r 



identially found was the late Rev. Dr. Joseph W. 

 Parker, a native of Vermont, and a recent gradu- 

 ate of Union College. This offer so generously 

 made was gladly accepted, and he at once started 

 on what was then a long journey, going by stage 

 through Hartford, New York, Princeton, Philadel- 

 phia and Washington. His place of destination was 

 the plantation of Nicholas Edmunds, in Charlotte 

 County, Virginia, about ten miles from the Court 

 House, and a mile from any residence. The school 

 taught by Mr. Parker consisted of Mr. Edmunds' 

 family, and as many more pupils as the little twenty- 

 feet square log school house would accommodate. 

 Here young Jenks continued the study of Latin and 

 commenced Greek. Under the judicious and faith- 

 ful guidance of his teacher, his religious convic- 

 tions, which he had before leaving home as the 

 result of a revival in the neighborhood, were deep- 

 ened, until he was brought to a saving knowledge of 

 the truth, and to an experience of the peace of God 

 which passeth all understanding. At this point his 

 religious life commenced, to be continued through 

 all the changes and vicissitudes of subsequent years. 

 Prayer now became his delight and the Bible his 

 constant companion and guide. 



During his sojourn in Virginia he was brought into 

 contact with wild animal life, and he learned to use 

 the gun, in the use of which he afterwards became 

 an expert. His taste for Natural History was here 

 developed. He saw nature in her varied aspects. 



