Yaakov Baskind was born in Minsk, Russia and came to the country in 1906. He came to Rishon Le Zion in 1910 and married Ruhama Tzalilihin and they set up their home here. Her worked as a mechanic in the winery (according to one account he studied motor mechanics together with Opera singing in Russia. Another version claims that he left the country and studied in Germany). He specialized in the building of water pumps for the water wells. Later he worked in a metal factory in Jaffa. While still young he fell into a well while working on it and was killed. He was buried in the old cemetery in Rishon Le Zion.