Jacob was the son of Jacob Braselton and Hannah Green. He married Mary, daughter of John Bryson, in Pendleton Dist., South Carolina, on 13 March 1815. On 25 July 1818, Jacob joined Walnut Fork Baptist church in Jackson Co., Georgia, and was made a deacon on 24 July 1819. His wife Mary joined the church in March 1820.

An obituary for Jacob appears in the "Christian Index" (a Baptist newspaper), 14 March 1850, p. 43, col. 6. It was written by M.J. Garner, clerk of the Walnut Fork church. It also notes that Jacob Braselton died in Jackson Co. on 17 Dec. 1849, aged 64 years and 9 months. It notes that soon after joining the church, Jacob was made a deacon and clerk of the church, and that he bore his final illness "with sustaining Christian patience," and "died as he lived relying on the merits of his Saviour."

A eulogy for Jacob in the Walnut Fork Baptist church minutes for 2 March 1850, p. 166, state that Jacob was an exemplary member of the church and long served as deacon and clerk.

The 1850 mortality census also notes that Jacob died in Jackson Co., Georgia, in December 1849.

A biography of Jacob's son Perry D. Braselton in "Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana" (Nashville: Southern, 1890, pp. 405-6, states, "Being the owner of a number of slaves, he [i.e., Jacob Braselton] opened up a valuable plantation [in Jackson Co., Ga.], and on this property reared a large family. For forty years a doctor never entered his doors in his professional capacity, but at last Mr. Braselton succumed to the destroyer, death, and passed from life about 1849, having been a worthy member of the Baptist church for many years."

Jacob served at Fort Daniel during the war of 1812, and was captain of the militia of his district in Jackson Co., Georgia, at this time. He returned to South Carolina to marry in 1815. He was also a justice of the peace in Jackson County for a number of years.