Joseph Jenckes Jr.

Saugus Iron Works—reconstructed forge and mill

Joseph Jenckes Jr. was baptized October 12, 1628, in Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire, England. He was the eldest of two children born to Joseph Jenckes Sr. (1599–1683) and Joan Hearne (1607–1635).[1][2][lower-alpha 1]

In his youth he lived in Hounslow, Middlesex, where his father worked as a cutler in a sword factory. His mother died in 1635 and his only sibling, Elizabeth, died in 1638. About 1642, the widower Joseph Jenckes Sr. immigrated to New England and by 1645 he was working to establish an iron works, later called the Saugus Iron Works, at Hammersmith near Lynn in Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1647, Jenckes Jr., who had remained in England, joined his father at the iron works.[3][4][5]

Sometime before 1660, after working with his father at the Saugus Iron Works, Jenckes moved to Concord to work at an iron smelting operation. When he returned to Lynn it was alleged that he made treasonous remarks in a tavern against King Charles II of England. He was arrested, imprisoned, and during a hearing on April 1, 1660, the testimony of witnesses was entered into the record. Jenckes was accused by Nicholas Pinion of saying that "if he hade the King heir, he wold cutte of his head and make a football of it." He was accused by Thomas Tower of saying "I should rather that his head were as his father's rather than he should come to England to set up popery there," an allusion to the 1649 beheading of Charles I.[2][6]

On May 22, 1661, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony ruled in Jenckes's favor, citing his subsequent statement supporting the king. After a year of incarceration he apparently had a change of heart, so the charges were dropped and he was released.[7] The decision was recorded as follows:

Joseph Jencks, Juñ, being accused & bound ouer to this Court for high misdemeano^r in diuers treasonable words ag^t the kings maj^ty, w^ch, vpon examination, he vtterly disounes, neither doeth it appeare that the same cann be legally prooved a^st him, only in part, for w^ch he presenteth & pleadeth the kings gracious act of indempnity, this Court therefore dischardgeth him from his imprisonm̃t.[8]

Pawtucket Falls, circa 1815

Sometime between 1661 and 1669, Joseph Jenckes Jr. moved to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1669, he was granted timbered land on both sides of the Pawtuxet River in Pawtuxet—then southern Providence—where he erected a sawmill. His grant required him to provide lumber and timber rights to the proprietors.[2][9]

In 1671, he moved to Pawtucket—then northern Providence—where he erected a forge and sawmill on the west side of present-day Blackstone River at Pawtucket Falls.[2][5] A ready supply of bog iron ore nearby attracted him to the area. Jenckes initially purchased 60 acres from Abel and Rachel Potter and he received more than 100 acres of the commons between 1674 and 1685.[10][11][12]

Jenckes's Pawtucket forge and home were burned down In 1676 during King Philip's War, which was the first major conflict between Native Americans and New England colonists. The residents received a warning before the attack and were able to escape. Later that year he returned to Pawtucket to rebuild his home and business.[2][9]

Joseph Jenckes/Jenks home marker

When Joseph Jenckes Jr. purchased land in 1671 at Pawtucket Falls on the west side of the Blackstone River, the village of Pawtucket did not yet exist. He was not the first landowner or settler in the area, however. Roger Williams had previously purchased the land in 1636 from the Narragansett people. When Jenckes arrived Ezekiel Holliman, Thomas Estance, John Smith, Gregory Dextor, Stukely Westcott, and Abel Potter had owned land while Richard Scott and Daniel Comstack had built homes. But it was not until Jenckes built his forge and sawmill at the falls that this sparsely populated area become a village and eventually a center for metalworks and other trades.[12]

Jenckes built his home and forge on the south side of today's Main Street at East Avenue in Pawtucket. The forge was situated near the present-day Main Street Bridge where the river drops 30 feet. The site of Jenckes's home is marked by a plaque on the Pawtucket Boys Club Building at 53 East Avenue.[13][14]

Jenckes's business led to "additional industrial development on both sides of the river, including sawmills, grist mills, oil mills, potash manufacture, and shipyards." Pawtucket was incorporated in 1823 and both sides of the river were combined into a single Rhode Island town in 1885.[14][15]

Jenckes was made a freeman (voting citizen) of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1677. He subsequently held several offices in the local and colonial governments. He was a member of the Providence Town Council, served as a moderator at town meetings, was a tax assessor, and performed marriages. In 1679, 1680, and 1691 he was elected deputy (town representative) to the colony's General Assembly. For thirteen years between 1680 and 1698 he was elected assistant (colonial representative) to the General Assembly. During his tenure in 1696, the General Assembly created two chambers: the House of Deputies (town representatives) and the Upper House (the governor, deputy governor, and assistants). Two years later he was elected Speaker of the House of Deputies—now Speaker of the House of Representatives—and was only the second person to hold that office.[2][16][17][18][19][20]

In 1690, Jenckes, along with six others, were selected to write an official communication on behalf of the colony to King William III and Queen Mary II congratulating them on their coronation and informing them of news in the colony. They informed the new monarchs that Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of the Dominion of New England, had been arrested in the colony after a revolt against him in Boston.[16][21]

Joseph Jenckes Jr. married Esther Ballard (1632–1717) in about 1655 at Lynn, Massachusetts Bay. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Ballard. The Ballard family had arrived in Boston in 1635 aboard the James sailing from London.[22]

The Jenckeses had nine children: Joseph, b. 1656; Elizabeth, b. 1658; Sarah, b. 1660; Nathaniel, b. 1662; Esther, b. 1664; Ebenezer, b. 1668; Joanna, b. 1672; William, b. 1674; and Abigail, b. 1676. Several of his children had distinguished careers: Joseph was the 19th governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Ebenezer was an ordained minister at the First Baptist Church, and William was a judge and assemblyman.[23]

Joseph Jenckes Jr. died January 4, 1717, in northern Providence, now Pawtucket.[9] Two Pawtucket schools were named in his honor. Joseph Jenks Jr. High School—a high school no longer operating—was built in 1896 at 300 Broadway.[24] Joseph Jenks Junior High School was opened in downtown Pawtucket in the 1920s and moved in the 1980s to 350 Division Street where it was renamed Joseph Jenks Middle School.[25] The street called Jenks Way in Pawtucket is near Pawtucket Falls.[26]

• Carlson, Stephen P. (1978). Joseph Jenks, colonial toolmaker and inventor. Eastern National Park Monument Assoc.
• Roberts, Gary Boyd (1985). English origins of New England families: from the New England historical and genealogical register, second series. 2. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 9780806310916. OCLC 11690506.
• William, Richard Cutter (1916). American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. 7. American Historical Society.

• Pawtucket Falls Historical Marker at waymarking.com
• The Birth of American Industry: Why Pawtucket? at smallstatebighistory.com
• Joseph Jenckes Jr. at Find a Grave
• Famous Kin of Joseph Jenckes Jr. at famouskin.com