The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Jacobe came from the baptismal name Jacob. The surname Jacobe referred to the son of Jacob which belongs to the category of patronymic surnames.
"The medieval surname was not Jewish. Jacob is found before the Conquest as the name of an ecclesiastic. After the Conquest, it is impossible to decide how common the name was as the Latin Jacobus was used for both Jacob and James." [1]
The surname Jacobe was first found in Huntingdonshire where Jacob (with no forename) was listed c. 1250. The same rolls included Walter Jacob. Agnes Jacobes was found in Bedfordshire in 1244 and Alan Jacob was listed in the Feet of Fines for Kent in 1324. [1]
"Nicholas Jacob was rector of Burgh in 1419; and William Jacob was a cavalier of Mendham in 1642; the name was also represented in Creeting in Suffolk in 1648. In the reign of Edward I. we find this name in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Oxfordshire." [2]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Jacobe research. Another 159 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1290, 1739, 1662, 1675, 1703, 1563, 1624, 1563, 1620, 1692, 1692, 1692, 1692, 1588, 1563, 1564, 1597, 1666, 1640, 1641, 1623, 1692, 1679, 1693, 1739, 1693, 1722, 1667, 1722, 1667 and 1688 are included under the topic Early Jacobe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Jacobe family name include Jacobs, Jacob and others.
Distinguished members of the family include Henry Jacob (1563-1624), an English Sectary, born in 1563, the son of John Jacob, yeoman, of Cheriton, Kent (parish register). [3]
George Jacobs, Sr. (c.1620-1692), was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692, and was found guilty and hanged on August 19, 1692. A painting entitled "Trial of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692" by Thompkins H. Matteson was based on the accounts of Jacobs' granddaughter.
Robert Jacob (d. 1588), was an English physician, eldest son of Giles Jacob of London, was entered at Merchant Taylors' School on 21 Jan. 1563-1564. [3]
Sir John Jacob, 1st...
Another 125 words (9 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Jacobe Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Some of the Jacobe family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 45 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Jacobe surname or a spelling variation of the name include: