John Jenkins

Background

Jenkins was born on November 27, 1751, in Salem, Connecticut, the eldest son of John Jenkins and Lydia Gardner.

Career

As a youth Jenkins accompanied his father to the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, with the band of settlers who, by attempting to establish the claims of Connecticut to that region, kept alive the strife which has been called the Pennamite War. He was, in turn, farmer, surveyor, conveyancer, school teacher, merchant, and ironmonger. For many years he was the agent of the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut, which his father had been instrumental in forming, and also commanded the Forty Fort, the stronghold of the settlers. Jenkins took an active interest in the Revolution from the beginning. In 1777 he was taken prisoner by Indians and Tories and was carried first to Niagara, subsequently to Montreal, and finally to Albany. While his captors were planning to hold a Grand Council to decide what disposition to make of him, he escaped and after great suffering and fatigue, reached his home in Wyoming in June 1778. Almost immediately after his return he joined Captain Spalding's company as lieutenant and was with Colonel Hartley at Tioga Point in September 1778, participating in the battle of Indian Hill, near Wyalusing. He is said to have been called into conference with Washington, and to have assisted him in planning General Sullivan's punitive expedition against the Indians who committed the massacre at Wyoming (1778). Jenkins served with Sullivan throughout the campaign, receiving the formal thanks of that commander for his services as guide and for his gallant conduct in the battle of Newtown, August 29, 1779. With his company he joined Washington's army on the Hudson in the spring of 1781 and was in the battle of King's Bridge, July 3, 1781. He accompanied the army to Yorktown, being present at the surrender of Cornwallis. Shortly afterward he resigned his command and returned to his home, where as the leader of the Connecticut settlers he actively defended his family and friends against the Indians and the "Pennamites. " In 1783 Jenkins appeared before the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to press the claims of the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut. Three years later he defended himself before the same body against charges of Pennsylvania settlers in the Wyoming Valley that he had acted tyrannically and had threatened bodily harm to those who opposed him. In the same year, 1786, he laid out the towns of Athens and Tioga Point, in Bradford County, and in 1787, having established himself in Exeter, Jenkins was elected sheriff of Luzerne County after it had been organized. He owned a plot of land six miles square in the disputed territory, within the townships of Blakely, Carbondale, and Greenfield, but refused it under Pennsylvania title and consequently suffered great loss. He continued his fight against the state, even going to Congress, but finally he concluded to relinquish his claims. Such was his popularity in his community that although he was a Democrat, and the county generally was Federalist, he was several times elected to public office. Jenkins died on March 19, 1827, at his home in Exeter.

Achievements

• Jenkins is best remembered as a participant of several major battles during the American Revolutionary War.

Connections

Jenkins married Bethiah Harris, of Colchester, Connecticut, June 23, 1778.

Father:

John Jenkins

Mother:

Lydia Gardner

Spouse:

Bethiah Harris

References

• Genealogical and Family History of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint)
• History Of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (1893)
• Wyoming: Its History, Stirring Incidents, And Romantic Adventures
• History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania; With Biographical Selections