Thanks for giving Jacob some link-love.
Regarding the first “AOL” Blogfather, if former Netscape employees count, I’d have to say it’s probably jwz. His LJ only dates back to 2002, but his writing dates as far back as 1994:
http://www.jwz.org/gruntle
It’s not exactly a blog, but maybe it counts.
I’m guessing you’re the first person to use a formal blogging application or product. Most geeks probably rolled their own or just authored text by hand (i.e., jwz).