Casual students of Gettysburg frequently know the name Dr. Michael Jacobs. Lesser known by far is his brother Reverend David Jacobs, but it is the latter’s influence that put Michael where he was in 1863 to record the weather of the battle and publish the first history of the battle. So who is Reverend David Jacobs?

David and Michael Jacobs were the youngest of the eight children born to Heinrich Henry Jacobs and Anna Maria Miller. About two years apart, the boys were close in age, and life circumstances no doubt bound them tighter. Michael was born in January 1808; just eighteen months later, their mother passed away at age 39. Heinrich did not remarry, which almost certainly put the onus of raising young David and Michael on their oldest sister, Anna.

When David and Michael were 15 and 13 respectively, Heinrich also passed away, leaving them orphaned. There’s no record of whom they lived with, though plenty of their siblings were of age and one of them likely took the boys in. The Jacobs family had deep roots in the Franklin County, Pennsylvania, area as well as in Maryland just across the border. They were deeply faithful Lutherans, and both David and Michael would become ordained ministers, as would numerous other Jacobs descendants.

In 1810, Pennsylvania incorporated the Gettysburg Academy, also known as the Classical Preparatory School and the Gettysburg Gymnasium. In 1826, the school allowed the Lutheran Theological Seminary to use its facilities, and Reverend David Jacobs established a preparatory school there for boys in 1827. In doing so, he brought his brother Michael to the school to teach mathematics and physical philosophy (today known as physics). In 1829, the Jacobs’ mentor, Samuel Simon Schmucker, a prominent Lutheran official and ardent abolitionist, purchased the facilities and eventually oversaw its transition to both a full Lutheran seminary and today’s Gettysburg College.

It’s hard to comprehend the brothers’ youth and responsibilities. The school was originally a boarding school for young men. When David established his portion of the school, he was just 22; Michael was 19. They were teaching theology and a host of subjects to young men only a few years younger than they were. Yet, the brothers were beloved by the students.

Tragically, David would not live to see the full development of the school, nor would he see the scientist and professor that his brother would become. Likewise, he would never enjoy the renown and fame that followed his brother through the ages.

At the age of 24, David became ill with what the papers later called “bilious inflammatory disease.” That term was used for fever diseases, particularly those associated with vomiting and diarrhea, meaning that anything from malaria to yellow fever to dysentery could fit the description. Suffering greatly, David believed that heading south might help him and started out for the Carolinas. He didn’t make it past Shepherdstown, Virginia, though. In November 1830, he passed away suddenly, stunning his brother and his students. He was remembered in a laudatory obituary, and the school’s students resolved to wear black crape for 30 days. Without his brother and his parents, Dr. Michael Jacobs had no close mentors left, but he would go on to be an intellectual luminary in the community and would preach at the Lutheran Christ Church next door to the home of Dr. J. Lawrence Hill, one of his close friends.