How a Baby Received His Name

This photo of the family of Robert Jenkins was taken in the early summer of 1901 in Charlottetown. The baby shown on his mother's lap had been born 27 April 1901. The Governor General of Canada, His Excellency Lord Gilbert Minto, and his wife visited Prince Edward Island later that summer. During the visit Robert somehow managed to present this photo of the family to Lady Minto, requesting that she name the baby. She called him Gilbert, after her husband, and he thus became Gilbert Minto Jenkins. This begs the question of what he had been called before, and what his birth name might have been registered as.

Addendum #1 - Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian

The first four-page Addendum has recently been emailed in PDF format to those who have the 3 volume set of the book Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian. If you have the book but have not received Addendum #1 via email, it is because I do not have your email address. If you do have the book and wish to receive further complete updates as they become available, please send an email with your name to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca.

Also please remember to provide scanned copies of old family photos (with people identified) and additions and/or corrections to the above address, as a further addendum is planned for whenever there is sufficient material so that the information in the book may be kept up to date.

Jenkins Photo of the Month - January

This photo was submitted by Roddie MacLean of his great-grandparents Caroline Amelia Jenkins, born 1852, died 1944, (daughter of George E. Jenkins and Susannah Marie Hawkins), with husband J. Benjamin Mutch and young son Robert Everett Mutch. R. E. Mutch (1876-1957) was baptized 21 April 1879, the occasion for this photo. They farmed in Earnscliffe, Lot 50, PEI. Al Mutch tells of his grandmother Amelia taking his sister on walks to the shore to gather kindling chips from an area where ships were built in the 1800s. See more on the family in Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian: A Genealogy of Jenkins Families of Prince Edward Island, Vol. I - p. 36.

Do you have old Jenkins photos? Please take time to share them with relatives via this site. You can have them scanned and emailed to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca . Include a story about the photo if you can, or about someone in the photo in general, but this is not necessary.

Meanwhile, always remember to put names lightly on the back of your old photos, and dates if you know them. Otherwise future generations will not know who is in the photo or its significance to family history, and might just throw them out.

HENCKELL BOOK REVIEW - 17 DEC 2009

(Click on the image to enlarge)

This article on "Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian" and the author was published in "The Guardian", Charlottetown, PEI on 17 December 2009.

HENCKELL/JENKINS GENEALOGY PUBLISHED

The books have now been received from the printer.

The initial request for interest in the book was in order to try to get a fix on how many to order from the printer. Based on interest received by the time the final edit of the book went to print, I accepted their advice on the number to run. As I am personally totally funding this endeavor, you can understand that I wouldn’t want to have a large stock of unsold books for a long time. Also, with the rather large size of the book (3 volumes) and subsequent retail price of $140, there was a great deal of concern as to potential demand. As a result, I am also temporarily subsidizing the cost of the books until the end of the book launch so that the set of three volumes may be had for $95 rather than the retail price of $140.

To my pleasant surprise, there has been a large request for the book, and in order to guarantee a copy for pickup at the launch, people have been paying for their books in advance. Consequently, I cannot guarantee availability at the launch unless payment is received in advance. It will be first come, first served, and a list has been kept from the beginning of orders paid as they are received. As of November 7, requests have been received for 60% of the print run, and one-quarter of the total run has already been paid in advance. This is with 3 weeks still remaining until the launch.

For your information, at such time as 85% of the books in print are sold an order will be placed for a reprint. I have been told that reprinting would take about 3 weeks, so would still be available for pickup before Christmas. Meanwhile, the discounted price of $95.00 will only be guaranteed for orders paid on or before the November 28 book launch.

If interested in guaranteeing a copy for pickup at the launch, please email me at: demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca for details on where to send a cheque. For copies to be mailed outside the province, packing and postage charges will be applied. For the amount, please send your complete address, including postal or zip code, via email. Every effort will be made to mail out as soon after receiving payment as possible.

Just to confirm launch details, the PEI Genealogical Society is hosting it at 2:00pm on Saturday November 28 at the Carriage House, Beaconsfield, 2 Kent Street, Charlottetown.

Please pass this information on to others who might have an interest in the book. If you have any questions, please email me.

THE JENKINS BOOK IS AT THE PRINTER

Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian
A Genealogy of Jenkins Families
of Prince Edward Island
by Douglas B. MacDonald, GRS(C)

Finally at the printer, Nicolaus Henckell the Hessian includes more than 19,600 of his descendants and spouses. This three volume set is 8½" x 11" in size and contains 1,390 pages.

There are separate chapters on each of Nicholas’ children, their descendants and spouses; William’s family alone requires 534 pages. Volume I, about 472 pages, also covers family traditions such as place of birth of Nicolaus and two oldest children, the surname change to Jenkins, his two (?) marriages, and the descendants as heirs to a three billion dollar estate. It has the life story of Nicolaus from birth through the American Revolution, his return to Germany, his arrival in PEI, and what it was like then to begin a life on the Island. Volume II, about 433 pages, ends with an appendix of maps and family photos. Volume III, about 485 pages, ends with a separate index to each volume. For those who wish to verify some of the facts for themselves, there are more than 6,600 footnotes of sources. There are also photos of his birth and baptism record, as well as that of his first two children.

This long-anticipated book is now at the printer and will be available soon. The book launch is planned for November 28 in Charlottetown, PEI, in time for Christmas giving. The 3-volume set will retail for $140, but will initially be available at a subsidized cost of only $95 for the set, plus shipping where required. Shipping costs will be determined once the first set is received from the printer.

To reserve your copy, or for more information, please contact Doug MacDonald at (902) 892-1181 or email demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca. For those books prepaid for delivery outside PEI, every effort will be made to ship them for arrival by November 28. For those on the Island who prepay, book sets will be available for pickup at the launch or from the author.

Please pass this information on to others you think might be interested.

Henckell Genealogy Progress

This is a quick update on progress on the Henckell/Jenkins genealogy. Just because I haven't been updating this site doesn't mean I haven't been working on the book. It grew so large (about 40 MB in size) that it crashed in both WordPerfect and in MS Word formats. I have now broken it down by chapters, one for each of Nicholas' descendants, but William's is still about 600 pages long (about 18 MB in size) and it still crashes. I've tripled the RAM on my computer to better handle the big files, but am still having difficulty. I've been at it for long hours daily, beginning after breakfast and working until 10:00 or 11:00 at night.

I have been trying everything I can find to cut down on the cost of books. At the moment, it looks like 8-1/2x11 page size, Ariel 10pt font, with footnotes and name index at 9pt. and still totals about 1350 pages without maps, photos, etc. At this rate, it will be about 4 volumes, and might sell for $95 plus postage for the set. If you are interested in purchasing a set, with no committment at this time until finalized details are known, please send an email to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca so I can add your name to a list of those interested.

Meanwhile, I've got to get back to editing the book.