William J. Jacobs ^{2 3 4}

  Burial Notes:

According to Bruce Beacher, William Jacobs is probably buried in the White Church cemetery in Orwigsburg. This needs to be confirmed.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Alt. Birth, 1820, , , Pennsylvania, USA. Note: his age in the 1850 census as well as the 1860 census would set his birth year as <1820> whereas his age in the 1880 census would set his birth year as <1810>. But in the 1900 census, the only census where the month and year of birth is recorded, William's birth date is clearly listed as July 1812. While Jacob's ages are disputed in these censuses, his wife Mary's age always has her being born in 1823, so the conclusion is these census records are the correct Jacob in all cases.

• Occupation. ² He was a stage coach driver before the railroads. Later, he sold coal oil in Pottsville and Shenandoah.

• Census, 1840, Schuylkill Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁵ A possible but unsubstantiated match: Robert Jacobs, the only Jacobs appearing in Schuylkill County in the 1840 Census. Could this be William's brother and he is living with him?
Robert's household had these members:
1 male under 5
1 male 20 to 29 (could be William?)
1 male 30 to 39 (assumed to be Robert)
1 female 20 to 30
Whether Robert could be a brother or father of William Jacobs is uncertain; further research is needed.

• Census, 1850, New Castle Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁶ In the 1850 Census William Jacobs is listed as age 30 and head of a household that included his wife, Mary (27), and children Mary Anne (7), Jane (4), Henrietta (2). His occupation is listed as Stage Driver. Their birthplaces are missing on the census form.

• Census, 1860, New Castle Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁴ He is listed as day laborer William Jacobs (age 40) and living with wife, Mary (36), and daughters Sarah J. (14) and Emma (6). The census was recorded 5 June 1860. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.

• Census, 1870, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁷ He is listed as laborer William Jacob (no S on his name) (age 50) living with his wife Mary (48); Emma (17); and William (8). Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.

• Census, 1880, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁸ He is listed as laborer William Jacobs (age 70) with wife, Mary (57) and his 10-year old granddaughter, Sadie Beacher. Everyone and their parents were born in Pennsylvania.

• Census, 1890, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ⁹ He was recorded in the Third Ward. The original census was destroyed in a fire, but an index created from the census shows the following listings:
Jacobs, Willie, 77, laborer. 220 Pear Alley. Mary.
Jacobs, William, 28, tailor. S. Jardin St. Sarah, Nelda. Jacob.
Williams age of 77 supports the 1900 census record which indicates he was born in 1812.

• Book: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on page 656, 1893. ¹⁰ On Page 656, the biography of Samuel O. Lutz says: "January 5, 1878, Mr. Lutz was united in marriage to Annie, a daughter of William Jacobs, of Tamaqua. To this union was born one child: Susie. Mrs. Annie Jacobs Lutz died in 1880, and Mr, Lutz married as his second wife Emma, a daughter of L. F, Fritsch, of Tamaqua, and to them have been born three children: William F., aged eight; Olive F,, aged five ; Samuel, aged three."

• Census, 1900, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA. ¹¹ Renting at 218 Straweberry Street was William Jacobs, age 87, born July 1812, 60 years married to his wife, Mary, who is age 77 born May, 1823. (The census was recorded on June 6, 1900.) The census lists her as the mother of 7 children, 4 of whom are living. Mary and her parents are listed as born in Pennsylvania. William is born in Pennsylvania but his father is from France and his mother from Wales. William is listed as unable to read or write but he can speak English. Mary can read, can't write, and can speak English.

• Book: History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1907. ³ Beacher, Benjamin F., Jr., wholesale and retail dealer in confectionery, in the city of Shenandoah, is recognized as one of the representative young business men of his native country and such is his standing as a citizen and scion of one of the honored families of this section of the state that he is well entitled to specific mention in this volume. Mr. Beacher was born in Shenandoah, Feb. 7, 1879 [correction: 1877] and is a son of Benjamin F. and Sarah Jane (Jacobs) Beacher, both of whom were likewise born in Schuylkill county - the former in 1846 [should be 1845] and the latter in 1851. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was William Beacher, who was one of the pioneer lumbermen of Schuylkill county, and who died at Ringtown. The maiden name of his wife was Eisenhaut, a member of a family which was early founded in the southern part of this county. [correction: Jacob, not William, was his grandfather who married an Eisenhuth.] William J. Jacobs, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Beacher, was likewise an honored pioneer of the county and in the early days, before the establishing of railroad lines, he drove a stage between Pittsburg and Baltimore. He passed the closing years of his life in Shenandoah.

William married Mary Hood about 1840.¹ (Mary Hood was born in May 1823 in , , New Jersey, USA ^{6 12} and died circa 1919 in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA ².)