Jenkins’ Heritage and Youth

This chapter provides a background on C. Francis Jenkins' heritage and youth. Jenkins' life spanned six decades of American history that witnessed the birth of photography, radio, television, the automobile, and the airplane. He lived in an age dominated by things mechanical, from the Industrial and Gilded Ages through World War I, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression. Jenkins, a Quaker farm boy, was born just north of Dayton, Ohio, on August 22, 1867. Two years after his birth, Jenkins' parents moved to Richmond, Indiana, where he grew up through his teenage years. This chapter first discusses Jenkins' early years on the farm, his family and family values, and his education before considering his sojourn to the West Coast. It also examines Jenkins' time in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Life Saving Service and where he also met his future wife, Grace Hannah Love, culminating in their wedding on January 30, 1902.