Born: November 10, 1844, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Died: July 7, 1932, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Buried: Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Henry was the son of Michael Jacobs and Julia Matilda Eyster, and husband of Laura Hewes Downing.
He graduated from Gettysburg College (1862), and Gettysburg Seminary (1865). While at seminary, he served on the United States Christian Commission in Virginia and Maryland (1864–65).
He later studied at Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania (DD 1877, LLD 1892) and Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania (STD 1907).
He served as principal of Thiel Hall, Monaca, Pennsylvania; as Franklin Professor of Latin and History at the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg College (1870–80); and president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.