ZACHARY TAYLOR JENKINS

ZACHARY TAYLOR JENKINS, of Washington, D. C., was born in Warrington township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1853, and is a descendant of ancestors that have been prominent in the affairs of Bucks and Montgomery counties for several generations.

            William JENKINS, the pioneer ancestor of the family, was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the year 1658, and married there Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Griffith, and about 1682, with wife and three children, -Stephen, Margaret and Elizabeth-emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled in “Duffrn Mawr,” near Haverford, Chester county, on 1,000 acres of land purchased of William PENN, October 24 and 25, 1681.  At different periods between 1686 and 1698 he sold the 1,000 acres and purchased 400 acres in the latter year in Abington township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, including the present site of Jenkintown, of which town his descendants were the founders.  He was one of the original members of Abington Friends’ Meeting, and with Joseph PHIPPS had charge of the erection of the meeting house in 1697.  He was commissioned as a justice of Chester county in 1691 and 1692, and was a member of the colonial assembly from 1690 to 1696.  His daughter Margaret, born in Wales, 3 mo. 23, 1674, married 9 mo. 15, 1692, Thomas PASCHALL, and had eleven children, the numerous and prominent family of that name in Chester and Bucks counties being her descendants.  She died 11 mo. 17, 1728.  Elizabeth, the other daughter, died 9 mo. 14, 1711, unmarried.  William JENKINS died in Abington township, 4 mo. 7, 1712, aged fifty-four years.

            Stephen JENKINS, only son of William and Elizabeth (GRIFFITH) JENKINS, was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, and came to Pennsylvania with his parents when a child.  At the death of his father he inherited the lands in Abington and resided there until his death, in 1761.  Like his father he was an active and prominent member of Abington Meeting.  He married, 9 mo. 14, 1704, Abigail PEMBERTON, daughter of Phineas and Phebe (HARRISON) PEMBERTON, of Bucks county, an account of whose ancestry and the distinguished services of the former is given in this work.  Abigail was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, and accompanied her parents to Bucks county in 1682 at the age of three years.  She died in Abington, 9 mo. 2, 1750, aged seventy years, nine months and twenty-one days.  The children of Stephen and Abigail (PEMBERTON) JENKINS were as follows: William, born 8 mo. 16, 1705, and died 1 mo. 5, 1763, married Lydia ROBERTS; Phineas, born 8 mo. 16, 1707, died 4 mo. 10, 1791, married, first, Isabel MATHER, who died 8 mo. 31, 1728, and second, Mary ROBERTS, who born him eight children; Phebe, born 6 mo. 14, 1709, died unmarried: Sarah, born 1 mo. 19, 1711, married Isaac TYSON in 1737; Abigail, born 11 mo. 18, 1712, married a HUGH; and Stephen, born 11 mo. 14, 1714, removed to Philadelphia in 1740.

            Phineas JENKINS has left numerous descendants in and around Bucks county.  His eldest daughter, Sarah, born 7 mo. 6, 1731, married, in 1753, John, son of Richard BROCK, of Solebury, Bucks county, and has left numerous descendants in Bucks county.  Mary JENKINS, a granddaughter, married Hon. John ROSS, and was the grandmother of the late Senator George ROSS, of Doylestown.

            William Jenkins, eldest son of Stephen and Abigail (PEMBERTON) JENKINS, inherited from his father the homestead at Jenkintown and lived there until his death.  He married, in 1746, Lydia ROBERTS, and they were the parents of four children, the eldest and third of whom, both named William, died in infancy; the two surviving children were: John, born 7 mo. 25, 1749; and Mary, born 8 mo. 10, 1754.  Lydia, the mother, died 3 mo. 6, 1806.

