[1] Jakov was the younger brother of Aleksa Nenadović (1749–1804), a Serbian nobleman who held a province around Valjevo.

Jakov immediately joined the Serbian rebels, and after the victory in Svileuva (1804) he became one of the most distinguished commanders and persons of western Serbia.

Jakov was one of the founders of the Praviteljstvujušči sovjet serbski (Serbian government), of which Prota Mateja Nenadović, his nephew (the son of Aleksa), was the first Prime Minister.

In 1813, for the purpose of armory, a tower bearing the Nenadović name was built next to a road leading to Šabac, at the edge of Kličevac hill, by Jakov and his son Jevrem.

His granddaughter, Persida Nenadović (the daughter of Jevrem), married Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia, the son of Karadjordje.