THE  AMERICANS^ 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMApY 
MAY,  1905. 
WILLIAM  J.  JENKS, 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
Among  the  sturdy  pioneers  and  adherents  to  the  doctrines  of 
"  religious  freedom  "  and  "  the  inward  light,"  who  accompanied 
William  Penn  in  his  emigration  from  England,  was  Thomas  Jenks, 
He  settled  near  Newtown,  in  Bucks  County,  Pa.,  his  landed  estate 
and  the  family  home,  which  was  built  in  1732,  being  known  as 
•'Jenks  Hall." 
William  J.  Jenks  was  a  direct  lineal  descendant  of  this  Quaker 
pioneer,  and  was  born  on  the  30th  day  of  March,  1822,  at  "  Pomona 
Farm,"  near  Newtown,  Pa.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  Michael 
Hutchinson  Jenks  and  Mary  Ridgway  Earl  Jenks.  His  father  was 
a  judge  of  the  County  Court,  and  in  1844  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  United  States  Congress  to  represent  the  district  of  Bucks  and 
Lehigh  Counties. 
His  sister,  Anna  Earl  Jenks,  married  Alexander  Ramsey,  the  first 
Governor  of  Minnesota,  and  subsequently  United  States  Senator  and 
later  Secretary  of  War  under  President  Hayes. 
The  act  to  "  Incorporate  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  " 
was  approved  March  30,  1822,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  and  a  strange, 
although  a  peculiarly  fitting,  coincidence  that  on  the  natal  day  of 
Wm.  J.  Jenks  there  was  issued  the  charter  of  an  institution  with 
whose  welfare  he  was  to  become  so  intimately  associated,  and  in 
whose  service  he  was  to  devote  such  a  large  portion  of  his  life  work. 
In  his  youth  he  attended  the  district  school  of  the  Township  of 
Middletown,  and  afterwards  the  academy  at  Newtown. 
As  a  boy  he  was  fond  of  such  outdoor  sports  as  fishing,  skating, 
boating  and  hunting,  which  developed  a  good  physique  and  a 
sturdy,  healthy  constitution,  which  sustained  him  to  a  ripe  old  age. 
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