Howard Jenkins

March 30, 1842 (age 59)

Gwynedd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States

For one winter after leaving school Jenkins taught, but his interest in public affairs, together with marked literary ability, drew him toward journalism as a profession. With Wilmer Atkinson, he bought the Norristown Republican in 1862, which was soon merged with the Herald and Free Press. Jenkins served as editor until 1866. Meanwhile he entered the emergency service of the Pennsylvania militia, called out in 1862 and 1863 when Lee invaded Pennsylvania. In 1866 he moved to Wilmington and founded with Atkinson the first daily paper in Delaware, the Wilmington Daily Commercial. It was during this period that he enjoyed the friendship of Bayard Taylor. After the sale of the Daily Commercial in 1877 he became an editorial contributor to the West Chester Village Record, the Philadelphia Times, and other newspapers, and for nearly ten years was editor of the Philadelphia American. His work during this period shows wide knowledge of state and national politics as well as of foreign affairs, discriminating appreciation of cultural movements, and humane interest in social betterment. For five years (1891-1896) he was associated with Charles Heber Clark in the management of the Manufacturer. Meanwhile he had become interested in the possibilities of a publication that might be influential in unifying and directing the efforts of the Society of Friends. Accordingly he purchased the Friends' Journal in 1884, which the following year was merged with an older paper, the Friends' Intelligencer. He served as editor-in-chief until his death in 1902 and in this capacity became a distinguished and muchloved leader of the Society of Friends. Jenkins' work in the field of Pennsylvania local history was extensive. In addition to writing numerous pamphlets and magazine articles, he edited Historical Collections Relating to Gwynedd (1884), a useful collection of source material, and had nearly completed the editing of the three-volume history, Pennsylvania: Colonial and Federal (1903) at the time of his death. He also compiled The Family of William Penn (1899) and Genealogical Sketch of the Descendants of Samuel Spencer of Pennsylvania, and contributed Volume I to J. R. Young's Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia (1895), though his name does not appear on the titlepage. He also had many interests in educational and philanthropic fields and especially enjoyed his service on the board of managers of Swarthmore College, from which institution four of his children graduated. Jenkins died on October 11, 1902.

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Genealogical sketch of the descendants of Samuel Spencer of Pennsylvania

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The family of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, ancestry and descendants

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The Mother of Lincoln (Classic Reprint)

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Our Democratic Republic: Its Form--its Faults--its Strength--its Need ; Three Articles on the Suffrage Question

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Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal, Vol. 2: A History, 1608-1906 (Classic Reprint)

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Religious Views of the Society of Friends (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Religious Views of the Society of Friends What, then, was the Truth which in 1650 George Fox was declaring? It was that which Jesus signified in his declaration to the woman of Samaria, by the brink of Jacob's well: God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The young preacher called his hearers to a spiritual knowledge of God, and to a real life of religion. He denounced, there fore, the outward, and summoned to the inward. He tes tified against form, in order that substance might be pos sessed and enjoyed. William Penn says of the early Friends: They were directed to the light of Jesus Christ Within them, as the seed and leaven of the Kingdom of God; near all, because in all, and God's talent to all. A faithful and true witness and just monitor in every bosom. The gift and grace of God to life and salvation, that ap pears to all, though few regard it. Such a conception of. Truth is simple, but it is far reaching. Thrown into the crucible with this powerful sol vent, much that was thought and still is thought essential in the systems of religion is consumed. For if religion is simple, and not complex; if it is a practical work, and not a formula of doctrine, or program of ritual; if we may neglect pope and presbyter, and turn away from cloister and cathedral, to hear the voice of God within our own souls, a great structure, dogmatic, ecclesiastical, ceremonial,reared by the hand of man, partly in_ pride, yet much more in pious sincerity, must decay and disappear. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Howard Malcolm Jenkins

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Background

Jenkins was born on March 30, 1842, in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, the son of Algernon Sydney and Anna Maria (Thomas) Jenkins. His father served as a justice of the peace for nearly forty years.

Education

Jenkins was educated at the Gwynedd Boarding School.

Career

Achievements

Jenkins contributed to his generation a leadership in the movements to secure justice for the Negro, the Indian, and the prisoner; to bring about lasting peace; and to promote constructive plans for the betterment of mankind.