534 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR JENKINS, of 

 Washington, D. C, was born in War- 

 rington township, Bucks county, Penn- 

 sylvania, P>bruary 17, 1853, and is a de- 

 scendant of ancestors that have been 

 prominent in the affairs of Bucks and 

 Montgomery counties for several gen- 

 erations. 



William Jenkins, the pioneer ances- 

 tor of the family, was born in Tenby, 

 Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the year 1658, 

 and married there Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Lewis Grififith. and about 1682, with wife 

 and three children, — Stephen, Margaret 

 and Elizabeth — emigrated to Pennsyl- 

 vania and settled in "Duffrn Mawr," 

 near Haverford, Chester county, on 

 i.ooo acres of land purchased of Will- 

 iam 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 Montgom- 

 ery) county, including the present site 

 of Jenkintown, of which town his de- 

 scendants were the founders-. He was 

 one of the original members of Abing- 

 ton Friends' Meeting, and with Joseph 

 Phipps had charge of the erection of the 

 rnceting house in 1697. He was commis- 

 sioned 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 chil- 

 dren, the numerous and prominent fam- 

 ily of that name in Chester and Bucks 

 counties being her descendants. She died 

 II mo. 17. 1728. Elizabeth, the other 

 daughter, died 9 mo. 14. 1711, unmarried. 

 William Jenkins died in Abington town- 

 ship. 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 par- 

 ents when a child. At the death of his 

 father he inherited the lands in Abing- 

 ton 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 (Harri.eon) Pemberton, of 

 Bucks countv, an account of whose an- 

 cestrv and the distinguished services of 

 the former is given in this work. Abi- 

 gail was born in Bolton. Lancashire, 

 England, and accompanied her parents 

 to Bucks county in 16S2 at the age of 

 three years. She died in Abin,gton. 9 

 mo, 2. 1750, aged seventy years, nine 

 months and twenty-one days. The chil- 

 dren of Stephen and Abigail (Pember- 

 ton) Jenkins were as follows: William, 

 born 8 mo. 16. 170c;, and died i mo. 5. 

 1763, married Lydia Roberts; Phineas, 

 born 8 mo. t6. 1707, died 4 mo. to. i7or. 

 married, first. Isabel Mather, who died 

 8 mo. 31, 1728, and second, Mary Rob- 



erts, who bore him eight children; 

 Phebe, born 6 mo. 14, 1709, died unmar- 

 ried; Sarah, born i mo. 19,. 1711, mar- 

 ried Isaac Tyson in 'i737; Abigail, bom 

 Ti mo. 18, 1712, married a Hugh; and 

 Stephen, born 11 mo. 14, 1714, removed 

 to I'hiladelphia in 1740. 



Phineas Jenkins has left numerous de- 

 scendants 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 coun- 

 ty, 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, inher- 

 ited from his father the homestead at Jen- 

 kintown 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, t8o6. 



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 un- 

 cle, John Roberts, was made his guar- 

 dian by his father's will. He was reared 

 in Abington township, and. attaining 

 manhood, married Elizabeth Rea. dau.gh- 

 ter of Mathew and Sarah (Harman) Rea, 

 of Scotch-Irish ancestry, of Moreland. 

 IMathcw Rea. the grandfather of the 

 above named Mathew, was an early set- 

 tler in Ulster county, New York, from 

 whence his son moved to Bucks (bounty 

 and settled in Bedminster. John Jen- 

 kins died August 13, 1830. and his widow, 

 Elizabeth, August 13, 1833. in her eigh- 

 ty-fourth year. Their children were as 

 follows: William. John. Joseph, Sarah, 

 (who married a Shoemaker), Ann (who 

 married a Krusen). Elizabeth (who mar- 

 ried John Whitcomb), and Jesse (who 

 married Sarah Van Pelt). ]\Tost of these- 

 children lived and died in the neighbor- 

 hood 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) be- 

 came residents of Doylestown, Bu'^''^ 

 county, where Mrs. Miller still resides. 

 Jesse Jenkins owned a farm in Warwick: 

 townsliip for a number of years, on 

 whi(~h one of his daughters, Mrs. Clift. 

 resided. 



Josenh Jenkins, son of John and Eliza- 

 beth (Rea) Jenkins, was the grand- 

 father of the subject of this sketch. He 

 was a farmer in Bvicks and Montgomery 

 comities, and married Tacy ]\Tartindale, 

 daughter of Amos and Martha (Mer- 

 rick) Martindale, whose paternal an- 

 cestor. John Martindale, born in Eng- 