            John JENKINS, only surviving son of William and Lydia (ROBERTS) JENKINS was but a lad of fourteen years at the death of his father, in 1763, and his uncle, John ROBERTS, was made his guardian by his father’s will.  He was reared in Abington township, and, attaining manhood, married Elizabeth REA, daughter of Mathew and Sarah (HARMAN) REA, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, of Moreland.  Mathew REA, the grandfather of the above named Mathew, was an early settler in Ulster county, New York, from whence his son moved to Bucks county and settled in Bedminster.  John Jenkins died August 13, 1830, and his widow, Elizabeth, August 13, 1833, in her eighty-fourth year.  Their children were as follows:  William, John, Joseph, Sarah, (who married a SHOEMAKEER), Ann (who married a KRUSEN).  Elizabeth (who married John WHITCOMB), and Jesse (who Married Sarah VAN PELT).  Most of these children lived and died in the neighborhood of Abington.  Jesse and Sarah (VAN PELT) JENKINS had seven daughters and one son. Two of the former (Mrs. James K. MILLER and Mrs. CLIFT) became residents of Doylestown, Bucks county, where Mrs. MILLER still resides.  Jesse JENKINS owned a farm in Warwick township for a number of years, on which one of his daughters, Mrs. CLIFT, resided.

Joseph JENKINS, son of John and Elizabeth (REA) JENKINS, was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch.  He was a farmer in Bucks and Montgomery counties, and married Tacy MARTINDALE, daughter of Amos and Martha (MERRICK) MARTINDALE, whose paternal ancestor, John MARTINDALE, born in England 8 mo. 24, 1676, married Mary BRIDGMAN, daughter of Walter and Blanche (CONSTABLE) BRIDGMAN, of Middletown, Bucks county,- both the latter being natives of England and among the earliest arrivals in Bucks county. John MARTINDALE, son of John and Mary (BRIDGMAN) MARTINDALE, born 6 mo. 22, 1719, married 2 mo. 9, 1746, Mary STRICKLAND, and had twelve children, of whom Amos, above mentioned, was born 8 mo. 10, 1761, and married, in 1789, Martha MERRICK, daughter of Thomas MERRICK, of Upper Makefield, Bucks county, and Tacy MARTINDALE, born 2 mo 21, 1792, was the second of their ten children.  Thomas MERRICK was a descendant of John MERRICK, who came from Bedfordshire about 1699 and settled in Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, from whence his son John, who married Hannah HULME, came to Upper Makefield, where he has left numerous descendants. Joseph JENKINS died December 19, 1862, in his seventy-eighth year, and Tacy, his wife, died August 10, 1857, in her sixty-sixth year.

The children of Joseph and Tacy (MARTINDALE) JENKINS were Martha M., who married John ERWIN and had six children-Joseph J., of Spokane, Wash.: B Franklin, of Philadelphia; Preston, of Westport, Missouri; Tacy, widow of the late William SUTTON, of Philadelphia; James and Charles, also of Philadelphia-Mahala, who never married; and John, the father of the subject of this sketch. 

John JENKINS was born in Philadelphia May 13, 1822.  He was a farmer, miller and millwright in Bucks and Montgomery counties prior to 1860, when he moved with his family to Franklin county, Ohio.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company A, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  While his regiment was on the march to Philippi, West Virginia, he was injured internally and was honorably discharged.  In 1862 he removed, with his family, to Wilmington, Delaware, where he followed his trade of miller and millwright for a short time.  Being an excellent mechanic he secured employment in a shipyard, and thoroughly mastered the trade of ship carpenter as well as that of ship joiner and car builder.  He was practically a self-educated man and was noted for his ability as a mathematician and for his remarkable memory.  He married Martha M. ERWIN, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (MORRISON) ERWIN, of Montgomery county, and granddaughter of John and Susan (TOMLINSON) ERWIN, of Bucks county.  Her father, Joseph ERWIN, was born December 23, 1792, and died October 8, 180, and her grandfather, John ERWIN, was born in 1770 and died February 7, 1823.  On the maternal side Martha M. (ERWIN) JENKINS was a great-granddaughter of John MORRISON, who came from the north of Ireland and settled on the Brandywine about 1760.  His son John (born 1769, died in Northampton township, Bucks county, March 17, 1858), married Hannah YERKES (born June 29, 1772, died February 12, 1844), daughter of Silas and Hannah (DUNGAN) YERKES, of Southampton, Silas being a son of Herman and Elizabeth (WATTS) YERKES, and grandson of Anthony YERKES, one of the first burgesses of Germantown.  Hannah (MORRISON) ERWIN, mother of Martha M. (ERWIN) JENKINS, was the second child of John and Hannah (YERKES) MORRISON, and was born February 10, 1796, and died December 10, 1860.  She was a sister to Joseph MORRISON, who was county commissioner, county treasurer, recorder of deeds, and associate judge of Bucks county, as well as holding every commissioned office in the Bucks county militia, from captain to brigadier-general.  

