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Beginning in 1662, by law, children received social status from their mother without consideration of the father. In this period, the intermingling of races was neither uncommon nor lawfully forbidden amongst indentured servants, slaves, and free people– African, Native American, or European descent.
Freedom came for some slaves through manumission (granted freedom by the owner), which usually occurred upon the owner's death. Manumission was common and was easily applied until 1723 when Virginia passed a law that required legislative approval for manumissions. Oppression of what would become known statistically as "other free" people increased steadily through the 1700s and into the early 1800s as class and color lines became more distinct through changing social norms and the passing of discriminatory laws. The Jacobs family, like many others in this group of people, began to be classified solely upon appearance as black, white, mulatto, Indian, or simply "other". On one extreme, there were attempts to enslave some who were born free, while on the other extreme lighter descendants became part of the "white" community.
Gabriel and his presumed wife Bab were part of the Northampton County household of Captain John Custis as early as 1664.Northampton County, Virginia Orders 1657-64, fol. 198; 1664-74, p.15, fol.42 They were listed again in 1677, along with Fred Tucker, Daniel Webb, and Isbell Webb.Northampton County, Virginia Orders 1674-1679, 191 John Custis was the founder of the Custis family in Virginia, and the great-grandfather of Daniel Parke Custis, first husband of Martha Dandridge Washington.
Early in the 1670s, John Custis built a three-story brick mansion named Arlington on the south bank of Old Plantation Creek in southwestern Northampton County. Gabriel Jacobs lived on Custis's 550-acre plantation until about 1700. John Custis's will, proven in 1696, split up Gabriel's family. Custis gave Gabriel to his wife Tabitha for four years to work on their "slope", which he had owned since at least 1682. Tabitha Custis was also given Gabriel Jacobs's daughter Jenny. Bab and Gabriel's son Daniel, along with 11 other slaves, were bequeathed to Custis' grandson John Custis (1678-1749), who inherited the plantation.Northampton County, Virginia Orders and Wills 1689-1698, 355-360
Gabriel's position and experience on the sloop, or even if he lived to be free, are unknown.
Daniel was called "Daniell Jacob Negro" in July 1709 when he agreed to pay Jean Grimes's fine for bastard bearing.Northampton County, Virginia Orders and Wills 1698-1710, 320, 485 He was a Northampton County taxable in his household from 1720 to 1723 and was a "negro" taxable head of a household from 1724 to 1731 with his wife Elizabeth and children.
Daniel's children are considered to be Isaac, Abigail, Frances and Elizabeth.
Zachariah is the father of Peter, William, Josiah, and Ezekiah. All four sons served North Carolina during the American Revolution. They were among over 400 freeborn African-Americans from North Carolina who served as Patriots.
Ezekiah recorded a discharge certificate from his service as a soldier in the North Carolina Line on February 18, 1788, in New Hanover County.New Hanover County Genealogical Society Journal, Volume XI, page 114 675 acres of Brunswick County land was recorded in his name between 1800 and 1820.
There is currently no formal evidence of the descendants of Ezekiah. One theory suggests he married Prudence and is the father of Noah, born September 13, 1803, in Brunswick County, in the portion that became part of Columbus County upon its formation in 1808. However, there are DNA tests that do not confirm this theory. Additionally, there is no consensus among genealogists, but this is not the most commonly accepted parentage theory.
Noah's wife Keziah received a gift of 100 acres of land from her father Gabriel in 1835, likely a wedding present.Columbus County, North Carolina land records Noah petitioned for a land grant of 100 acres in Columbus County "adjoining his own line" and that of Washington Long in 1846.North Carolina Land Grant Files, Columbus County, Book 154, page 678, entry 273 This land was next to that his wife Keziah had received in 1835 from her father and near Gabriel Long's property.
On June 5, 1846, he sold 10 acres on Town Creek "adjoining McKay now Berry, on the second Branch below Meadow House Branch" to Jane Cumbo and her heirs of Brunswick County, North Carolina.Columbus County, North Carolina Deed Book O, pages 467-468 This 10 acres was likely inherited from his father Ezekiah. Cumbo was a fairly common name among enslaved people in Virginia and subsequently among Cumbo freedmen beginning as early as the mid-1600s.Chesterfield County, Virginia Wills, Orders, 1759-67, page 90Amelia County, Virginia Tithables, household of John Nash, 1745, microfilm reel 55 Jane was likely descended from the early Virginia Cumbo family and may have been a relative of Noah Jacobs.
As part of the "free Negro Code," an 1840 North Carolina statute provided 'that if any Free Negro, mulatto, or free person of color, shall wear or carry about his or her person, or keep in his or her house, any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger or bowie-knife, unless he or she shall have obtained a license therefor from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her county...."State v. Newsom, 5 Iredell 181, 27 N.C. 250 (1844) In other words, any "other free" persons needed to obtain a license to own a gun. Documents from Columbus County records contain Noah Jacobs' attestations to the need for other Jacobs men living near him to own a firearm for hunting purposes. These Jacobs were possibly "black" relatives with the same common ancestor – Gabriel Jacobs of colonial Virginia. In 20 years, the American Civil War would begin, and the final split between the white and black sides of the family would be complete.
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