Background
He married Amelia Snyder (June 21, 1791 - August 6, 1859), daughter of Pennsylvania Governor Simon Snyder, in 1820, in Harrisburg. Jenks was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
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Phineas Jenks
Edit ProfileEducation
Jenks studied medicine with Doctor Benjamin Rush, graduating in 1804 with a diploma from the University of Pennsylvania.
Career
He lived in Newtown. He began the practice of medicine under Doctor Isaac Chapman of Wrightstown Township. His thesis was An essay on the analogy of the Asiatic and African plague and the American yellow fever. He was the first president of the Buckinghamshire County Medical Society.
In 1817, Jenks submitted a bill in the Pennsylvania House to make a new county called Penn from the lower portion of Buckinghamshire County.
On December 1, 1818, Jenks came in last in a vote for the speaker of the Pennsylvania House with one vote. (The speaker elected was Rees Hill with 74 votes Other votes were: John Purdon - 9, Samuel Bond - 1, and William North Irvine - 1).
On December 7, 1819, he came in second in a vote for speaker with 21 of the 93 votes cast. (The speaker elected was Joseph Lawrence with 56 votes Other votes were: Rees Hill - 14, Wilson Smith - 1, and William Lehman - 1).
He served as a trustee of the Buckinghamshire County Academy at Newtown.
In 1825, he was among the leaders of another movement to create Penn County from a portion of Buckinghamshire County. Along with Edward M. Paxson, he founded the Buckinghamshire County Agricultural Society, in 1843. He was president of the Newtown Whig Meeting (which took place on August 23, 1844) for the Election of 1844.
Estimates of the number of people attending ranged from 8,000 to 20,000.
Membership
He was elected a junior member of the Philadelphia Medical Society in 1803. Jenks represented Buckinghamshire County from 1815 through 1820, as a member of the Federalist party.
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Born
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Died
August 6, 1851 (aged 70) -
Nationality
United States -
Political Party
Federalist Party