|
biography
|
|
Jenkins, Charles S., the general baggage agent in the Union Station, of Pittsburg,
is one of the oldest railroad employees in the city, and the oldest in point of service connected with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Road. He was born in
Woodstock, Vt., December 8, 1832, son of Samuel and Sarah (Roach) Jenkins. His parents died when he was a child, and he was early thrown on his own resources.
He was educated in Woodstock. When his schooling was finished he sought work in Boston, Mass., where his first position was that of clerk in a restaurant. Afterward
he was employed for a year as salesman in a wholesale fruit store at the corner of State Street and Merchants' Row. Next he worked for some time as packer in a boot store
in Natick, Mass. In 1848 he went to Philadelphia, and there fell in with twenty-five other tall, broad-shouldered young men from the East. In company with these he came to
Pittsburg seeking work. A contractor named Broad, pleased with their appearance, took them to Middletown, Pa., and set them to work laying the track of the York & Cumberland
Railroad, now called the North Central Railroad, between Harrisburg and Little York. When that contract was finished Mr. Jenkins was employed by the same contractor on the Ohio & Pennsylvania
Railroad, running from Pittsburg to Crestline, Pa., and from this city to Brighton. He was subsequently conductor of the construction train between Ravenna and Alliance, supplying the
track layers on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad. After the road was completed he became baggage man, in which capacity he served on the first passenger train from Pittsburg to Cleveland
on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad. Appointed train baggage master in 1850, he acted in that capacity for three years. At the end of that time the railroad connecting Pittsburg with
Plymouth, Ind., was finished, and the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad and the Ohio & Indiana were operated by the P. F. W. & C. R. R. Co. Mr. Jenkins was assigned to a train
running through to Chicago via Plymouth, Ind., on the Pee Wee Railroad, now a part of the Vandalia line. When all the local roads were merged in the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad,
he was given the berth of baggage master at Allegheny City, and he remained in the employ of the road until 1877, the year of the riot. In the latter part of his term of service he had
general charge of the baggage at both Allegheny and Pittsburg . In 1877 the ticket officers and baggage men of the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago roads were consolidated,
and Mr. Jenkins was installed in his present position at the Union Station in Pittsburg. At Haysville he drove the first spike in the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, now called Pittsburg,
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, striking it nineteen times; and he has been in the employment of that road during its growth from infancy to maturity. During his term of service the baggage
traffic, which at first was slight and transient, has grown to an immense and constant business; and there have been many improvements in the methods of shipment and delivery. He was a pioneer
in the sending of fish from Lake Erie to Pittsburg by rail, at one time managing quite a business in that line, with a Mr. Breen as partner. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Relief Association since its inception.
Mr. Jenkins married Miss Agnes Andrews, of McKeesport, Pa. His only child, Alice, is now the wife of Thomas Irwin, of Sewickley, Pa. In politics Mr. Jenkins favors the Republican side. He is a member of
Pittsburg Lodge, No. 221, F. & A. M. His home is pleasantly situated in the part of Pittsburg called Lawrenceville.
Biographical review: containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburg and the vicinity, Pennsylvania. Boston: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1897, Author: Anonymous.
|