Jacob served as a pilot on an expedition to Nova Scotia in 1747. At a meeting of Gloucester Selectmen on 7 Jan 1760, tax rates were abated for Jacob and for Jacob Jr. On 22 Aprll 1790 three of his children, Jacob Lurvey and wife Rebecca on their own account and also for Jacob's sister Patience Reed of Newburyport, and Anthony Chipman and his wife Anna of Gloucester sold a six-acre pasture in the Fourth Parish to William Pearce of Gloucester, Merchant.