Jacob Gerbrandt was born on October 8, 1888, in Hillsboro, Kansas, to Rev. John Gerbrandt and Helena (Klassen) Gerbrandt. He was moved with his parents in 1905 to Canada where they homesteaded near Drake, Saskatchewan. He was baptized on 26 August 1906 becoming a member of the North Star Mennonite Church at Drake.

Jacob Gerbrandt married Anna Marie Bartel on April 11, 1912, in Drake Saskatchewan. They had nine children.

Jacob worked as a teacher in rural Saskatchewan from 1908-1916, and then farmed and served as minister of the North Star Mennonite Church in Drake from 1917-1926. He was ordained as a minister in this congregation on 9 June 1924. Between 1927 and 1933, he was the representative of the Canadian Mennonite Settlement Board in Alberta, based out of Lethbridge. He assisted with the founding of the Coaldale Mennonite Church and served as its leader from 1929 to1932. He again farmed in Drake from 1933 to 1945 and served the church there. He moved to Rosthern in 1945 where he served as the secretary-treasurer of Rosthern Junior College. He was a founding member of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization in 1923 and served as its secretary-treasurer from 1946-1960 in Rosthern and later in Saskatoon. He served the Conference of Mennonites in Canada as secretary from 1923 to1930 and was also on the Emergency Relief Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church of North America in 1935. He became a member of First Mennonite Church in Saskatoon in 1960 and remained as a member of this congregation until he died on 30 May 1980.

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