Edward Hopkins Jenkins

Background

Jenkins was born on May 31, 1850, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the son of John and Chloe (Thompson) Jenkins.

Education

Jenkins studied at Phillips Academy, Andover, and entered Yale University, from which he received the degree of A. B. in 1872. After carrying on graduate work there until 1875 he went to Germany, where he studied at the University of Leipzig (1875-1876), and later at the Forest School, Tharandt, Saxony. Returning to Yale, he received from that institution in 1879 the degree of Ph. D.

Career

In 1877 Jenkins became chemist of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven, with which he remained connected throughout his long career. In 1884 he was made vice-director, in 1900, director, and in 1923 director emeritus. During his administration there were established departments of entomology, forestry, and genetics, and the tobacco substation at Windsor. In addition to his other duties, he served as director of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station from 1912 until his retirement from active service in 1923.

He was chairman of the state sewage commission, 1897-1903, president of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Stations in 1913, and was chiefly responsible for the organization of the Association of Official Seed Analysts, of which he was the first president. He was also a charter member of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, one of its early presidents, and a member of its first committee on food standards, appointed in 1897. He was president of the Connecticut Forestry Association, and was connected with many local, state, and national organizations. Of the reports of the state sewage commission he was editor, or joint editor.

As director of the Experiment Station Jenkins planned and conducted studies which added materially to knowledge on various subjects, and he was author, or co-author, of numerous papers, many of them published in the reports of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. They deal particularly with the chemical composition of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, foods and drugs, plant nutrition, and the cultivation of tobacco. In this last-named industry he was especially interested, and results of experiments in growing and curing tobacco were published by him in Station reports from 1893 to 1904.

Jenkins was the first to introduce into the Northern states the practice of growing tobacco under cloth for cigar wrapper purposes. A member of the board of editors of the first edition of the Century Dictionary, he prepared the definitions of chemical terms; he was the author of the section on agriculture in N. G. Osborn's History of Connecticut in Monographic Form (1925); and was a contributor to the Dictionary of American Biography. His scrupulous integrity made him economical and circumspect in the use of public funds; he was sympathetic and helpful in his relation to his colleagues, but never impinged upon their freedom. Jenkins died suddenly at his home in New Haven, on November 6, 1931.

Achievements

• Jenkins is best remembered as chemist, who occupied leading roles in many associations.

Membership

Jenkins served as Director of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station (1912-1923), President of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Stations (1913), director emeritus of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (1923), president of the Association of Official Seed Analysts, president of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, and president of the Connecticut Forestry Association.

Personality

Jenkins' modesty, kindliness, invariable good humor, and fine feeling made him a delightful companion. His tastes were inclusive and his gifts varied.

Connections

On June 18, 1885, Jenkins was married to Elizabeth Elliot Foote of Guilford, Connecticut.

Father:

John Jenkins

Mother:

Chloe Thompson

Spouse:

Elizabeth Elliot Foote