Brooke County
JOHN GABRIEL JACOB. In that unlimited usefulness
exercised by a newspaper publisher and editor, and only less
as a business man, John Gabriel Jacob was one of the most
prominent members of the Jacob family at Wellsburg. The
pioneer settlement and achievements of the family group
as a whole are described in other sketches in this publication.
The American ancestor of the family was John Jacob, Sr.,
who came from the Isle of Wight to Maryland about 1665,
and who died October 26, 1702.

John Gabriel Jacob, who was born at Wellsburg, October 1,
1826, was the oldest son of Samuel and Mary Ann (Shryer)
Jacob. His father was a farmer, a noted raiser of fine sheep
and cattle, owning a large farm one half mile east of Wells-
burg. He was cashier of the Wellsburg National Bank for
over forty years.

John G. Jacob was educated in Washington College at
Washington, Pennsylvania. He graduated with the class
of 1847, a class somewhat famous on account of the number
of its members who afterward became prominent, one of
them being James G. Blaine. Soon after graduation John
G. Jacob made a trip to New Orleans, floating down the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers by flat boat loaded with goods
produced in this section. On reaching New Orleans he sold
his stock and the flat boat at a good profit and returned by
steamboat to Wellsburg, after resisting a strong temptation
to continue his trip to the gold fields of California, where the
first discoveries had been made and which were attracting
nearly every young man of adventuresome disposition who
could get away from the routine of the East. With the pro-
ceeds of his flat boat venture John G. Jacob purchased a half
interest in the Wellsburg Transcript, a newspaper then owned
by Metcalf & Smith. Only a short time later, in 1849, Mr.
Jacob, with the aid of his father, bought the remainder, chang-
ing the name to the Wellsburg Herald, under which name he
edited and published it for nearly fifty years. He was an
able and fearless writer, and in the period immediately pre-
ceding the Civil war his editorials had a far reaching influence.
He was an ardent abolitionist, and his editorials in a news-
paper published in slave territory were widely copied.
Through his newspaper he had much to do with molding
sentiment and holding the people of his section loyal to the
Union.

John G. Jacob as an editor warmly espoused the cause of
Abraham Lincoln as candidate for the President, and was a
delegate to the convention at Chicago which nominated the
great emancipator in 1860. He served on the committee
on credentials as the representative of the Virginia delega-
tion. He was a supporter of all public improvements,
especially of the substantial sort, and could always be found
on the right side on all moral questions. He was an early
advocate of prohibition of the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors, and for many years his paper bore at
the head of its editorial column the inscription "An Inde-
pendent Republican Newspaper favoring prohibition."

In 1895 Mr. Jacob relinquished active control of the
Herald, turning it over to his son and retiring to his suburban
home, but still retaining his active interest in local affairs as
well as in the broader affairs of the state and nation.

In October, 1903, at the age of seventy-seven, Mr. Jacob
died from an attack of pneumonia, and two days later his
remains were laid beside those of his beloved wife, who had
preceded him in death just ten days before.
Contributor: Flinsbach (49222948)