The name Bebber or Bibber is derived from the village of Bebber in the Dutchy of Cleves, Netherlands, which is now in Germany.

Jacob Isaacs was born about 1640, probably in Krefeld, a city on the lower Rhine within a few miles of Holland. Around 1660, Jacob married Christina Hermana, probably in Krefeld.

The Van Bibbers were Mennonites, a religious sect that was persecuted in Europe at the time. At the invitation of William Penn, a number of Mennonites emigrated from Holland and the Palatinate and settled in Pennsylvania around 1683. Penn conveyed 1000 acres of land to each of the following men: Govert Remke, Lenarts Arets and Jacob Isaacs van Bibber. These three, along with three other men, Telner, Streypers and Sipman, were the original purchasers of the land on which Germantown, which is now a suburb of Philadelphia, was founded.

The people who settled there were true settlers, having been treated harshly in Germany for many years because of their religion. Telner and Van Bibber were known to be Mennonites.

Jacob Van Bibber’s son Isaac Jacobs, of Crefeld, came to America before his father. He was in the Germantown area in 1684. Jacob, his wife and another son, Matthias, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1687. Jacob and Christina settled in Germantown, near Philadelphia. The charter of incorporation for Germantown, dated May 31, 1691, names Jacob as a committeeman. Jacob was the first Recorder (city clerk?) in 1691 and a Burgess in 1692. Jacob moved to Philadelphia before 1698, where he was a merchant on High Street.

Starting in 1702, Matthias and his brothers Isaac and Hendrick bought land in Cecil County, Maryland because of a religious dispute in Germantown.

By 1714, Matthias owned the large estate known as Bohemia Manor in Cecil County, along with other estates. Jacob and Christina moved to Maryland also, because the records of St. Stephen's parish, Cecil County, Maryland say that Jacob Isaac Van Bibber was buried there in September, 1705, and his wife Christina was buried there on September 4, 1711.