BIOGRAPHY OF HON. DAVID AARON JENKINS
DAVID AARON JENKINS was a nineteenth century Gaston County native who played an important role in the public life of North Carolina before, during and after the Civil War. He was born on April 5, 1822, in that section of old Lincoln County that in 1846 became Gaston, a son of Aaron and Mary Jenkins. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Jenkins, a patriot in the American Revolution, and granddaughter of Lieutenant Frederick Hambright, who commanded an American regiment at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Although his formal education was limited to the old field schools of the county, he reportedly started teaching at age fourteen. Subsequently, he chopped and sold wood to the Fulenwider Iron Furnace at High Shoals, receiving in return manufactured goods that he sold for profit. Farming was his principal occupation.
Jenkins’ first venture into politics was the office of constable and, later, magistrate, serving in the latter capacity for many years. “When the Civil War was imminent,” quoted a biography of Jenkins by Robert L. Cherry, “he was unquestionably loyal to the South, but he foresaw the inexpediency of secession and was opposed to it.” As a magistrate, and perhaps partly because of his age, he was exempt from military service.
After the war, Jenkins became identified with the Republican Party, believing that he could best serve the people by his association with the party in power. Many native North Carolinians and disenfranchised former Confederates knew him as a “friendly Republican.” In 1866, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, Jenkins was elected to a two-year term in the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. After serving honorably for a year and a half, however, he was barred from service in the legislature as a former Confederate officeholder when the Radical Reconstruction government took over in North Carolina.
In 1868, under the amnesty provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he became the Republican nominee for state treasurer and was elected. He was reelected in 1872, serving a second four-year term. His record as state treasurer, during a stormy period of unprecedented corruption in government, was notable for his personal integrity. His personal honesty was widely acclaimed among his contemporaries and earned him the sobriquet, “Honest Dave Jenkins.” In 1880, friends urged him to seek the Republican nomination for governor, but he declined.
In 1876, the former state treasurer returned to Gaston County and built a substantial two-story frame home across from the first depot at newly established Gastonia Station, then a village of nothing more than a few scattered inhabitants. He and his family became among the soon-to-become city’s founding families and most prominent citizens.
In the personal life, Mr. Jenkins was married in 1841 to Miss Lodema Holland, a daughter of Jesse and Martha Jane Hanks Holland, her father being one of the leaders of the committee responsible for the founding of Gaston County from the lower section of Lincoln County in 1846. They were the parents of ten children: Mary A., Elmina B., Aaron D., William W., Martha J., James C., Benjamin, David H., John F. and Laban L. The Honorable David Aaron Jenkins died on September 10, 1886, at age sixty-four and is buried in the Jenkins-Craig family cemetery near his home a mile east of uptown Gastonia.
DAVID AARON JENKINS was a nineteenth century Gaston County native who played an important role in the public life of North Carolina before, during and after the Civil War. He was born on April 5, 1822, in that section of old Lincoln County that in 1846 became Gaston, a son of Aaron and Mary Jenkins. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Jenkins, a patriot in the American Revolution, and granddaughter of Lieutenant Frederick Hambright, who commanded an American regiment at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Although his formal education was limited to the old field schools of the county, he reportedly started teaching at age fourteen. Subsequently, he chopped and sold wood to the Fulenwider Iron Furnace at High Shoals, receiving in return manufactured goods that he sold for profit. Farming was his principal occupation.
Jenkins’ first venture into politics was the office of constable and, later, magistrate, serving in the latter capacity for many years. “When the Civil War was imminent,” quoted a biography of Jenkins by Robert L. Cherry, “he was unquestionably loyal to the South, but he foresaw the inexpediency of secession and was opposed to it.” As a magistrate, and perhaps partly because of his age, he was exempt from military service.
After the war, Jenkins became identified with the Republican Party, believing that he could best serve the people by his association with the party in power. Many native North Carolinians and disenfranchised former Confederates knew him as a “friendly Republican.” In 1866, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, Jenkins was elected to a two-year term in the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. After serving honorably for a year and a half, however, he was barred from service in the legislature as a former Confederate officeholder when the Radical Reconstruction government took over in North Carolina.
In 1868, under the amnesty provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he became the Republican nominee for state treasurer and was elected. He was reelected in 1872, serving a second four-year term. His record as state treasurer, during a stormy period of unprecedented corruption in government, was notable for his personal integrity. His personal honesty was widely acclaimed among his contemporaries and earned him the sobriquet, “Honest Dave Jenkins.” In 1880, friends urged him to seek the Republican nomination for governor, but he declined.
In 1876, the former state treasurer returned to Gaston County and built a substantial two-story frame home across from the first depot at newly established Gastonia Station, then a village of nothing more than a few scattered inhabitants. He and his family became among the soon-to-become city’s founding families and most prominent citizens.
In the personal life, Mr. Jenkins was married in 1841 to Miss Lodema Holland, a daughter of Jesse and Martha Jane Hanks Holland, her father being one of the leaders of the committee responsible for the founding of Gaston County from the lower section of Lincoln County in 1846. They were the parents of ten children: Mary A., Elmina B., Aaron D., William W., Martha J., James C., Benjamin, David H., John F. and Laban L. The Honorable David Aaron Jenkins died on September 10, 1886, at age sixty-four and is buried in the Jenkins-Craig family cemetery near his home a mile east of uptown Gastonia.
