JACOBS, Ward Windsor,
Financier, Civil War Veteran.

Ward Windsor Jacobs, treasurer of the Mechanics Savings Bank, Hartford, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, June 13, 1839, the son of Leonard Warren and Albina (Walton) Jacobs. Records of the Jacobs family will be found contained in the archives of the early colonial administrations of this country. The progenitor, Nicholas Jacobs, of the American branches of the family, was horn in Hanover, Suffolk county, England, son of John Jacobs. The year 1633 saw him and his son John and daughter Elizabeth emigrate from Hingham, England, to the Hingham, Massachusetts, settlement. A fellow voyager was Thomas Lincoln, son of Samuel Lincoln, and brother-in-law of Thomas Jacobs. A descendant of this Thomas Lincoln was a settler in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania at the time of the historic Wyoming Massacre. Escaping to Kentucky, he there founded the branch of the family from which sprang the honored past-president of the Republic, Abraham Lincoln. The mother of the late President Hayes, whose maiden name was Jacobs, was born at Pleasant Valley, within a half mile of the birthplace of Mr. Jacobs. Nicholas Jacobs finally settled in Hanover, Massachusetts, where he died on June 5, 1657. Among the first settlers in Windham county, Connecticut, were children of Nicholas Jacobs, and many descendants of the line are still resident in the county.
In 1707-08 Daniel Jacobs, son of John Jacobs, grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, of Hingham, was one of several who acquired extensive tracts of land in Ashford and Eastford, Connecticut, and subsequently Nathaniel Jacobs, son of Joseph Jacobs, and grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, became a settler in Woodstock, and later in Thompson, Connecticut, where, having purchased a tract of land, he and his five sons determinedly applied themselves to the task of converting it from wilderness into agricultural acreage, the tract eventually becoming known as the Jacobs district. Tradition concludes that Dr. Joseph Jacobs, who was the first physician to locate in Mansfield, Connecticut, was a grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, the immigrant from Hingham. Dr. Jacobs resided in that part of Mansfield designated Pleasant Valley, and as was customary among the old colonial physicians, he cultivated a botanical garden, so that it might furnish him with the healing herbs essential in his practice. Eventually he became a large landowner. He married Sarah Storrs, who was born in 1670, and was the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Huckins) Storrs. Samuel Storrs came from England in 1633, settling in Mansfield, Connecticut, about the year 1698, the major portion of his life having been lived in Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he met and married his wife.
Samuel Jacobs, son of Dr. Joseph Jacobs, married February 11, 1737, Desire, the daughter of Mr. Doughty, or Douty, of Windham, Connecticut. Their children, all of whom were born between 1728 and 1746, were: Benjamin, Solomon, William, Daniel and Doughty.
Benjamin Jacobs, son of Samuel Jacobs, was born April 30, 1733, or 1738. He married twice, taking for his first wife, on January 14, 1761, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Balcam, and for his second wife, Elizabeth King. The following children were born between the years 1763 and 1772: Benjamin, Jerusha, Elezar, Zalmon. Between 1772 and 1783, the following children were born: Ozias, Anthony, Luther, Elizabeth and Phila.
Luther Jacobs, son of Benjamin Jacobs, who was born in Tolland county, probably in Mansfield, comes into the line respecting which this present record is chiefly written, he having been the grandfather of Ward Windsor Jacobs, of Hartford.
Leonard Warren Jacobs, son of Luther Jacobs, and father of Ward Windsor Jacobs, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, October 4, 1818. The extent of his instruction in general subjects was that obtainable in the common schools of the locality. In 1846 he removed to Willimantic, where he became a clerk in a grocery store, later venturing into independent business, in which he continued with much success until within a few years of his death, when he retired altogether from business activities, passing his years of retirement in comfort in East Hartford. He married Albina, daughter of John Walton, of Willimantic.
