Fortune-Seeking in Mexico

Mexico under the dictator Porfirio Díaz bore some resemblance to the postbellum South, in its social and racial hierarchies, but what drew Jenkins was Mexico’s rapid industrialization. Following short-term jobs in the north, he responded to an ad from a businessman who was seeking someone to manage his stocking mill. In 1906, he and Mary traveled south to the textile city of Puebla, which became his permanent home. His partners included a Jewish-Russian immigrant. Jenkins’s early years in Puebla illustrate the difficulties of hailing from a derided culture, for Puebla’s elite prided themselves on their Spanish heritage and French tastes. Soon Jenkins built a factory of his own, leased others in Mexico City and Querétaro, and by importing secondhand sewing machines cornered the Mexican market for cheap cotton hosiery. By 1910, when the inequalities under Díaz prompted a revolution, Jenkins was worth $1 million.