BIOGRAPHY OF HON. DAVID AARON JENKINS
DAVID AARON JENKINS was a nineteenth century Gaston County native who played an important role in the public life of North Carolina before, during and after the Civil War. He was born on April 5, 1822, in that section of old Lincoln County that in 1846 became Gaston, a son of Aaron and Mary Jenkins. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Jenkins, a patriot in the American Revolution, and granddaughter of Lieutenant Frederick Hambright, who commanded an American regiment at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Although his formal education was limited to the old field schools of the county, he reportedly started teaching at age fourteen. Subsequently, he chopped and sold wood to the Fulenwider Iron Furnace at High Shoals, receiving in return manufactured goods that he sold for profit. Farming was his principal occupation.
Jenkins’ first venture into politics was the office of constable and, later, magistrate, serving in the latter capacity for many years. “When the Civil War was imminent,” quoted a biography of Jenkins by Robert L. Cherry, “he was unquestionably loyal to the South, but he foresaw the inexpediency of secession and was opposed to it.” As a magistrate, and perhaps partly because of his age, he was exempt from military service.
After the war, Jenkins became identified with the Republican Party, believing that he could best serve the people by his association with the party in power. Many native North Carolinians and disenfranchised former Confederates knew him as a “friendly Republican.” In 1866, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, Jenkins was elected to a two-year term in the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. After serving honorably for a year and a half, however, he was barred from service in the legislature as a former Confederate officeholder when the Radical Reconstruction government took over in North Carolina.
In 1868, under the amnesty provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he became the Republican nominee for state treasurer and was elected. He was reelected in 1872, serving a second four-year term. His record as state treasurer, during a stormy period of unprecedented corruption in government, was notable for his personal integrity. His personal honesty was widely acclaimed among his contemporaries and earned him the sobriquet, “Honest Dave Jenkins.” In 1880, friends urged him to seek the Republican nomination for governor, but he declined.
In 1876, the former state treasurer returned to Gaston County and built a substantial two-story frame home across from the first depot at newly established Gastonia Station, then a village of nothing more than a few scattered inhabitants. He and his family became among the soon-to-become city’s founding families and most prominent citizens.
In the personal life, Mr. Jenkins was married in 1841 to Miss Lodema Holland, a daughter of Jesse and Martha Jane Hanks Holland, her father being one of the leaders of the committee responsible for the founding of Gaston County from the lower section of Lincoln County in 1846. They were the parents of ten children: Mary A., Elmina B., Aaron D., William W., Martha J., James C., Benjamin, David H., John F. and Laban L. The Honorable David Aaron Jenkins died on September 10, 1886, at age sixty-four and is buried in the Jenkins-Craig family cemetery near his home a mile east of uptown Gastonia.
DAVID AARON JENKINS was a nineteenth century Gaston County native who played an important role in the public life of North Carolina before, during and after the Civil War. He was born on April 5, 1822, in that section of old Lincoln County that in 1846 became Gaston, a son of Aaron and Mary Jenkins. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Jenkins, a patriot in the American Revolution, and granddaughter of Lieutenant Frederick Hambright, who commanded an American regiment at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Although his formal education was limited to the old field schools of the county, he reportedly started teaching at age fourteen. Subsequently, he chopped and sold wood to the Fulenwider Iron Furnace at High Shoals, receiving in return manufactured goods that he sold for profit. Farming was his principal occupation.
Jenkins’ first venture into politics was the office of constable and, later, magistrate, serving in the latter capacity for many years. “When the Civil War was imminent,” quoted a biography of Jenkins by Robert L. Cherry, “he was unquestionably loyal to the South, but he foresaw the inexpediency of secession and was opposed to it.” As a magistrate, and perhaps partly because of his age, he was exempt from military service.
After the war, Jenkins became identified with the Republican Party, believing that he could best serve the people by his association with the party in power. Many native North Carolinians and disenfranchised former Confederates knew him as a “friendly Republican.” In 1866, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, Jenkins was elected to a two-year term in the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. After serving honorably for a year and a half, however, he was barred from service in the legislature as a former Confederate officeholder when the Radical Reconstruction government took over in North Carolina.
In 1868, under the amnesty provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he became the Republican nominee for state treasurer and was elected. He was reelected in 1872, serving a second four-year term. His record as state treasurer, during a stormy period of unprecedented corruption in government, was notable for his personal integrity. His personal honesty was widely acclaimed among his contemporaries and earned him the sobriquet, “Honest Dave Jenkins.” In 1880, friends urged him to seek the Republican nomination for governor, but he declined.
In 1876, the former state treasurer returned to Gaston County and built a substantial two-story frame home across from the first depot at newly established Gastonia Station, then a village of nothing more than a few scattered inhabitants. He and his family became among the soon-to-become city’s founding families and most prominent citizens.
In the personal life, Mr. Jenkins was married in 1841 to Miss Lodema Holland, a daughter of Jesse and Martha Jane Hanks Holland, her father being one of the leaders of the committee responsible for the founding of Gaston County from the lower section of Lincoln County in 1846. They were the parents of ten children: Mary A., Elmina B., Aaron D., William W., Martha J., James C., Benjamin, David H., John F. and Laban L. The Honorable David Aaron Jenkins died on September 10, 1886, at age sixty-four and is buried in the Jenkins-Craig family cemetery near his home a mile east of uptown Gastonia.
Bio by: Robert Ragan
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