Joseph Jenckes

Bef 1599 - 1683

• Name	Joseph Jenckes
  Born	Bef 26 Aug 1599	Hammersmith, London, Middlesex, England
  Gender	Male
  Died	16 Mar 1683	Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts   [1]
  	In March 1683, Jenks died, just a few months short of his 84th birthday. The probate records of Essex County do not include any will or inventory of his estate.
  Notes	Joseph Jenckes was a master mechanic, an operator of an extensive foundry and metal works, and an expert blacksmith. He was presumably a descendant of the Welsh or ancient Britons, and of the Jenckes of Wolverton, co. Staffordshire, England. The following was clipped from an old newspaper; "Steel is aptly named. The first man who made a piece of iron that would stand a high test in carbon and fiber was a Mr. Jenckes of Wolverton, Staffordshire, England. He was an iron-master by trade and a skillful mechanic. He applied certain chemicals to the iron in its melted state, but no one but him knew for a long time the ingredients. He allowed no one to inspect his furnaces except those whom he could trust, and even his men knew nothing about the inner workings of his business. "He had a small shop in the rear of his foundry, and here behind locked doors, he arranged the chemicals for every bit of metal turned out. Finally two men, Henry Bessemer and William Cook, after planning for some time, succeeded in getting the watchman drunk after the foundry was closed for the night and climbed into Jenckes' laboratory, where they obtained a bottle of chemicals which they took to New York for analysis. A short time later a new firm was started, which succeeded in driving the real inventor to the wall and which received most of the credit for originating the tempered steel. These facts were well known to many steel workers of that day." Joseph Jenckes was the acknowledged head of the iron-smelting and foundry business, ands first builder of machinery in this country. He was also the first patentee of inventions in America, having introduced the idea (first granted by act of Parliment in England in 1625) of protection for the manufacturer of improvements by petition to the government of Massachusetts Bay. Joseph was a proprietor in Lynn, MA in 1645. He was one of the petitioners for a plantation at Nashaway, but not a settler. It appears that one of the first patents granted in America was to Joseph Jenckes in 1646, which reads as follows: "JENKES MONOPOLY At a general Court at Boston the 6th of the 3rd month 1646. The Court considers ye necessity of raising such manufactures of engine of mills to go by water for speedy dispatch of much works with few hands, and being sufficiently informed of ye ability of ye petition to perform such works grant his petition (ye no other person shall set up, or use any such new invention, or trade for fourteen years without ye license of him ye said Joseph Jenkes) so far as concerns any new invention, and so as it shall be always in ye power of this Court to restrain ye exportation of such manufactures, and ye prizes of them to moderation if occasion so require." In 1652 Joseph Jenckes, Sr., made the dies for coining the money known as the Pine Tree Shilling, by order of the Colony. In 1654 he designed the first fire engine ever built in this country to the order of the selectmen of Boston. A second patent appears to have been issued to Joseph Jenkes on 22 May 1655, and reads: "It is ordered by this court that Joseph Jenckes, Sr., and his assigns only shall have liberty granted to them to make the engin, the so Jenckes hath power to this court for the more speedy cutting of grass for seven years, and that no inhabitant or other person within this jurisdiction during that time shall make or use ye kind of engin without license first obtained from so Jenckes on the penalty of five pounds for every such engin so made or used as offered, to be recovered at any court in this jurisdiction by the so Joseph Jenkes, Sr." He had liberty form the Iron Works Co. in 1656 to set up a mill for making scythes or other iron-work by water. !Pope, "Jenks" !A Jenks Genealogy; Helen Clark Jenks Cleary; 1937
  Person ID	I18503	Bryant
  Last Modified	12 Mar 2006

  
  

  Father	John Jenks, Sr.,   b. Abt 1556, probably, Clun, Shropshire, England ,   d. Abt 1625, London, Middlesex, England
  Mother	Sarah Fulwater,   b. Bef 19 Mar 1573, Blackfriars, London, Middlesex, England
  Married	08 Jan 1596	Blackfriars, London, Middlesex, England
  	||St. Annes Church||
  Family ID	F1349	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family 1	Joan Hearne,   b. Abt 1607, England ,   d. Feb 1635, Isleworth, Hounslow, London, Middlesex, England
  Married	05 Nov 1627	Colnbrook, Horton, Buckinghamshire, England   [2]
  Children	1. Joseph Jenckes, II,   d. 04 Jan 1717, Pawtucket, Providence Co, Rhode Island   2. Elizabeth Jenckes,   b. Abt 1630, Colnbrook, Horton, Buckinghamshire, England ,   d. Nov 1638, Isleworth, Hounslow, London, Middlesex, England   3. William Jenckes,   b. Abt 1630, England
  Family ID	F566	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family 2	Elizabeth,   b. say 1620,   d. Jul 1679, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts
  Married	Abt 1650	Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts
  Children	1. Sarah Jenks,   b. Mar 1650, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts   2. Samuel Jenks,   b. 1654, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts ,   d. 12 Mar 1738, Massachusetts   3. Deborah Jenks,   b. 11 Apr 1658, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts   4. John Jenks,   b. 27 Jul 1660, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts ,   d. 1698, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts   5. Daniel Jenks,   b. 19 Apr 1663, Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts ,   d. 1736
  Family ID	F1348	Group Sheet

  
  

• Event Map		Born - Bef 26 Aug 1599 - Hammersmith, London, Middlesex, England Married - 05 Nov 1627 - Colnbrook, Horton, Buckinghamshire, England Married - Abt 1650 - Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts Died - 16 Mar 1683 - Lynn, Essex Co, Massachusetts  = Link to Google Maps   = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Sources

  [S198] Carlson, Joseph Jenks, Carlson, Stephen P., (Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 1985), 16. [S198] Carlson, Joseph Jenks, Carlson, Stephen P., (Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 1985), p.3.