lawyer, politician, Congressman, b. Weymouth, England. He migrated to the U.S. and to Wisconsin with his parents in 1852, settling in Baraboo. During the Civil War he served as a private in Company A, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry (1861-1865). Returning to Baraboo after the war, Jenkins was clerk of the circuit court of Sauk County (1867-1870), and in 1870 moved to Chippewa Falls, where he read law, was admitted to the bar, and served for several years as city clerk and city attorney. A Republican, he was state assemblyman (1872), and judge of Chippewa County (1872-1876). In 1876 he was appointed U.S. attorney for Wyoming Territory and served in this capacity until 1880. In 1880 he returned to Wisconsin and reopened his law office in Chippewa Falls. In 1894 he was elected to Congress, and was re-elected for six successive terms (Mar. 1895-Mar. 1909). In 1910 he was appointed judge of Puerto Rico by President William H. Taft, and served in this capacity until his death. Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1928); Wis. Blue Book (1905); P. M. Reed, Bench and Bar of Wis. (Milwaukee, 1882); A. M. Thomson, Political Hist. of Wis. (Milwaukee, 1900); Milwaukee Sentinel, June 13, 1911.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
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[Source: Blue book]
