777	1777	A Private under Capt. Simon Alderson.  Killed at the battle of Brandywine Creek, PA on 9/11/1777.	Brandywine Creek (PA).

Joshua Jacobs that fought in the 5th NC Regiment and died in 1777 at Brandywine Creek most likely also came from Hyde County, NC. His Regiment leader Captain Simon Alderson was from Hyde County NC and the 5th NC Regiment was recruited from the central and coastal plains of N.C. Since we do not know the ages of either of these Joshua Jacobs, it is possible that they are related. 

This post is about Joshua Jacobs who fought with Capt. Peter Bacot. I chose him as the likely candidate because of his enlistment in the 1st NC Regiment at Wilmington and because Capt. Peter Bacot had settled in the area of Lake Waccamaw in Brunswick County and was from the French Huguenots from Charleston SC. 

These documents tell us that Private Joshua Jacobs most likely lived in Hyde County, North Carolina. 

In doing the research about the Rev. War Land Grants I learned a few important things: 

1. New Bern was the capital of N.C until 1792. 

2. Because the newly formed United States Government was short on cash they paid their soldiers with bounty land. This bounty land for NC soldiers was its western lands in what later becomes the state of Tennessee. 

3. Soldiers received 1. A land warrant 2. Then a survey 3. Then a formal land grant

3. Privates received 640 acres

5. Bedford county is south of present day Nashville and was one of the counties that were used to pay war debts to the soldiers. 

6.  90% of soldiers who received land grants never relocated to their given land, but rather sold it for cash. 

7. There were many scams afoot by land speculators. 

With regards to Joshua Jacobs: 

1. He received his land grand on Dec 21, 1785 in New Bern, North Carolina.

2. He sells it  to Walter Braddy, who was from Hyde County NC and was most likely a land speculator. One document I have identifies him as a Esq. or lawyer. 

Bedford County Tenn

• Was formed from Rutherford County 
• is in Middle Tenn. below Nashville 
• Was Part of the former Military Reservation 
• Joshua's grant predates the formation of Bedford's formation and was later absorbed into it. 
• The land was in the Second district
• The land was on Cove Spring Creek, a branch of Elk River. 

If he had settled there, he would almost certainly appear in the 

1805-1815 tax rolls, 1810 census Tennessee , Early Bedford deed books. He does not. 

In the 1780's, land assignments were almost executed in the county where the soldier resided. 

Witnesses were usually neighbors, local justices, county court officials, 

We know from these documents that Joshua Jacobs 

• Served as a Private (likely through the end of the war) 
• Received 640 acres of military entitlement
• Sold his warrant very soon after he received it for cash
• Did not go to Tennessee to live on the land 
• Most likely remained and died in North Carolina 
• The land that Joshua Jacobs received in 1785 first sold to > Walter Braddy > he sold to Hart> he sold to Gillespie> He sold to Archibald Woods who settled there on 300 acres of the land. 
• The wording of the document states that the land is granted unto Archibald Woods, assignee of Joshua Jacobs. 
• When the land was surveyed it was surveyed for A. Woods.

The NC warrant number was 3219 

The Tennessee Grant No was 1708

The land was surveyed 30 July 1805

The land deed was entered 24 October 1808 and was granted to Archibald Woods, assignee of Joshua Jacobs 

Time Line 

1776-1783 - Joshua Serves under Capt. Peter Bacot's regiment, enlisted in Wilmington. At this time, the Tennessee lands are still part of western North Carolina. The land is in the Military District or future Middle Tennesee. 

1785-1805 - Dec 1785 Joshua sells teh warrant 1st to Walter Braddy. Braddy sells it to Hart who sells it to Gillespie who sells it to Woods. Archibald Woods is a known land speculator

30 July 1805 - Land is surveyed for Archibald Woods 

24 Oct 1808  - Land is entered under the Tennessee Act of 1807 ( occupant claim system). 

28 May 1810 - Tennessee issues final grant to Archibald Woods. Joshua is only mentioned because he was the historical as original warrant holder. 

