JOHN D. JENKINS
John D. Jenkins (deceased), Washington, Tazewell County, Ill., was born in Washington Township in 1859, where his parents, Roger and Eleanor (Davies) Jenkins, settled in 1850. For more than half a century the family was associated with the rising agricultural and business fortunes of this section, and, originally ranking in the class of aliens, represented the integrity and worth of the people of Wales. The paternal grandparents, John and Rachel (Walkyns) Jenkins, were content to pass their entire lives in their picturesque native country across the sea, but their son Roger, born in Wales in 1811, was of a more ambitious spirit, and with his wife, who was born in 1817, came to the United States in a sailing vessel in 1845. Settling in Pennsylvania, they pursued a frugal and industrious farming life until 1850, when they came overland to Deer Creek Township, Tazewell County, locating on a farm as yet but partially under cultivation.
In 1858 they removed to a farm in Washington Township, where the son, John D., was educated in the public schools, and where he remained an active factor in the development of the home property until his twenty-third year. The unrest which had inspired his father’s immigration, proved a part of his own make-up, and in 1882 he entered the employment of the American Express Company at Washington as a messenger. In 1888 he returned to the home farm where he lived until 1896, when he became manager for the firm of Roberts & Moschel, grain-buyers and shippers at Washington. This departure resulted in his purchase on January 1, 1900, of the business, his acquisition including the grain elevator at the Santa Fe railroad depot in Washington. His business career was especially successful, proving him one of the best posted dealers in grain in Tazewell County. Through his marriage, on October 1, 1885, with Mary
E. Moschel, four children were born, of whom Roger P. and Mary Agnes are living. Mr. Jenkins’ death occurred March 2, 1901, and Mrs. Jenkins is now a resident of Peoria.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County - page 1031