This was copied from his findagrave.com profile.
There is no connection between John Jacob, who married Anne Cheney, and the John Jacob christened 18 Oct 1643. His birth 1632 in Dover is also conjecture, and almost certainly incorrect; there is no documentary evidence that he was born in Dover, although there is documentary evidence that he was born circa 1632. Several origins, including different years and different parents, have been proffered by different researchers, none supported by any documentation whatsoever. Some show him as the son of John Jacob and Joan Lucas, some as their grandson through their son John, some as the son of a Richard, and that presumptive father Richard himself of various parentage.
Perhaps the best known and most copied - and most certainly incorrect - is the narrative from George N. Mackenzie's "Colonial Families," connecting him to the armorial Jacob family of Kent. Mackenzie is somewhat notorious for publishing, for a fee, anyone's claimed genealogy without citation or proof; one critic asserted "...the account in Mackenzie contains so many errors of fact as to cast doubt on the whole...". Given the profit motive involved in Mackenzie's work, it's probably no coincidence that the genealogy in his "Colonial Families" links John Jacob to the family of the Jacob baronets, and does so with no documentary support. Both Newman and Doliante (1991) were critical of the Kentish assertion, and with very good reason: there's absolutely no support, and Mackenzie refused to offer any when challenged. Newman also mentions a family tradition that the family originated in West Wales, far from Kent. Ultimately, the date and location of John Jacob's birth are unknown, as is his parentage.
Lastly, on the subject of John Jacob's origins, under the FTDNA Jacob Surname YDNA Project numerous descendants of John Jacob, Sr. of South River Hundred, Md. tested and matched. The common Haplogroup/Haplotype is R1a/YP6059. One member of the Jacob family from Kent also tested; there was no match, which will certainly disappoint those who cling to the claim of descent from the armorial Jacobs. There have, however, been distant matches to persons all having Scots-Irish ancestors but lacking the Jacob surname. This would tend to lend support to the West Wales claim, as connections between people of Welsh and Scotts/Irish ancestry are common. The closest matches to persons having documented "British" ancestry trace their ancestry back to the River Tweed in southeast Scotland, near the English border (near Edinburg, and far from Dover and Kent). Thus the DNA evidence would seem to disprove the claim of his Kentish ancestry, though not conclusively supporting the claim of Welsh ancestry.
Newman goes to some length (to the point of perhaps suggesting some hint of antisemitism) to discount the possibility that John Jacobs was descended from England's Jacobs of Jewish lineage, mostly basing that on the lack of an "s" appended to the name. He goes on to point out that John Jacob was "a member of the Established Church of England and transferred his faith to many of his descendants. The early records of the Episcopal parishes of Anne Arundel and Prince Georges Counties contain numerous names of births, baptisms and marriages for the Jacobs."
John Jacob came as an indentured servant to Maryland, sponsored by James Warner, Esq.of the South River Hundred in 1665. He was 33 years old. By 2 December 1674 he was able to prove his rights to fifty acres for the time of his service. He received his land warrant on 2 March 1675. His land bordered a stream later called Jacob's Creek. John Jacob was deeded before the death of this father-in-law, Richard Cheney, "for natural love and affection" 150 acres of "Cheney's Resolution", in Anne Arundel County, MD. Though the years he added to his property and acquired a large estate on the South River. In 1697 John was a member of the Provincial Grand Jury. He witnessed the will of Richard Cheney in 1726. At that time he swore he was about ninety-four years old.
"On 14 May 1726 John Jacob, Sr. made an oath whereby the clerk recorded that John was "aged about 94 years." That places John's birth in 1631/2. The inexactness of the dating is explained by the change between the old Julian calendar and newer Gregorian calendar. Ten days were lost and the new year shifted from March 25th to January 1st. For example, 94 years before 14 May 1726 is 4 May 1632. However, 94 years, 1 month, and 11 days before 14 May 1726 is 24 March 1631 in the old style suggesting that John was born in 1631 instead of 1628 as is so often asserted in unsupported genealogies.
Under the FTDNA Jacob Surname YDNA Project numerous descendants of John Jacob, Sr. of South River Hundred, Md. tested and matched. The common Haplogroup/Haplotype is R1a/YP6059. One member of the Jacob family from Kent tested and there was no match. However, there have been distant matches to persons all having Scots-Irish ancestors but lacking the Jacob surname. The closest matches to persons having documented "British" ancestry trace their ancestry back to the River Tweed in southeast Scotland on the English border.
Lastly, John Jacob, Sr. of South River Hundred was not a captain. The source for this misinformation is the mention of a "Captain Jacob" in a 1652 will. However, that was 13 years before John arrived in Maryland - as an indented servant - and when he would have been only about 20 years old, too young to have achieved the status of a ship's master. Further, there are some 50 surviving records in the Maryland archives that directly or indirectly refer to John Jacob. None mention him as captain; all refer to him instead as a planter or carpenter. Without doubt, if he were a merchant captain, there would be no shortage of references that included that honorific title.