If Joshua had moved to Bedford County he would have appeared in the 1805 survey as claimant, he would appear in an early tax lists in Beford county formed in 1807, and he would likely show up in the 1810 census in Tennessee. 

This strongly suggests: 

Joshua Jacobs most likely never went to Tennessee, that he sold his warrant while still living in North Carolina, and that he either died in NC or moved out of state.  Once he sold the land, he was out of the picture. 

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Hyde County Evidence 

1790 census for Hyde county does not list Joshua Jacobs.  If he was under 21 he would not yet appear independently, moved or died. 

When Joshua signs over his land grant to Walter Braddy, the witnesses are Jesse Latham and Joseph Keach. These two witnesses matter because they are historically very present in Hyde County, Tyrell County and Beaufort County, North Carolina. Jessee Latham's father was a well known Rev. War Hero who died in 1782. Colonel Rotheas Latham was appointed Colonel/commander of the Hyde County Regiment and before the war he served in the Colonial Assembly and later represented Hyde County in the NC House of Commons 

In searching the Hyde and Beaufort County records I found 

•  1763 - A land Deed for the Swann family where Joshua Jacobs and his wife Dianna sign as witnesses. Pasquotank County 
• 1762 - A land deed where Joshua Jacobs and William Swann sign as witnesses for deed. Pasquotank County 
• 1765 - Estate sell of most importance here is that a William Berry and Sellars, and Simmons, Swindall, Williams, Ruffs families are represented as well. We see all of these families in Brunswick County in the early 1800's. 
• 1772 - An Estate sell where Joshua Jacobs purchases  several items including 2 hogs and 2 pewter dishes. Hyde County  
• 1774 - Estate Sale Hyde County 
• 1775 - Justices to take the list of Taxables Joshua Jacobs for the Upper District in Currituck.

The above evidence is all I have of him before the war. But it suggests that if all of the Joshua Jacobs of the region are one and the same that his birth date would need to be Circa 1740 or before based on his being of legal age to sign land deed documents as witnesses. 

He does seem to disappear after he sells his land. Did he pass away? Did he go south? 

I did find this 1797 Newspaper clip in Augusta Georgia of a Joshua Jacobs that served in the local militia. But then it could be that this is the Joshua Jacobs from Edgefield SC who served in the war under Capt. Philemon Waters and moved to Warren Co. Ga. . Oh well.  Once we get the documentation settled I am certain that the DNA will help us sort the rest of it. 

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I will say before I close this post that for me the Hyde County Joshua Jacobs makes the most sense. The reasons being are: 

• Evidence given gives proof of his residence 
• This area was settled in the late 1600's by families from Virginia. 
• Many of the Jacobs of this area are known to have DNA haplogroups of EM2 which would tie them back to the original Jacobs ancestor of Colonial America, Gabriel Jacobs 
• The fact that I cannot find a land deed for Joshua Jacobs in any of these counties suggests to me that he was living on his father's plantation, he was a FPC (free person of color) and lived tribally, he was on the water often and traveled from county to county. More research is needed, but it appears that there might have been a migration down from Pasquotank and Perquimmons Counties to Currituck, Onslow, Duplin, Sampson, and Cumberland. 

Joshua Jacobs of Oviedo, Florida - grandson of William Canada Jacobs

When I first began my research into my North Carolina Jacobs family, I had no idea the time, energy or difficulty it would entail. But I also had no idea who I would meet, how these DNA cousins would change me life and bring me purpose and joy and learning some of the real stories in our American History. 

Noah Jacobs my 3rd great grandfather was born in 1803 in NC. Where exactly we are unsure and this is where the story becomes interesting. When I traced his family back to the 1840 Brunswick County Census he was living next door to Prudence Jacobs (1775-1860). Every other Jacobs researcher at this time was brick walled in the 1800 census in Brunswick County wondering what happened to the records of the Jacobs family in post Rev. War NC? 

