Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/461

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JENKINS
JENKINS
427

unanimously join their brethren in America in the common cause of defending their liberty." He was an active participant in the Pennamite war at Wyoming, and the scribe and counsellor of the set- tlers. Driven out by the Pennamites in May, 1784, in a cold rain, he took a severe cold, which, joining with the rheumatism and settling in a wound in his knee that he had received from a ball at the taking of Louisburg in 1745, resulted in his death in November, 1784. He was a teacher, surveyor, and conveyancer, justice of the peace, and president-judge of the first county court at Wyoming in 1777. — His son, John, b. in New Lon- don, Conn., 27 Nov., 1751 ; d. in Wyoming, Pa., 19 March, 1827, was a surveyor and conveyancer, teacher, constable, agent of the Susquehanna com- pany at Wyoming, and afterward a merchant, iron- monger, and farmer. He came to Wyoming with his father in 1769, and became an active partici- pant in the Pennamite war and the Revolution, in which he was a lieutenant. With Washington he planned the western expedition that was com- manded by Sullivan, and was the guide of the march. He had learned the route while a prisoner in the hands of the Indians, and was at the sur- render of Cornwallis. He was in command of Forty Fort at the time of the massacre of Wyom- ing. In the Pennamite war he was an active leader, and gained repeated triumphs over Gen. Arm- strong and Col. Pickering. He was subsequently elected major and colonel of militia, sheriff, and member of assembly.


JENKINS, John Stilwell, author, b. in Albany, N. Y., 15 Feb., 1818 ; d. in Weedsport, N. Y., 20 Sept., 1852. After passing two years at Hamilton college he studied law, and began to practise in Weedsport, N. Y., in 1842, also editing the "Cayuga Times." Among his publications are " Generals of the Last War with Great Britain " (Auburn, 1841); an abridgment of Hammond's " History of New York " (New York, 1846) ; " Alice Howard" (Philadelphia, 1846); "Life of Silas Wright " (New York, 1847) : " History of the Mexican War" (1848); "Narrative of the Exploring Expedition commanded bv Capt. Charles Wilkes. 1838-'42" (1849); "Lives of the Governors of New York " (1851) ; " Heroines of History " (1853) ; and " Lives of Jackson, Polk, and Calhoun " (1855).


JENKINS, John Theophilus, Canadian physician, b. in Charlottetown, Prince Edward island, 1 Jan., 1829. He was educated in his native town and in England, and was graduated as a physician. He served as a surgeon in the Turkish army during the Crimean war, and holds the British and Turkish war medals for his services. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Queens county in the Canadian parliament in 1873, and represented Charlottetown in the provincial assembly from 1873 till 1876. He was elected a representative in the Canadian parliament for Queens in 1882, and again in October, 1883.


JENKINS, Thornton Alexander, naval officer, b. in Orange county, Va., 11 Dec, 1811. He was prepared for college, but entered the navy as a midshipman, 1 Nov., 1828, and in the following spring sailed on the " Natchez " for Cuba, where he performed hazardous services in breaking up nests of pirates. In 1831 he assisted in suppressing Nat Turner's negro insurrection in Virginia. He was commissioned as lieutenant on 9 Dec, 1839, and from 1834 till 1842 was employed as assistant to Prof. Ferdinand R. Hassler on the coast survey. In 1845 he was sent to Europe to examine lighthouse systems and other aids to navigation, but returned in about a year to prevent being detained I in case war should occur with Great Britain. In 1846 he made an elaborate report of the illuminants, towers, light-ships, buoys, beacons, and other adjuncts of the light-house service in England, France, and other European countries. During the Mexican war he served as executive officer of the sloop " Germantown," and after- ward in command of the store-ship " Relief," and of the supply and hospital station on Salmadena island. In the capture of Tuspan and Tobas- co he commanded the landing parties from the " Ger- mantown." In 1848

-'51,when Prof. Alexander D. Bache

was superintendent of the coast survey, he was engaged, while in command of the schooner " John Y. Mason " and the steamers "Jefferson" and "Corwin" in me- teorological and hydrographic observations, and in taking deep - sea temperatures in the Gulf stream. The last-named vessel was built from his designs and under his superintendence. In Octo-. ber, 1852, he was appointed naval secretary to the light-house board, having for two years previous served as secretary to the temporary board. He was promoted commander on 14 Sept., 1855, and given the " Preble " in the Paraguayan expedition of 1858-'9. Immediately on his return he was or- dered to the Caribbean sea in search of the filibus- ter William Walker, and thence to Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he took part in the capture of the "Miramon" and "Marquis of Havana," which he convoyed to New Orleans. In conjunction with Capt. "William F. Smith he was instrumental in saving the forts at Key West and Dry Tortugas from falling into the hands of an expedition that was sent from New Orleans before the civil war was openly begun. In February, 1861, he was again appointed secretary to the light-house board, and during that year performed delicate and secret services at the request of President Lincoln, until he was attacked with serious illness in November. He was promoted captain, 16 July, 1862, and was the senior officer at the repulse of the enemy at Coggin's Point, James river, and at the attack on the U. S. forces at City Point in August, 1862. In the autumn of 1862 he was engaged in block- ading Mobile and its approaches in command of the "Oneida," of the Western Gulf blockading squadron. He was fleet-captain and chief of staff of Farragut's squadron in the Mississippi, com- manding the " Hartford " at the passing of the Port Hudson and Grand Gulf batteries. He had encounters with the enemy at various points on the river, and at the capture of Port Hudson was in chief command of the naval forces, Admiral Farra- gut having gone some time before on necessary business to New Orleans. In the blockade of Mo- bile in 1864 he commanded the " Richmond" and the 2d division of Admiral Farragut's fleet, and he was left in command in Mobile bay till February, 1865, when he was ordered to the James river, and remained there until after the surrender of Gen. Lee. He then went to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to investigate seamen's bounty claims, and