Ward Windsor Jacobs, son of Leonard Warren and Albina (Walton) Jacobs, attended the common schools of Mansfield until his parents removed to Willimantic. He continued his studies at the public schools of Willimantic, continuing in school until he had reached the age of sixteen years, when he entered his father's grocery store as an employee. In a short while he agreed to take service in the bookstore of William L. Weaver, leaving his position in 1856 to become express messenger for Phillips & Company, who were the express agents of the old Hartford, Providence & Fishkill Railroad. A year later (on May 25, 1857), he was advanced to an office position in Hartford under Daniel Phillips, who had taken the Hartford agency for the Adams Express Company. In that capacity Mr. Jacobs remained until April 1, 1866, when he became a steamship agent, opening an office for himself at No. 13 Central Row, Hartford. The steamship agency business had been established by Phillips & Company in 1846, but was much expanded by Mr. Jacobs, quite an appreciable business being represented in the railroad tickets sold from year to year. Concurrently with the operation of the steamship agency, Mr. Jacobs became identified, in clerical capacity, with the Mechanics Savings Bank. His service to the bank dates back to April 1, 1866, at which time the assets of the bank were $178,137.15. A glance at the assets of the bank at the time of making last report will give clear indication of the development of the institution in the period during which Mr. Jacobs has served it.
In 1866 the bank treasurer was Mr. Haynes L. Porter. Young Jacobs steadfastly applied himself to all duties entrusted him at the bank, and was promoted from position to position until he became assistant treasurer, July 24,1867, and on the death of Mr. Porter, February 10, 1873, Mr. Jacobs was, on February 24, 1873, elected secretary and treasurer. As such he has continued to the present, and in point of service he is the oldest bank official in Hartford. There are very few banking officials older than he, and still in high administrative office, in the State of Connecticut. The Mechanics Savings Bank now has deposits amounting to more than $ 10,000,000, and a certain degree of that prosperity is due to the faithfulness to its interests and advancement of its treasurer, Mr. Jacobs, who also has been on its board of trustees since July 28, 1866.
Mr. Jacobs holds many other offices in the business, financial and public life of the City of Hartford; he has been secretary and treasurer of the Hartford Hospital since February 19, 1880; he was secretary, treasurer and manager of Cedar Hill Cemetery from the time of the first interment, in 1866, until quite recently when his son took the offices, and he became vice-president; he is now the oldest director on the board of the First National Bank of Hartford and is vice-president, he having been a member of the board continuously since 1876; he has been director of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford since 1887; he is a director of the Capewell Horse Nail Company and has been so for more than ten years; he has been a director of the Shelby Iron Company of Shelby, Alabama, since 1886, president from 1888 to 1890 and from 1900 to 1914, holding the office of vice-president during the interim of his two presidential terms; he has been actively connected with the Missionary Society of Connecticut since 1876, when he was elected treasurer and remained treasurer until 1905 when he declined to longer hold the office, and was then made director and still holds that office, and since 1876 was held similar positions with the Trustees of the Fund for Ministers, both being State organizations of the Congregational Churches of Connecticut.
Perhaps chief of all his faithful services has been that which he has given the church; he has been a member of the Emanuel Church (old Pearl Street Congregational) since 1858, and at the moment is one of the three oldest male members. Mrs. Jacobs was also a member and in the past has been an active church worker.
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, he served in the Hartford City Guard, having reached the rank of corporal at the time of his resignation and has been major of the Veteran City Guard. Also, for three years, Mr. Jacobs was in the city administration as a member of the Water Board.
Mrs. Ward W. Jacobs (his wife) was Jennie Helen, the daughter of Albert G. and Caroline (Carter) Sawtelle. They were married on June 2, 1868, and to them were born three children: 1. Alice Walton, who graduated from the Hartford Public High School, and from Smith College, eventually marrying Arthur E. Whitmore, of Larchmont, New York; they have two children, Editha Janet and Caroline Carter. 2. Ward Sawtelle, born November 30, 1873, educated in the Hartford Public High School, thence proceeding to the Sheffild Scientific School at Yale, from which he graduated in 1896, with the degree B. S., subsequently taking post-graduate work in Cornell University, where he specialized in mechanical engineering. He then entered a machine shop in order to obtain practical understanding of mechanical engineering, and about four years ago in association with his father, organized The Walton Company, tool manufacturers of Hartford. 3. Editha Laura, born April 6, 1877, and in due course graduated at the Hartford Public High School. Mrs. Ward W. Jacobs died on August 8, 1911, the union having extended over more than forty-three year.