William H. Jenkins

Quick Facts

Significance:

Abolitionist, Boston Vigilance Committee Member, Farmer

Place of Birth:

Andover, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

1796

Place of Death:

Andover, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

February 22, 1878

Place of Burial:

Andover, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

Spring Grove Cemetery

An affluent landowner, William Jenkins provided shelter to freedom seekers heading north on the Underground Railroad on his estate north of Boston in Andover, Massachusetts.

Born in 1796 to parents Benjamin Jenkins and Margaret Flint, William Jenkins lived in Andover, Massachusetts on land his father bequeathed to him. On his farm, William operated a sawmill in addition to a blue-soapstone quarry.¹ William Jenkins married Polly “Mary” Saltmarsh Farnham on May 21, 1818.²

The Jenkins’ farm not only provided William and his family with wealth, but also a means to support the abolitionist cause. William and Mary Jenkins’ efforts began as early as the 1830s and continued through the Civil War and abolition of slavery. The two harbored many freedom seekers escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad in their home and in outbuildings on their large property. It proved to be a prime location for those heading north out of Boston—the Haverhill turnpike north “ran within a few rods of the Jenkins’ farm.”³

Additionally, the Jenkins’ home opened to fellow Massachusetts abolitionists. William Lloyd Garrison frequently visited; Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and even George Latimer called upon the house. The Jenkins also held Essex County Women’s Anti-Slavery conferences at their home.⁴

Jenkins frequently participated in and pledged donations to antislavery organizations and conventions in Massachusetts. Additionally, he held leadership positions locally—for example, he served as a director of the Andover Anti-Slavery Society, a vice president of the Essex County Anti-Slavery society.⁵ After becoming involved with the abolitionist movement, Jenkins actually “withdrew from South Church in 1844—possibly because rumors of his activities had reached the powers.”⁶

Despite living in Andover, Jenkins also participated as a member of the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee according to the membership roster in Austin Bearse’s Reminiscences of the Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston. In response to the passage of the new Fugitive Slave Law, the 1850 Vigilance Committee provided funds, shelter, transportation, medical attention, and other assistance to freedom seekers escaping enslavement on the Underground Railroad. While Francis Jackson’s account book for the Vigilance Committee does not record details of Jenkins’ efforts, his home did provide critical shelter for freedom seekers moving north to Canada.⁷

William Jenkins died on February 22, 1878. First interred in a family cemetery on his property, his remains were removed in 1884 to the Spring Grove Cemetery. His headstone reads, “He lived to see the fulfillment of his great desire, the abolition of slavery in America.”⁸

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Footnotes

1. Jenkins is placed on the map at 8 Douglass Lane, where he lived in Andover, Massachusetts. In the Boston Vigilance Committee broadside, his location is listed at 29 1/2 Atkinson Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Andover Historic Preservation Committee, “8 Douglass LN,” 8 Douglass LN | Andover Historic Preservation
2. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPZC-9T5M : Mon Nov 25 10:36:04 UTC 2024), Entry for William Jenkins and Polly L Farnum, 21 May 1818.
3. Marion La Mere's letter, November 25, 1934, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection, MSS116AV BOX47 01MA 080, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/17191
4. Liberator, September 16, 1842, 146; Liberator, June 4, 1841, 90; Liberator, August 12, 1842, 127.
5. Liberator, July 16, 1836, 115; Liberator, June 27, 1856, 103; Liberator, July 2, 1847, 1; Liberator, February 17, 1860, 27; Liberator, June 10, 1853, 91.
6. Marion La Mere's letter, November 25, 1934, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection, MSS116AV BOX47 01MA 080, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/17191; Wilbur H. Siebert, The Underground Railroad in Massachusetts, (Worcester, Mass: American Antiquarian Society, 1936), 51.
7. "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society, Austin Bearse, Remininscences of Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston, (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), Reminiscences of Fugitive-slave Law Days in Boston : Austin Bearse : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.
8. Find a Grave, “William Jenkins,” William Jenkins (1796-1878) - Find a Grave Memorial.