Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Thomas Jacobs. A descendant of this
Thomas Lincoln was a settler in the Wyoming
Valley of Pennsylvania at the time
of the historic Wyoming Massacre. Es-
caping to Kentucky, he there founded the
branch of the family from which sprang
the honored past-president of the Repub-
lic, Abraham Lincoln. The mother of the
late President Hayes, whose maiden
name was Jacobs, was born at Pleasant
Valley, within a half mile of the birth-
place of Mr. Jacobs. Nicholas Jacobs fi-
nally settled in Hanover, Massachusetts,
where he died on June 5, 1657. Among
the first settlers in Windham county,
Connecticut, were children of Nicholas
Jacobs, and many descendants of the line
are still resident in the county.
In 1707-08 Daniel Jacobs, son of John
Jacobs, grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, of
Hingham, was one of several who acquired
extensive tracts of land in Ashford
and Eastford, Connecticut, and subse-
quently Nathaniel Jacobs, son of Joseph
Jacobs, and grandson of Nicholas Jacobs,
became a settler in Woodstock, and later
in Thompson, Connecticut, where, having
purchased a tract of land, he and his five
sons determinedly applied themselves to
the task of converting it from wilderness
into agricultural acreage, the tract even-
tually becoming known as the Jacobs dis-
trict. Tradition concludes that Dr. Joseph
Jacobs, who was the first physician
to locate in Mansfield, Connecticut, was
a grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, the immi-
grant from Hingham. Dr. Jacobs resided
in that part of Mansfield designated Pleasant
Valley, and as was customary among
the old colonial physicians, he cultivated
a botanical garden, so that it might fur-
nish him with the healing herbs essential
in his practice. Eventually he became a
large landowner. He married Sarah
Storrs, who was born in 1670, and was
the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Huckins)
Storrs. Samuel Storrs came from
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
112
England in 1633, settling in Mansfield,
Connecticut, about the year 1698, the
major portion of his life having been lived
in Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he
met and married his wife.
Samuel Jacobs, son of Dr. Joseph Ja-
cobs, married February 11, 1737, Desire,
the daughter of Mr. Doughty, or Douty,
of Windham, Connecticut. Their child-
ren, all of whom were born between 1728
and 1746, were: Benjamin, Solomon,
William, Daniel and Doughty.
Benjamin Jacobs, son of Samuel Jacobs,
was born April 30, 1733, or 1738. He
married twice, taking for his first wife,
on January 14, 1761, Elizabeth, daughter
of Captain John Balcam, and for his second
wife, Elizabeth King. The following
children were born between the years
1763 and 1772: Benjamin, Jerusha, El-
ezar, Zalmon. Between 1772 and 1783,
the following children were born : Ozias,
Anthony, Luther, Elizabeth and Phila.
Luther Jacobs, son of Benjamin Jacobs,
who was born in Tolland county, prob-
ably in Mansfield, comes into the line re-
specting which this present record is
chiefly written, he having been the grand-
father of Ward Windsor Jacobs, of Hart-
ford.
Leonard Warren Jacobs, son of Luther
Jacobs, and father of Ward Windsor Jacobs,
was born in Mansfield, Connecticut,
October 4, 1818. The extent of his in-
struction in general subjects was that ob-
tainable in the common schools of the
locality. In 1846 he removed to Willi-
mantic, where he became a clerk in a
grocery store, later venturing into independent
business, in which he continued
with much success until within a few
years of his death, when he retired alto-
gether from business activities, passing
his years of retirement in comfort in
East Hartford. He married Albina,
daughter of John Walton, of Willimantic.
Ward Windsor Jacobs, son of Leonard