Born near Geneseo, New York, Jacobs moved with his parents to Michigan Territory in 1831.

He moved to the Territory of Oregon in 1852 and settled in Jacksonville, Jackson County, where he continued the practice of law.

The University of Washington awarded Jacobs with its first ever honorary degree, a doctor of laws.

Jacobs died in Seattle, May 21, 1914, and was interred in the city's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress