Jacob, son of Jacob and Salome (Braucher) Krause, was born near Kempton, Berks County, January 24, 1832. At the age of eighteen years he learned the blacksmith's trade and followed this occupation twenty years at Fetherolfsville. In 1870 he became a farmer in Albany township on ninety-seven acres of land lying in the potato belt, and was succeeded by his son in 1904.. He was a Democrat and serves as school director. He was an elder for many years of the Friedens church, at Wessnersville. He married (first) Mary Rex, who died twelve years after the marriage; (second) Mary S. Smith, born in 1847, died March 10, 1907.