Cephas Jacobs Bio
Monongalia Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume 11



   Cephas Jacobs became a resident of West Virginia as now constited, in
the year 1853, and was one of the venerable and honored citizens of
Morgantown, Monongalia County, at the time of his death, on the 2d of
February, 1903. He was born in Allegany County, Maryland, January 8,
1826, and was a descendant of Zachariah Jacobs, who immigrated from
Wales to America in 1740, and who first made settlement in Connecticut.
In 1760 he removed to New Jersey, and Colonial records show that his son
Jacob Jacobs served as captain in the Patriotic Army in the War of the
Revolution, in which he was with General Washington at Valley Forge.
Gabriel, son of Capt. Jacob Jacobs, was born in New Jersey, July 7,
1781, and was a young man when he settled in Allegany County, Maryland,
where he remained until his death, October 11, 1848. He married Margaret
Jackson, who was born May 27, 1783, and died October 20, 1855. Cephas
Jacobs, son of Gabriel and Margaret Jacobs, was reared on his fathers
farm in Allegany County, Maryland, and from that state he came to West
Virginia, then a part of Virginia, in 1853, and settled in Preston
County, where he engaged in farming and where he built and operated
grist and saw mills and a tannery. There he continued his residence
until 1869, when he moved to a farm on the west side of Monongahela
River in Grant District, Monongalia County, opposite the City of
Morgantown. He there continued as one of the substantial exponents of
farm indusrrrrrrrtry in the country until 1892, when he moved to
Morgantown, in which city he passed the remainder of his life. He was
one of the organizers and became president of the First National
Building & Loan Association at Charlestown, this state, and was a
director of the Second National Bank of Morgantown. He was a stanch
republican, and he served two terms as justice of the peace in Grant
District and one term as a member of the city council of Morgantown. He
was affiliated with Morgantown Union Lodge No. 4, Free and Accepted
Masons, and he and his wife were zealous members of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church at Morgantown.
   April 10, 1851, recorded the marriage of Cephas Jacobs with Margaret
Ann Ravenscraft, daughter of Abner and Nancy (Corbus) Ravenscraft, of
Maryland, and she survived him by nearly twelve years, her death having
occured September 13 1914.
   Elmer Forrest Jacobs, son of Cephas and Margaret Ann Jacobs, was born
on the home farm of his father on Bird's Creek, Preston County, this
state, June 11,1866, and was three years old at the time of the family
removal to Monongalia County, where he was reared to manhood, recieved
the discipline of the public schools and finally entered the University
of West Virginia, with the intention of preparing himself for the
profession of civic engineering. But upon the advice of Col. T. Moore
Jackson, then at the head of the School of Engineering, West Virginia
University, Mr. Jacobs decided to take up architecture, Colonel Jackson
having given him special insructions along this line. He was impatient
at the delay in placing himself in a position to earn a salary, and on
this account left the university and entered the office of J.L. Beatty,
an architect in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He remained five
years with Mr. Beatty and gained a thorough technical and practical
training in the architectural art and science. In 1893 he assumed charge
of designing and construction with the Pittsburgh firm of W.A. Hoeveller
& Company, and later he became superintendant of construction for the
Standard Sanitary Manufactoring Company of Pittsburgh.
   In the fall of 1894 Mr. Jacobs opened an office in Morgantown, where
he now stands virtually at the head of his profession in this part of
West Virginia, as well as being the oldest architect in point of
experience and continous practice at Morgantown. Among many important
buildings designed by and erected under the supervision of Mr. Jacobs
are the Madeira (formely the Franklin) Hotel; Woodburn Hall and an
addition to Science Hall, of the University of West Virginia; chapter
houses of the Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Alpha, Phi Sigma Kappa,
Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Kappa Sigma fraternities at the State University;
Farmers and Merchants Bank; the old post office at Morgantown, which was
the first fire-proof building in this section of the state and is now
occupied by the Union Savings and Trust Company; the plant of the Seneca
Glass Company; plant of the Union Stopper Company; Fourth Ward School
building; First Methodist Protestant Church, Morgantown; First Methodist
Episcopal Church, Mount Morris, Pennsylvania; and residences of George
C. Baker, William Moorhead, J. H. Mc Dermott, J.C. McVicker, Francis
Heermans, J.C. Frazier, and many others of the most modern type in
Morgantown and vicinity. Mr. Jacobs is a member of the American
Institute of Architects, his affiliation with that organization dating
from May 24, 1902.
   He married Miss M. Ella Wood daughter of the late A.C. Wood, of
Morgantown, and they have two children. Virginia is the wife of Allen
Bowie, of Wheeling, this state, and they have one child, Mary Eleanor.
David Wood Jacobs is at the time of this writing, in 1921, a student in
the Morgantown High School.