Thomas Jenkins – War of 1812 Veteran
Thomas Jenkins and his wife Elizabeth, traveled from Iowa to Jewell County in 1876 to visit their daughter and grandchildren. He was 82 years-old and she was 69. While here, he became ill and died. He was buried in Wallace Cemetery, east of Jewell. He is the only known War of 1812 veteran to be buried in Jewell County.
Thomas Jenkins was visiting his daughter, Mary Jenkins Jordan, in Jewell County in 1876. He and his wife had traveled from Iowa to visit both Mary and their grandchildren. While here, he became ill and died. He was laid to rest in Wallace Cemetery and is the only known War of 1812 veteran buried in Jewell County. His wife, Elizabeth McMurray Jenkins, died the next year and is buried beside him.
The War of 1812 began when the United States declared war in June of 1812. The opposing forces were Great Britain, Ireland and their North American colonies plus certain Indian allies. One cause of the war was the British Navy's policy of stopping ships at sea and seizing men they claimed to be British citizens. There are estimates that up to 15,000 American men were seized and forced into the British Navy between 1793 and 1812.
During the war, there were some 35,000 "regulars" in uniform and perhaps 458,000 militia men serving in local areas. There are estimated to have been 15,000 American casualties during the course of the war.
The war concluded in February of 1815 with little change in the status quo. American men were not being seized on the high seas but other than that, it seems neither side could really claim a victory.
After the Civil War, in the late 1860s and 1870s, vast numbers of veterans headed west to claim a homestead. The veterans of the War of 1812 were in their 70s, 80s and 90s at this time and few came to stake their claim on the "free" land. At this writing, there are only two known War of 1812 veterans buried in the area
One, Charles F. White, did stake a claim in Solomon Valley Township in 1871 when he was 75 years-old. He died in 1875, just shy of his 79th birthday. The homestead patent was granted on March 13, 1879, to both he and his wife, Lucretia Ward White. They both are buried in Glendale Cemetery in northern Solomon Valley Township just a mile south of the Jewell-Mitchell County line. The cemetery was part of their homestead. At this writing, White is the only known War of 1812 veteran to homestead in the area.
Though he did not come to homestead, War of 1812 veteran Thomas Jenkins is buried in Wallace Cemetery east of Jewell. Jenkins, born in New York in 1794, was one of the militia men who had served in the war. He was in the New York Militia in Captain John W. Gregory's company and under the general command of Lt. Col. R. Farmington. Jenkins was honorably discharged on 2 December 1814.
Jenkins was married on April 17, 1827, to Elizabeth McMurray. He was 33 and she was 19. They reared their three children, Mary, Francis and Hiram in Morgan County, Ohio and Linn County, Iowa. It was Mary who came to Kansas to homestead.
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins had married Lewis Jordan on 1Nov. 17, 1848, in Ohio. They eventually had 10 children, two of which were born after their 1873 move to Kansas. Their homestead was in Sections 30 and 19 of Washington Township, north of Jewell.
With Mary and their grandchildren in Jewell County, Thomas and Elizabeth decided to travel from Iowa to Kansas to visit their family. They arrived sometime in 1876. He was 82 years old and she was 69.
A pleasant family visit was not to be. A clipping from the Sept. 16, 1876, Jewell County Diamond announced Jenkins was "lying at the point of death" at his daughter's home. A broken and fallen tombstone in Wallace Cemetery east of Jewell, confirms the fact of his death.
Elizabeth did not return to Iowa. She died a year later and is buried beside her husband.
Though many Civil War veterans are buried in Jewell County cemeteries, no other War of 1812 veteran is known to be buried here in Jewell County. A flag will fly over his grave on Memorial Day.
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