Jacob Brill was born in Germany and settled in Dutchess County, New York. In 1783, he and his family and many of his neighbours, all Loyalists, took ship for Saint John, New Brunswick. Jacob later settled in the area of Grand Lake, Queens County.

Jacob Brill married Mary Smith and they had nine children -- Elizabeth married Isaac Smith, remained in the United States; Catherine married Stephen Thorne; Mary remained unmarried; Eleanor married Moses Pickard; Phoebe married Dow Vandine; Hannah married Samuel Burns; Joseph returned to the United States; David married Lydia Pickard in 1788; and Jacob married Hannah Jewett in 1788.

Jacob and Mary's son, David Brill, 1762-1848, was a young man when he arrived in New Brunswick in 1783 with his father. He married Lydia Pickard in 1788. In 1795, he became a captain of a company in the militia of Queens County. His brother, Jacob, was enlisted under his command.

David and Jacob shared a land grant of 200 acres in the Maquapit Lake area of Sunbury county which they acquired in 1786. Their brother, Joseph, also acquired a grant in the same area which he shared with John Snow. Joseph later returned to the United States.

Sources:
Marriages 1766-1888, Vol. 1, Sunbury County
Jack, D.R. , Loyalist Families of New Brunswick, Vol.1, A-C