He was born in Maryland, moving to Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina; then to Kentucky; and finally in 1800 to Utica in Clark County, Iowa.874 He was one of the first settlers of the area.879 “About 1804 a round-log house was erected on about an acre of land in tract number thirty-seven, deeded to the Methodist Episcopal church by Jeremiah Jacobs and Walter Prather. It was built by subscription, and worth when completed about $250. It had but one window, clap-board roof, and the old style of stone chimney.879