My Genealogy Hound

J. P. HALE JENKINS. The Jenkins family of Montgomery county are descended from Jenkin Jenkin, a native of Wales, who emigrated to America, and settled in what is now Hatfield township, about the year 1729. The family Bible, printed in Welsh characters, shows the following record:

Jenkin Jenkin died September 15, 1745, aged 86 years.

Mary Jenkins died November 27, 1764, aged 74 years.

John Jenkins, born February I5, 1719.

Jenkin Jenkin was born, therefore, in 1659, and his wife Mary in 1690. Their son John was about ten years old when the family came to this country. November 17, 1730, Jenkin Jenkin bought of Joseph Tucker three hundred and fifty acres of land in Hatfield, “reaching from Gwynedd line nearly or quite to the cow path road and from the Montgomery line about to the road running from Lansdale to Colmar.” He settled on this tract and when he made his will, in 1745, he was “of Hatfield.”

Jenkin Jenkin, at his death, left four children, as follows: (1). John, who was born in Wales, married Sarah Hawkesworth, a daughter of Peter and Mary Hawkesworth. Sarah was born in 1720, in England, and died January 16, 1794. (2). Mary died unmarried, (3). Jenkin, Jr., married a Miss Thomas and had four children: David, who died unmarried; Elizabeth, who married John Banes; Hannah, who died unmarried; and Eleanor, who married a McPherson. (4). Elizabeth, married John Hawkesworth, son of Peter and Mary, and had seven children.

The oldest child, John Jenkins, was the progenitor of all the family who now bear the name, his brother Jenkin having no sons. He bought land in Gwynedd, adjoining Lansdale, in 1746. He died in 1803 or 1804. His eight children were as follows:

1. John, born in 1742 and died in 1805, was an officer in the Revolutionary army. He married Elizabeth Lukens, widow of Abraham, and had six children: Owen, married Mary Tennis; Sarah, married Peter Hoxworth; Jesse, married Mary Aaron; John, married Ann Todd; Edward, married Margaret Server; and Elizabeth, married Issacher Rhoads.

2. Levi, married Susan Sheive and had nine children, including Rev. John S. Jenkins, a prominent minister of the Baptist denomination; and Levi, Jr., who married Sarah Smith and had six children, including Joseph S., Eder, John S., and Anne.

3. Ann, married Hugh Kousty.

4. Edward, born July 12, 1758, died in 1829. He married Sarah Foulke, daughter of Theophilus, and had six children: Charles F. married Mary Lancaster; Ann died unmarried; Jesse married Mary R. Ambler; Margaret married Peter C. Evans; Rachel married Meredith Conrad; and Caleb died in childhood.

5. Jesse, born in 1760, died in 1794, unmarried.

6. Elizabeth married Owen Hughes and had eight children.

7. Mary married Peter Wentz and had seven children.

8. Sarah married Isaac Lewis and had three children.

John, who married Ann Todd lived to a very advanced age, dying at North Wales at the house of his son-in-law, Abel Lukens, October 5, 1830, in his ninety-seventh year. His children were seven in number: Naomi married Abel Lukens; Charles Todd married Sarah Lukens; Jane married Samuel Rhoads; Ann T. married Jacob B. Rhoads; Silas T. married Eliza Morgan; John S. married Eliza Steever; and Milton married Sarah Ellis.

Many of the family were noted for longevity, as has been seen, living to a good old age. John Jenkins, grandson of Jenkin Jenkins, who served as a first lieutenant in the American army, underwent the trials and privations which marked that period. His commission in the Continental army is still in existence, in possession of one of his descendants.

The Ann Todd whom his son John married, was the daughter of John Todd, and a grand-niece of General Porter, of Revolutionary fame. John Jenkins engaged in agricultural pursuits, and also became prominent in local affairs, holding, at one time or another, all the township offices. He was a Democrat in politics, and from his long tenure in the position of assessor in Gwynedd township, covering forty-two years, he was often spoken of as “Assessor John.” In his old age, however, he was known far and near as “Uncle John.” He owned the property on which East Landsdale is now built, south and east of the railroad. He enlisted in the army for the War of 1812 but was prevented from serving by breaking his leg on the next day.

Charles Todd Jenkins, his oldest son, was the father of J. P. Hale Jenkins, who is one of the most prominent members of the Montgomery county bar, has been a candidate for state senator on the ticket of the Republican party, to which he is devotedly attached, and has held many minor positions, being now the solicitor of the board of county commissioners, an influential and responsible post.

Sarah, wife of Charles Todd Jenkins and mother of the subject of this sketch, was a daughter of George Lukens, or Luken, as the name appears to have been originally spelled. Her ancestor was Jan Lucken, who came from Amsterdam, Holland, at the time of William Penn’s second voyage to Pennsylvania, settling in Germantown and becoming the progenitor of a numerous and influential family.

