Colonel Jenkins was born to Quaker parents in Ohio, August 25, 1823. He studied law in Cincinnati, practiced for 18 years, and then served in the military during the Civil War under Union generals Grant, Pope, Sherman and Burnside. He was the first field officer to engage the Confederate Army. He continued to practice law after the war and conducted some of the most important cases in the South connected with the Civil War. In 1867, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. Read how Jenkins petitioned Congress to reimburse him for a horse that was captured by the enemy during battle »
After the war, using his Civil War Veteran's Preference, he was the first to homestead Spokane's North Side. He owned the land north of the river to Boone between Cedar and Howard. He donated the land upon which the Spokane Courthouse stands and $5,000 towards its construction. His daughter, Emma Rue, donated the eastern edge of their homestead to the city for use by the Coliseum (now the Veteran's Memorial Arena).
His daughter Emma joined him in Washington on December 2, 1881, after attending Oberlin College. Read the letter Jenkins wrote to his daughter advising her on how to make the trip west » Jenkins, a strong supporter of education, attempted twice to fund the first University in Spokane, which ultimately failed due to the 1893 economic depression. The Colonel was also concerned about young men who had to forego higher education to work to support themselves and their families, so he created a trust of $50,000 to fund Spokane's first vocational school for adults, located in and directed by the Y.M.C.A. The Institute prospered, reaching its peak of popularity about the time World War I broke out. He is best known in Chewelah for donating the land and capital to build Jenkins High School in 1910.
In 1900 Col. Jenkins bought land in Chewelah including the Thomas Brown Ranch. He wanted a place where he could get away and prepare his law cases without being disturbed. He also wanted a place for his many animal pets. Walt Goodman wrote in The Chewelah Independent that he had over 40 Shetland ponies who "roamed the streets at will, causing no end of problems by raising huge clouds of dust and otherwise making a mess of the downtown streets." Jenkins' granddaughter Mabel remembers that he also kept deer as pets and that one day while she was having lunch she heard a 'click, clack' of hooves on the partially bare floors, and soon she saw a doe nuzzle in her Grandpa's pockets for the sugar loaf he always carried for his pets. Jenkins registered his love for animals in his efforts to establish a Humane Society in Spokane and by donating the land on which it stands today.
Colonel Jenkins was born to Quaker parents in Ohio, August 25, 1823. He studied law in Cincinnati, practiced for 18 years, and then served in the military during the Civil War under Union generals Grant, Pope, Sherman and Burnside. He was the first field officer to engage the Confederate Army. He continued to practice law after the war and conducted some of the most important cases in the South connected with the Civil War. In 1867, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. 
After the war, using his Civil War Veteran's Preference, he was the first to homestead Spokane's North Side. He owned the land north of the river to Boone between Cedar and Howard. He donated the land upon which the Spokane Courthouse stands and $5,000 towards its construction. His daughter, Emma Rue, donated the eastern edge of their homestead to the city for use by the Coliseum (now the Veteran's Memorial Arena). 
His daughter Emma joined him in Washington on December 2, 1881, after attending Oberlin College. 
In 1900 Col. Jenkins bought land in Chewelah including the Thomas Brown Ranch. He wanted a place where he could get away and prepare his law cases without being disturbed. He also wanted a place for his many animal pets. Walt Goodman wrote in The Chewelah Independent that he had over 40 Shetland ponies who "roamed the streets at will, causing no end of problems by raising huge clouds of dust and otherwise making a mess of the downtown streets." Jenkins' granddaughter Mabel remembers that he also kept deer as pets and that one day while she was having lunch she heard a 'click, clack' of hooves on the partially bare floors, and soon she saw a doe nuzzle in her Grandpa's pockets for the sugar loaf he always carried for his pets. Jenkins registered his love for animals in his efforts to establish a Humane Society in Spokane and by donating the land on which it stands today. 
Mrs. Walter E Frederick (Jenkins' granddaughter Mabel Rue) told a reporter with the Spokane Chronicle in 1972 "A close friend of both Chief Spokane Garry and Chief Joseph the Younger, Jenkins had known Abraham Lincoln in the Illinois Circuit Courts where they both practiced before the Civil War. He admired these three men because he believed they had the characteristics he valued above all others - honesty and integrity. He always kept a picture of Joseph on his mantel."