Person:Joseph Jenks (5)

Swordmaker in the London area. Appears first in New England when George Cleaves sailed for England in June 1642 and forged Joseph’s name to a petition to Parliament. His name also appears in New Hampshire court records on 10 Nov 1642. He obtained a patent on a “labor-saving device involving the finishing of sharp iron instruments by the use of water wheels,” the first machine patent granted in America.^S1

1. ↑ Colket, Meredith B., and William Bradford Browne. The Jenks Family of England: Supplement to the Genealogy of the Jenks family of America (1952) by William B. Browne. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (s.n., 1956).

   110:13: 'The parish registers [of St. Anne, Blackfriars] include the following two baptismal entries: ... 1599 Josephe sonne of John Ginkes August 26.'

2. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862).

   JOSEPH, Lynn 1645, blacksmith, employ. at the iron works, came, a widower, is the tradit. of the fam. from Hammersmith, or Hounslow, Co. Middlesex, or Colnbrook, in the edge of Bucks, near London, had ch. Joseph, b. in Eng. and, perhaps, ano. s. that may have gone South, and be progenit. of the name in N. C.; and by sec. w. Elizabeth wh. d. July 1679, had prob. Sarah; certain. Samuel, b. at Lynn 1654; Deborah, 11 June 1658; John, 27 July 1660; and Daniel, 19 Apr. 1663; and d. Mar. 1683. He was an ingenious workman; in 1652 was engag. to cut the dies for our coinage, says report; and Boston, in 1654, gave power (we find by the rec.) to its selectmen to contr. with him for engines to carry water, in case of fire. Sarah m. 28 July 1667, John Chilson.

3.   Brown, John Howard (editor), and Rossiter (editor) Johnson. The Twentieth century biographical dictionary of notable Americans: brief biographies of authors, administrators, clergymen, commanders, editors, engineers, jurists, merchants, officials, philanthropists, scientists, statesmen, and others who are making American history. (Boston, Mass.: The Biographical Society. Reprinted by Gale Research, 1968., 1904).

   vol. VI; JENCKES, or JENKS, Joseph, inventor, was born in Wolverton, Shropshire, England, in 1602; son [probably] of Francis and Frances (Westfalling) Jenckes. When Robert Bridges took specimens of iron ore to England from the colonies and told of the great need of iron tools by the colonists, he procured the foundation of a company to develop the working of the ore. Joseph Jenckes was induced to come to America as master-mechanic to establish works in Saugus, Mass. He superintended the construction of the first furnaces and moulds, and the manufacture of the first domestic utensils, machinery and iron tools on the Western continent and introduced the idea of parenting inventions in America. He received from the general court of Massachusetts, May 6. 1646, patents "for the making of engines for mills to go with water," for the making of scythes and other edge-tools, and a new invention for a saw mill, for which he patented an improvement in May, 1655. He cut the dies used in the manufacture of the "Pine Tree" coins at the mint established by John Hull in Boston in 1652, which were the first coin issued in America. He made a contract with the selectmen of Boston in 1654 to build "an engine to carry water in case of fire," and patented an improvement in scythes, 1655, and the Jenks scythe, but little modified for two hundred and fifty years, came into use all over the world. He obtained the government's aid to enable him to erect machinery to be used in wire-drawing in 1667. He died in Saugus, Mass., March 16, 1683.

4. ↑ Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1905)
   513.

   JINKS, Joseph, sr., [died] Mar. __, 1682-3.