Rev. David Jacobs was born November 11, 1805. He obtained his education at Hagerstown Academy and at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., graduating from the latter institution in 1825. He began the study of theology under the private tuition of Rev. Benjamin Kurtz at Hagerstown, but when the Lutheran Theological Seminary was established at Gettysburg he entered its first class. While he was pursuing his studies here a classical school preparatory to the seminary was projected and he was solicited to take charge of it. He did so, opening the proposed school with two pupils on the 25th of June, 1827. This small beginning developed into Pennsylvania College, the first college under Lutheran auspices in the United States and now a prosperous and influential institution. Professor Jacobs was an accomplished scholar and a thorough teacher. For three years he gave to the incipient college his unremitting attention. In September, 1830, he left Gettysburg for a journey through Virginia and the Carolinas, and while returning home he died at Shepherdstown, W. Va., November 4, 1830. His remains were interred in the burial ground at Jacobs Church.
