The Jenks Family

The Jenks Family. Three Generations on the Hudson River. Jacob W. Jenks (1806-1862) launched what would become one of the most enduring shipping businesses on the Hudson. In the early 1820s, Jacob came to Sing Sing (Ossining) from Massachusetts with his father, who had gotten a job at the new state prison, while Jacob took to the river. His first sloop was The Fannie. His first wife was Eliza Smith, the daughter of highly esteemed river captain Isaac C. Smith; she passed away in 1838. , Jacob then married his second wife, Sarah Ann Brown (1820-1896) from New Castle. They had four children and lived on State Street. In 1854, his new propeller-driven steamboat, the Ora, made him one of the first river captains in Sing Sing to switch from sail to steam-powered vessels. Known for his quick wit, Jacob sold his services with cleverly worded advertisements. The prison was a daily stop. In 1862, he dropped dead at the wheel of the Eureka while docking in lower Manhattan. , Sarah's oldest son Joseph took over the business with brothers Julius and Benjamin. In 1885, they commissioned a $25,000 steamship and named it after their mother. While “not known for beauty or speed,” the Sarah A. Jenks made daily runs (except Sunday) between Jenks' Dock and Manhattan, 25 cents each way. Perhaps remembering how her husband died at the wheel, Sarah would stand at the end of the pier, lantern raised high, to “light the way home for her boys.” , Sarah passed away in 1896, but her namesake boat sailed on, captained by a third generation of Jenks. Renamed the Ossining, she ended her days as an excursion boat to Croton Point and Bear Mountain. Tied up for years at a pier behind the train station, in 1949, while being towed, the Ossining caught fire and was destroyed.