JACOBS, ELLIS W. AND BERNEICE (BUNNY) (TAYLOR)

by Ellis (Jake) Jacobs

Entry F217 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

The Ellis Jacobs Family, July 11, 1987. Front row, L-R: Jesse, Tara Piccini,
Brian Piccini, Joel Jacobs. Second row: Kelly Wright, Tom and Heidi Piccini,
Bunny and Jake Jacobs, Andy Wright. Back row: Jodi and Kirk Jacobs, Jeffery
and Cleo Jacobs, Philip and Elizabeth Jacobs.

Ellis (Jake) came to Nebr. in Mar. 1943
while serving as a Paratrooper stationed at
the Air Base in Alliance, Nebr. Week-end
leave found him in Mullen, Nebr. where he
met Berneice (Bunny) Taylor. Bunny had
been working in a Detroit, Mich. Defense
Plant when her Mother became ill. She
returned to Mullen at this time to assume
family duties. Then she went on to Los
Angeles, Calif. and worked at the Lockeed
Aircraft Plant on B-17 (Flying Fortress)
Bomber. The marriage of Bunny and Jake
occurred Aug. 19, 1944 in Mullen at the
Methodist Parsonage. Witnesses were Joy
Carpenter and Billy Taylor. The Rev. Harold
Baker officiated.

Jake was still in the service for a period of
convalescence. He and Bunny resided in vari-
ous places during this period, Stark, NH
and Ayar, MA. Their first son, Jeff was born
1945 in Alliance. Jake was dis-
charged to civilian life in Oct. 1945 and the
family lived and worked at Chadron, Nebr.
for less than a year. In March, 1947 they
returned to Mullen to live on the ranch where
they reside today. Second son, Philip Dean
was born at Alliance on 1950. (All of
the Jacobs children were born in Alliance).
On 1956 Kirk Euis was born.

Jake and Bunny worked for her parents
(Bill and Myrtel) until their passing. Myrtel
in May 1955 and Bill in Jan. 1965.

Jake went to work Consolidated Tel. Co. in
1961. Bunny and children did the haying and
general ranch work until Jeff graduated from
school in 1964. Heidi Joy was born
1961. In 1973 they built a new home which
they live in today.

Jeff married Cleo Peterson of Bayard Aug.
29, 1971. They lived in a second dwelling on
the place until June 1986 when they leased
the Ida Evans Ranch, joining on the south.
They now reside on that place and operate
both places from there. Cleo was raised in the
Bayard-Bridgeport area. Her mother died
when she was 11 weeks old. Cleo and her older
sister, Sharon were raised by their grand-
parents (Mr. and Mrs. Henry Petersen) and
then by an Aunt and Uncle (Mr. and Mrs.
Vernon Petersen) their Mother's brother,
who later adopted them. Their natural father
and 3 half sisters live in the Scottsbluff-
Gering area. Cleo has worked off the ranch
at teaching school and for the last 14 years
for the NRD here in Mullen.

Phil went on to school at the School of
Mines in Rapid City, S. Dak. for 2 years and
then to UNL (Lincoln, Nebr) for his BA in
Math. He did 2 years of graduate work at
Tulane Univ. in New Orleans, La. His first
job was with Mountain Fuel Gas Co. Salt
Lake City, Utah for 4 years. He took a job in
Houston, Tx. with Tenneco Gas Pipe Line.
On May 8, 1983 he married Elizabeth
Hughes. They live in Houston where she is
also employed in an Energy Related Busi-
ness.

Kirk works for Consolidated Tel. Co. and
is local Mang. for Merna, Anselmo, Dunning
and Brewster, Nebr. On Jan. 19, 1980 he
married Jodi McBride Wright of Broken Bow
who has two children, Andy and Kelly
Wright, by a previous marriage. They now
have two children, Joel Adam and Jessie
Taylor Jacobs. They reside in a country home
near Merna, Nebr.

Heidi after graduating from high school
went UNL for 4 years, achieving a BA in
Business Adm. She did summer and part
time work at Miller and Paine while in school
and continued on with them for 1 year. She
then went to work for Metro Mail with home
office located in Lincoln. On July 11, 1987 she
married Thomas Piccini of Quincy, Mass. He
also is employed at Metro Mail. He has 2
children, Terra and Brian by a previous
marriage. They have a home in Lincoln.

Jake's family roots go briefiy like this -
His father, Lester Warner Jacobs was born
in Rockland, Mass., the son of a whaler who
later went into the shoe business. He was a
Civil Engineer whose work moved them from
Maine to West Va., to Norfolk, Va. where
Jake was born in 1923, the youngest of 6
children.

Jake's mother, Margaret Flint Jacobs, was
born in Brono, Maine, the daughter of a Prof.
of Civil Engineering. Her family were Maine
people all the way back to when Maine was
part of the Commonwealth of Mass.

In 1929 the family moved from Norfolk,
Va. to Louisiana where Lester built a bridge
across Lake Pontchartrain. From there to
Bay St. Louis, Miss. where Jake spent his 8
grade school years. His father died when he
was 13 years. They then moved to Maine
where he spent his high school years. After
high school Jake worked in Los Angeles until
Pearl Harbor Day after which he returned to
Maine and enlisted in the service.