We all emailed one another and helped one another. What we discovered was: 

1. Naming Patterns existed 
2. the Jacobs were Scottish, Native American (Lumbee or Cherokee), African American, and English. 
3. The census records were of no help for fpc (free people of color) because they didn't give ages only body counts. 

Eventually I discovered Fran Simmons from Florida. She and I compared notes. Soon Karen Jacobs (wife of Mark Jacobs) also from Sanford, Florida found me and we discovered our common family ties. 

Karen had written a book, "The Jacobs Journey" about the William Canada Jacobs family who had left Columbus County, NC in 1867 and taken all of his children and their families by ship to Seminole County, Florida to settle the town of Oveido, Florida. This meant that other Columbus County families were represented as well: Longs, Simmons, Sellars, Gores, etc. 

In this book she had taken the statement by Joshua Tilden Jacobs that he had gotten from William Canada Jacobs before he passed and combined it with his own research. This information and its documentation was lost when Tilden Jacobs house burned, however the copies of the his research survived because they had been passed out at his 90th birthday celebration. 

The above document is the information that was passed out at his birthday party. Much of his research was done in the 1950's or earlier and relied on local libraries, newspapers, and archives. In that he never married and was a school teacher he had much time to devote to the family history research, and in that he was able to obtain a verbal rendition of William Canada Jacobs' recollections of his family history, there is much credence given. However, in trying to recreate his research many great difficulties begin to unfold. 

The first one is that there is no record of John Jacobs having George, Henry and Nathaniel Jacobs. There are very few records of the Jacobs family line in North Carolina. But we keep searching. 

Now with DNA, there is evidence that one of the reasons it is most difficult to research this Jacobs' line is because they were of Native American and African American heritage, and were living with and traveling with other FPC of the Carolinas. 

We now understand that Noah's haplogroup means that somewhere along his paternal line he had an African American father. Because of his 4 step match that takes us back to early 1700 or late 1600 Virginia we suspect that it may have been to Gabriel Jacobs of Virginia, a FPC who received his emancipation in 1696 from the Custiss family. Yes, the same Custiss family as that of Martha Washington, George Washington's wife. 

With all of this being said, I am still searching for Joshua Jacobs, the proposed father of John Jacobs. 

Why? Because I believe in family lore, I believe in naming patterns, I believe that there is always some grain of truth to every good family lead. 

So, with that lengthy introduction I dive into what I have discovered about Joshua Jacobs, the supposed father of John Jacobs. This is what we know thus far from my research. 

Here is a transcription of Joshua Tilden Jacobs document 

        William C. Jacobs's died comparatively young and left a family of four children. 

        William, Noah, Polly, Nathaniel (further study necessary) to be brought up by relatives and                        neighbors as was customary in those days. 

        William born August 22, 1820 was raised by a name by the name of Holmes on whose plantation the         boy learned many useful things. He learned the copper trade, tannery, cobbler, carpentry, brick                    making, and many other useful things for it must be remembered that in those times, each plantation         provided for, not only the negroes, in the quarters, but for most of the things needed in the masters            "big house". 

        William Canada Jacobs was the son of George Jacobs and the great grandson of the Col. John Jacobs who served in the revolution from his home state. He Col. John Jacobs was a descendent of the Jacobs family of Accomack Co. Virginia that had emigrated to America from England in 1636. 

Joshua Tilden Jacobs 1877-1962  is the son of Joshua Pickney Jacobs who was the son of William C. Jacobs. 

We are very grateful for his love of history and all that he has left. Because of his lead I have felt frustrated, confused, and even believe that maybe the story was embellished a bit, but I have continued to reach, dig and research the Jacobs line and I believe the story is as good as it gets when understanding the true history of America. 

Please see the next post for detailed discoveries on Joshua Jacobs of North Carolina.