Robert Jenkins and Catharine M. Carmichael
Husband Robert Jenkins 1 2
Born: 10 Jul 1767 or 1769 - ? Lancaster Co, PA 2 3 Christened: Died: 18 Apr 1848 2 3 Buried:
Father: David Jenkins (1731-1797) 4 Mother:
Marriage: Sep 1799 5
Wife Catharine M. Carmichael 2 5
Born: 23 Jul 1774 - Chester Co, PA 5 Christened: Died: 23 Sep 1856 5 Buried:
Father: Rev. John Carmichael (1728-1785) 6 Mother: Unknown ( -1785)
Children
1 F Martha J. Jenkins 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Rev. Dr. John Williamson Nevin, D.D., LL.D. (1803- ) 7 8 9 10 Marr: 1 Jan 1835 2
General Notes: Husband - Robert Jenkins
He was born at Windsor Place, which he inherited from his father upon the death of his parent, and managed the same with success until the spring of 1848, a period of about fifty years. When a young man, he was a member of a troop of horse that was sent by the government to the northern part of the State to repress Fries' insurrection. He was a member of the Legislature in the years 1804 and 1805. He represented Lancaster county in Congress from 1807 until 1811, during the stormy period that preceded the war of 1812 with Great Britain.
He was buried in the Caernarvon Presbyterian churchyard.
He was a member of Congress in 1809 to 1811, previously a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature; served in the insurrection of "Fries," soon after the Revolutionary war; and was the well-known iron-master of Windsor Place, Caernarvon township, Lancaster County, being a descendant of David Jenkins, who came from Wales in 1700, whose son John settled there in 1719. [HLC 1883, 425]
General Notes: Wife - Catharine M. Carmichael
Her mother died when she was but thirteen days old, and her father before she had reached the age of twelve. Not long after her father's death she became the inmate of the family of the Rev. Robert Smith, a relative by marriage. In his house she found a congenial and happy home, and in the learned and devoted pastor of Pequea a friend and father. In the fall of 1792 she became a member of the Presbyterian church of Pequea. Shortly before the death of Rev. Robert Smith, which occurred on the 15th of April, 1793, she accepted an invitation to make her home in the house of Rev. Nathaniel W. Sample, of Strasburg, and after some time accepted an invitation to the like effect from Daniel Buckley, an iron-master of courteous and hospitable manners. In a letter to her half-sister, Phoebe, dated Pequea, June 7th, 1799, she says: "I am no longer an inhabitant of Strasburg. I bade adieu to that place the last week of March, and am now a member of Mr. Daniel Buckley's family, whose forge and farm, you may recollect, we passed in going from Strasburg to Brandywine. It is a charming situation in the summer; and if I am to judge of the time to come by what is past, I have every reason to expect much happiness. Mr. and Mrs. Buckley treat me with all the attention and kindness I could expect from relations, and express the greatest pleasure in seeing and entertaining my friends and acquaintances."
In September, 1799, she was married to Robert Jenkins, and became the mistress of Windsor Place. The first impulse that inspired her after her marriage with Mr. Jenkins, was to render her home the hospitable mansion and favorite retreat for the pious and learned. As soon as she would contract an acquaintance with a clergyman, she never failed to extend to him a cordial invitation to visit the "Preachers' Hotel." In consequence of her great amiability and kindness thus manifested, her house was the constant resort of ministers of every denomination who passed that way. Catharine Jenkins was very fond of reading, and her center table presented always a collection of the best religious and periodical literature of the day. Scholars and literary men were her especial favorites, and she ever aimed to render them easy in her presence and feel at home in her hospitable mansion. She loved to entertain them in a style becoming their education and attainments.
Mrs. Jenkins was a lady of great spirit and resolution, and exerted these qualities of her character for the promotion of truth and the elevation of mankind. She was an implacable foe to the wine cup and the gaming-table, and the following may be cited as illustrative of her resolution and stern purpose. In her husband's employ were a large number of workmen who were greatly addicted to the rum bottle, and as a consequence entailed misery upon themselves and their families. The hands would frequently come to the table at their boarding house in a state of intoxication, and this condition of affairs Mrs. Jenkins endeavored to reform by moral suasion, and by endeavoring to depict the great sin they were committing. She now determined to employ more decisive means. By the aid of one of her servants, she obtained the bottles in which the men kept their rum. At dinner time the hands were surprised and mortified to see their bottles in a row standing upon the table, and their contents visible through the glass. Mrs. Jenkins soon after entered the room, and in her amiable manner remarked, that she had in her possession a number of bottles belonging to them which she desired to return to their respective owners, and asked of them each to come forward and claim his property. As none had the hardihood to do this under the circumstances, she next remarked: "They are now in my possession, and as you will not take them, of course they are at my disposal." After that she took them to an open window, and striking them one by one against the wall, they fell in shivers to the ground. The bottles and their contents being destroyed, she addressed the men and said, in a mild but decisive manner, "if they be replaced by others, they shall share the same fate." She used all her influence to oppose vice and immorality, not only among her dependents, but also amongst those who moved in the higher walks of life. Every sphere in which this pious lady moved, felt her influence. Immorality never escaped her disapprobation, no difference what were the circumstances under which it presented itself. More than once were the cards and wine-cup, with great reluctance, removed from the social circle when the approach of Mrs. Jenkins was announced.
As one whose life had been devoted to the service of Christ, her life was truly an exemplary one. She, on all occasions, labored for the cause of her Redeemer, and liberally gave of her means for the promotion and building up of His church. Upon an occasion when attending a Presidential levee, and the Scripture was sneered at in such a manner as to indicate that the party were largely tainted with skeptical views, she firmly defended and challenged respect for the sacred book, which was not further gainsaid by any present. She died September 23d, 1856.
1 Alex. Harris, A Biographical History of Lancaster County (Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr & Co., 1872), Pg 327, 330.
2 Franklin Ellis & Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 425.
3 Alex. Harris, A Biographical History of Lancaster County (Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr & Co., 1872), Pg 330.
4 Alex. Harris, A Biographical History of Lancaster County (Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr & Co., 1872), Pg 329.
5 Alex. Harris, A Biographical History of Lancaster County (Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr & Co., 1872), Pg 327.
6 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 483, 493.
7 Alex. Harris, A Biographical History of Lancaster County (Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr & Co., 1872), Pg 409.
8 Franklin Ellis & Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 423.
9 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 90.
10
John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 843.
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