Phineas Jenks

Phineas Jenks (May 3, 1781 – August 6, 1851) was a medical doctor and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He lived in Newtown. He married Amelia Snyder (June 21, 1791 - August 6, 1859), daughter of Pennsylvania Governor Simon Snyder, in 1820, in Harrisburg.

Jenks was born in Middletown, PA.

Jenks studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Rush, graduating in 1804 with a diploma from the University of Pennsylvania. He began the practice of medicine under Dr. Isaac Chapman of Wrightstown Township. He was elected a junior member of the Philadelphia Medical Society in 1803. His thesis was An essay on the analogy of the Asiatic and African plague and the American yellow fever. He was the first president of the Bucks County Medical Society.

Jenks represented Bucks County from 1815 through 1820, as a member of the Federalist party.

In 1817, Jenks submitted a bill in the Pennsylvania House to make a new county called Penn from the lower portion of Bucks County. On December 1, 1818, Jenks came in last in a vote for the speaker of the Pennsylvania House with one vote. (The speaker elected was Rees Hill with 74 votes. Other votes were: John Purdon - 9, Samuel Bond - 1, and William N. Irvine - 1). On December 7, 1819, he came in second in a vote for speaker with 21 of the 93 votes cast. (The speaker elected was Joseph Lawrence with 56 votes. Other votes were: Rees Hill - 14, Wilson Smith - 1, and William Lehman - 1).

He served as a trustee of the Bucks County Academy at Newtown.

In 1825, he was among the leaders of another movement to create Penn County from a portion of Bucks County.

Jenks was one of the original founders of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church in Bucks County in 1836.

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