Jacome Gonçalves was the eldest son of Tomás Gonçalves and Mariana de Abreu, a Goan Catholic couple living in the parish of Our Lady of Piety (Piedade, Goa). He was born on 8 June 1676. He was a Konkani Brahmin by lineage. His family had been Catholic for many generations, being among the first native converts at the beginning of Portuguese rule in Goa.