Charles Todd Jenkins was born in Gwynedd township, April 3, 1812. He obtained a good common-school education and engaged in teaching, later in butchering and finally in the occupation of farming, which he followed for many years. For twenty-five years he was president of the Line Lexington Life Insurance Company and for thirty-three years treasurer of the Springhouse and Hilltown Turnpike Road Company, these positions occupying much of his time and attention during his later years. He was, in early life, an ardent Abolitionist, the cause of the down-trodden and oppressed ever appealing strongly to his sympathies, and his house being a station on the underground railroad for the relief of run-away slaves.

In their religious affiliations, he and his wife were members of the Society of Friends. At one time he took an active part in politics and was twice a candidate for county treasurer although unsuccessful at the polls because of the large Democratic majority in Montgomery county at that time. He served for several years as school director in Hatfield township, and always took an active interest in educational progress. He felt that a vote was a matter of principle and his was the only vote cast in Hatfield township for John P. Hale when he ran for president in 1852.

Charles Todd and Sarah Jenkins were married in 1840 and had eight children as follows: George L., a member of the firm of Burgen & Co., manufacturers of glass bottles in Philadelphia, now deceased; Comly, a resident also of Philadelphia; Parker, a freight agent for many years at Colmar station, on the Doylestown branch of the North Pennsylvania Railroad; J. P. Hale Jenkins, the subject of this sketch; Ella, who married Oliver M. Evans, teller of the First National Bank of Lansdale; Valeria, wife of George W. Chapin, a commission merchant of Philadelphia, residing at St. Davids; and two others who died in infancy. Charles Todd Jenkins died in 1899, and his wife died in 1896. Both lived to an advanced age, he being eighty-seven and she eighty years old.

The maternal grandfather of Mr. Jenkins was George Lukens, who was a schoolteacher for many years of his life and later a farmer in Towamencin township. His wife was Esther Jeanes, who, as well as her husband, was a member of the Society of Friends. They had a large family. Teaching until he was thirty-six years of age, he married Esther, who was eighteen, and then engaged in farming in Towamencin, near Kulpsville, where his grandson, George W. Lukens, now resides, being the owner of the old home farm. George Lukens died at the age of eighty-one years. His wife died at the same age.

J. P. Hale Jenkins was reared in Hatfield township, on the farm of his father, and attended the district and public schools, Lexington Seminary and Crittenden’s Business College in Philadelphia. He then began the study of law in Norristown, in the office of George N. Corson, and was admitted to the bar April 30, 1874, and has practiced in Norristown continuously since, having a large clientage and doing much business.

On December 30, 1875, he married Miss Ella C. Slight, daughter of Augustus and Amanda (Bush) Slight. The couple have three children: Leila, Helen and Olive. Miss Leila is a member of the Montgomery county bar, having been admitted in June, 1902, and being the second woman admitted to the Norristown bar. She is a graduate of Vassar College, class of ‘99. Miss Helen attended Wilson College.

Mrs. Jenkins is a member of the First Baptist church of Norristown. Mr. Jenkins is a member of the following organizations: Chantry Lodge, No. 190, Free and Accepted Masons; also of Norristown Chapter, No. 190, Royal Arch Masons; Hutchinson Commandery, No. 32, Knights Templar; Lulu Temple of the Mystic Shrine; Norristown Lodge, No. 430, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and at present is one of the oldest representatives in continuous service in the grand lodge of Pennsylvania. He was the first exalted ruler of Norristown Lodge, No. 714, Order of Elks, and was district deputy, in 1902-1903.

Politically he is an active and earnest Republican and he has filled many important positions. He was solicitor for the borough of Norristown for six years; solicitor for the directors of the poor of Montgomery county for nine years; solicitor for the Norristown school board for six years and is at present solicitor for the county commissioners, having been re-elected in January, 1903.

Mr. Jenkins was a school director for some years, has been a delegate to several state conventions and was a delegate to the Republican national convention which nominated Blaine for president of the United States in 1884. He was a candidate for state senator in 1898, but was defeated by John A. Wentz, the Democratic candidate by the narrow margin of one hundred forty- five votes. He resides at 510 Swede street and has a well-appointed office immediately adjoining his residence.

He is secretary of the Turnpike Company of which his father was treasurer for so many years, and has been, for nearly a quarter of a century, a director in the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. He has been a director of the Norristown Trust Company and the Philadelphia Casualty Company since their organization, and was a director of the Stony Creek Railroad Company for twenty years. He has been a member of the Valley Forge park commission for some years, having been appointed by Governor Stone, and takes an interest in everything relating to the preservation of historic remains of Washington’s encampment there. He was identified with the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association which had charge of the Anniversary exercises in 1878, and also actively participated in the management of the celebration in 1903, of the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the breaking of camp at Valley Forge.