Jacob Samuel Deaton was born on October 10, 1895, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Deaton was a resident of Rockingham when he enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard in April 1917. As a member of Company A, 105th Engineers, he deserted from the service while stationed at Camp Sevier, South Carolina, in October 1917. It seems he was never caught, despite the company commander publishing notices of a $50 reward for his capture in the Rockingham Post-Dispatch. He seemed to enlist under the name of Samuel J. Deaton but later went by Jacob Samuel Deaton. Deaton died on August 4, 1960, in Columbia, South Carolina.