Owned shares in the ships Hero, Amphitrite and Portsmouth, and the brig Diana.1

"The following synopsis of the advertisements will show who were among the leading business men of Portsmouth the year previous to the breaking out of the Revolution:
Jacob Sheafe, Jr. — Malaga wine, feathers, choice lime and pitch." 6

"Jacob Sheafe was born at Newcastle, Oct. 21, 1715, where he resided for 27 years. In 1740 he married Hannah Seavey, whose home was on the beautiful spot where the house of Mr. Eben L. Seavey now stands, at the head of Seavey's Creek, on the road leading from Sagamore Creek to Wallis's Sands. She was here born May 4, 1719. The name of Hannah's father we do not know—she had a brother Paul, the father of late Major Mark Seavey, who lived for many years at 65 Congress street. 'Sampson's Point,' at Little Harbor, was but a short distance from Newcastle, and Mr. Sheafe sometimes came to Portsmouth that way. On one occasion in a shower he took refuge in the farm house of Mr. Seavey, where for the first time he saw Hannah. He liked Hannah so well that he felt inclined to visit there in pleasant weather also, and finally she became Mrs. Sheafe."

"In 1742 he purchased the house and lot of land next west of the brick school house in State street, on which Mr. George M. Marsh's house and the Episcopal chapel now stand. It had probably been the residence of Rev. John Emerson, who died in 1732, as Mr. Sheafe purchased it of his widow, for £550. How many years he resided here we have no record, but probably his house on the opposite side of the street was not built until twenty or thirty years after. He died in 1791, at the age of 76. His wife died in 1773, at the age of 54." 6

Ramble of The Great Fire in Portsmouth in 1813: "By eleven o'clock almost every house in State street and on the south side of Daniel street was in flames. The house of Jacob Sheafe, Esq., in State near Penhallow street, was now the only building in State street, east of where the fire commenced, for the whole extent of a quarter of a mile, that was not burning." 6

"The Hon. Daniel Webster lived in a house on the corner of Court and Pleasant streets. It was built by Oliver Whipple, about the time and in the same style of the house of the late John K. Pickering. Mr. Webster was enjoying the festivities of an entertainment at Jacob Sheafe's, whose house was on State street, near the east corner of Penhallow street. The house was large, of two stories, with gambrel roof; the capacious yard on the east paved with flat stones. When they cry of fire was raised, Mr. Sheafe turned out a fresh supply of his wine, and with 'we will take a parting glass, Mr. Webster,' the action was suited to the work; and Mr. W. went home to see his house already on fire. Not much time intervened before Mr. Sheafe found his own house surrounded by burning buildings. The efforts of his company, aided by recruits from the Navy Yard, for some time kept his premises a dark spot amid the flames. The next morning, in writing to a friend in Boston an account of the fire, with characteristic brevity he said, 'I have lost about $50,000 and my faithful dog Trim.' 6

"Next west of Davenport's hotel on State street, were the premises of Hon. James Sheafe, who occupied the family mansion of his father. The house was large, of two stories and an ell. It somewhat resembled in appearance the Whipple House, the residence of the late Alexander Ladd, Esq. on Market street, and was built at about the same time. The house was on the site of the present residence of J.M. Tredick, Esq. and connected with it was the large garden, now owned by Mr. Tredick. Mr. Sheafe owned the whole of the square south of the Market, excepting the corner lot, on which a building was, after the fire, erected for the N.H. Union Bank, and now occupied by Albert R. Hatch, Esq. and C.N. Shaw & Co." 6

"1791: Jacob Sheafe, Esq. died the 26th of June, 1791, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was the second son of the honourable Sampson Sheafe; was born at New-Castle in the year 1715. Having been bred a merchant, he settled in this town, and engaged largely in mercantile business, which he pursued with reputation and success until his death. Governor Wentworth appointed him Commissary of the New-Hampshire forces at the capture of Louisburgh. In 1767, he was elected one of the representatives of this town; and was reelected every year afterwards until 1774." 10