Jenkins was born in Bloomingburgh, then Ulster County, now Sullivan County, New York, the posthumous son of Lemuel Jenkins (1740–1789), originally of Edgartown, Massachusetts, and his third wife Mary (Dunham) Jenkins (1759–1809).
Jenkins was born in Bloomingburgh, then Ulster County, now Sullivan County, New York, the posthumous son of Lemuel Jenkins (1740–1789), originally from Edgartown, Massachusetts, and his third wife Mary (Dunham) Jenkins (1759–1809).