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.