Jacob was born around the year 1900 in Poland. He immigrated to the United States when he was young. He had at least one brother. He also had a grandfather who kept pigeons and a grandmother who passed on her recipe for paczki to him and instilled in him a love of baking. Jacob fought in the First World War. He served in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces and remained stationed there until well after the conclusion of the war (presumably as part of a peace-keeping effort), returning to the United States in 1924. His brother also fought in the war but was killed at some point.The extended length of his military service left him able to find only a menial job at the Moreton Dale Canning Factory in his post-war life. He thus applied for a loan on 5 October 1926 in the hope of getting the money he needed to realize his dream of opening a bakery.By late 1926, he was engaged to Mildred, but the engagement ended.