Benjamin R. Jacobs

Benjamin Ricardo Jacobs, Ph.D. was born at the American Consulate in Lima, Peru to Rosa Mulet Jacobs of Valparaso, Chile, a FrenchChilean, and Washington Michael Jacobs of South Carolina in the United States. Originally christened April 5, 1879 as Ricardo Benjamin Jacobs he later changed his name, once by reversing the order of his first and middle name, and then in some records by anglicizing the name Ricardo to Richard. His mother was the accomplished and welleducated daughter of a noted French merchant in Valparaso. At the time of his birth, his father was the American viceconsul to Peru. A businessman with many interests in the United States, his father also was engaged in mining in several countries in South America and published a semiweekly newspaper, El Tumbes, and the Imprenta Americana.

His daughters, Irene and Millicent , were born to his first wife, Sarah, who died when the children were young. After raising his daughters as a single father, he married Margaret Ann Connell, who was assistant to Samuel Gompers, the founder of the American Federation of Labor. In order to have his new wife travel worldwide with him as he did for enjoyment as well as for his professional activities, according to her niece, Marie Connell, he wanted Margaret to resign her work. Reluctant to give up her professional career, she required that he would have to pay her salary, with annual increases, for the rest of her lifetotally above any household or joint expenses. They maintained residences at the historic landmark, the KennedyWarren in Washington, D.C., in the historic College Park section of Orlando, Florida, in Essex Fells in New Jersey, and in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Source: Wikipedia