            John JENKINS died September 18, 1898, in his seventy-sixth years, and his wife, Martha M., died July 6, 1892, in her sixty-seventh years.  Of their nine children only two lived to the age of maturity-Zachary T. and Joseph Erwin.  The later was born October 9, 1855, at Long’s mill in Warwick township, Bucks county, and is now carrying on the business of plumbing and gas fitting at Wilmington, Delaware.  He married Ella FARREN, of that city, and has three children, -Howard, Gilbert, and Joseph.

            Z. T. JENKINS, the subject of this sketch, was born on a small farm, whereon his parents and paternal grandparents then resided, adjoining the farm known as “Brown’s Folly,” in Warrington township, Bucks county, February 17, 1853.  After six years’ residence in Bucks and Montgomery counties, his parents moved to Franklin county, Ohio, and about two years later to Wilmington, Delaware.  He became an apprentice to the printer’s trade in the office of the “Evening Commercial,” published in Wilmington, by the late Howard M. JENKINS and Wilmer M. ATKINSON, but finished his trade in Philadelphia, and soon after the establishment of the “Philadelphia Times” secured a position as compositor on that paper, where he remained until the fall of 1889, when he resigned to accept a position in the government printing office at Washington, D. C., where he is now employed as a proof-reader.  He is a past master of Myron M. Parker Lodge, No. 27. F. A. A. M.; a member of Capital Chapter, No. 11, R. A. M.; of Amaranth Lodge, No. 28, K. of P.: of Northeast Washington council, No. 755. National Union; of Columbia Typographical Union, No. 101, all of the city of Washington, D. C. and of the Bucks County Historical Society. 

            Mr. JENKINS married, September 27,1877, Amelia BRANIN, daughter of Richard and Sarah (PHIPPS) BRANIN, of Willow Grove, Montgomery county, Amelia BRANIN was born in Stark County, Ohio, April 12, 1857, and is a descendant, on the maternal side, of Joseph PHIPPS, who was associated with William JENKINS, the pioneer ancestor of her husband, in the organization of Abington Meeting.  On the paternal side she is descended from Francis BRANIN, born in Ireland, in 1683, who emigrated to America early in the eighteenth century and settled in Burlington county, New Jersey, where he became a large landholder.   His son Michael, born September 9, 1708, married November 24, 1730, Elizabeth NORCROSS, daughter of John and Mary (ANTRIM) NORCROSS, who were for a number of years residents of Bucks county.  William BRANIN, son of Michael and Elizabeth, born December 15, 1749, married Abigail, daughter of Abner RODGERS, in 1778, and died February 14, 1813.  Their son, Abijah BRANIN, born MAY 9, 1783, married October 18, 1804, Mary, daughter of John HOUSTON, of Burlington county, New Jersey, and their son, Richard BRANIN, born October 10, 1820, is alive and well at this writing.  He married Sarah PHIPPS, who died December 3, 1900, in her seventy-ninth years.  Richard BRANIN was in his younger days a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Mr. and Mrs. Z. T. JENKINS are the parents of three children, viz.: Henry Lincoln, born February 1, 1880, at 925 Walnut street, Philadelphia, in the house where George M. DALLAS, at one time vice-president of the United States lived, and where the Prince of Wales (now King Edward VII) was entertained when visiting this country in 1860:  Walter Scott, born May 12, 1881, and Elsie, born May 9, 1886.

Test taken from page 534 to 536 of: 

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III

Transcribed June 2006 by Joan Lollis as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project,

Published June 2006 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb