Jacob Vanpelt was born to Dutch parents in about November 1706 in New York. He later became a resident of Bertie County and Craven County, North Carolina. In 1760 he was named as an executor in his son-in-law Andrew Allen's will. In 1767 Vanpelt was called before the Craven County Court on indictment for murder, but the trial docket noted that Vanpelt was now a resident of Georgia. The nature of the criminal charges, or anything else regarding Vanpelt, has not been located.