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JOHN JENKINS to COL. JOHN JENKINS : 1802 ORIGINAL SIGNIFICANT MANUSCRIPT RELIC OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA POLITICS AND POLITICKING IN WASHINGTON CITY BY ONE JOHN JENKINS TO HIS RENOWNED RELATIVE COLONEL JOHN JENKINS BACK HOME IN LUZERNE COUNTY

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is a significant, original manuscript relic of Pennsylvania state history dated City of Washington January 20 1802 a mere 27 or so years after the first and second Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775 and 15 years after Statehood. Handwritten by John Jenkins to the renowned Colonel John Jenkins [b.1751], the author's father or brother most likely]. The letter reads in part "…letter from new York restating our position and had to attend on business….Eleventh day here…our petition are not yet presented to Congress… Judge Baron? from Starkbridge…I have given out a number of our coppays of our petition [likely regarding the Compromise Act of 1799] to the members of Congress so as to give them a fair understanding of the subject one of the members from Pennsylvania informed me in conversation that they (that is) the members from Pennsylvania, would oppose the petition as it would destroy the Scranton ___." On the reverse side it is stamped with "WASH'N CITY" and "JAN 3" along with "PAID" addressed to Col. John Jenkins, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Another Jenkins name, in addition to John is written at the bottom of the page, left, B. ___Jenkins. [Local historians and researchers will no doubt have little problem sorting out the authorship and relationship of the three Jenkins' who are named.] HISTORICAL NOTES: from the book WILD YANKEES: Compromise of 1799 "In the spring of 1799, Pennsylvania made the first in a series of moves that would ultimately resolve land disputes in an around the Wyoming Valley. On April 4, the state assembly passed the Compromise Act, which allowed settlers that held Connecticut deeds that predate the Trenton Decree to obtain Pennsylvania titles to their lands. The legislation established a three-man-commission empowered to assess the legitimacy of settlers' claims, survey their tracts, and ascertain their value. Settlers who had their Connecticut deeds confirmed by the commissioners had to pay, depending on the value of their farms, between eight cents to two dollars per acre in eight annual instalments. The proceeds from these sales went toward defraying the cost of compensating Pennsylvania claimants who lost property to Connecticut settlers. As with the Confirming Act of 1787, the new law encouraged Connecticut claimants holding deeds issued before 1783 to move toward reconciliation with the state and to turn their backs of settlers who held titles issued after the Trenton Decree. After some initial hesitation, the lure of secure titles at low prices assured the act's acceptance among Yankee settlers in the fifteen Susquehannah Company towns established before the Trenton Decree. These settlements covered the Wyoming Valley and adjacent lands…." BIO NOTES: From one online source: "Col. John Jenkins was the son of John Jenkins, a magistrate and surveyor. Responsive to the first whisper of independence, the people of the valley assembled in town meeting to proclaim their hearty approval of the movement. The presiding officer at that meeting was Col. Jenkins; he was moderator, and in common with the other patriots assembled, devoted their lives and their sacred honor to the great cause of their fellow-man. Of that meeting and its resolves in behalf of liberty, Hon. Charles Miner has well said: "I would rather have those patriotic votes to show, as the work of an ancestor of mine, than the proudest patent of nobility ever granted by a king." Col. John Jenkins was appointed tax collector, but was enrolled for military duty and was actively employed from first to last. He served the people with ability and fidelity in the Connecticut general assembly, when this was Westmoreland county. His neat and accurate records of surveys from Wilkes-Barre extending a considerable distance into New York, are the never-failing authority of civil engineers to this day. He was a democrat and nearly worshiped his ideal, Thomas Jefferson, while his friend and much a close companion in all those times that tried men's souls, Col. John Franklin, was an enthusiastic federalist. Here their political lines parted, but on the great question of liberty and human rights they were as the steel and magnet. Of his capture while on a scouting expedition near Wyalusing, has been told on a preceding page. After a long and cruel captivity he returned and was the first to bring positive information of the invasion. The joy of the people at his safe return was turned to sudden gloom by the cloud then seen to be gathering in the north. He had been only recently married when captured. Mrs. Bertha Jenkins lived to the age of eighty-four years; died in 1841." [History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania H. C. Bradsby, Editor S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893.] The 13¼" by 8" letter is missing a 1¾ by 1¼ inch square at the bottom, middle section and has another ½" square almost halfway down, center. Large section directly above the larger square is vulnerable to coming out in an "l" shape of 2½ by 1½". Several tears, small holes along 2nd from bottom fold line, largely on fold line. The outside edges are chipped and a dog ear. Yellowing, foxing and some grime as well as the occasional random spot or speck/stray mark. Overall G-.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good-

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