Jenner Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania named in honor of Dr. Edward Jenner, discoverer of the smallpox vaccine. Early Jenner Township settlers were primarily German and English speakers engaged in agriculture. Pennsylvania Dutch was still spoken in rural parts of the township until the 1960s. Jenner Crossroads, the township's first substantial European settlement, grew near a grist mill and tavern stop established about 1800 along the Pennsylvania Road. Samuel Steel built a sawmill at Jenner Crossroads in 1817; John Shopwood opened a hotel in 1825, and Samuel Elder opened the first store in 1836 Other early industry in the township included a sawmill on Quemahoning Creek
Edward Jenner these cases the severity of the illness was notably diminished by previous vaccination. In 1821, he was appointed physician extraordinary to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. He continued to investigate natural history, and in 1823, the last year of his life, he presented his "Observations on the Migration of Birds" to the Royal Society. Jenner was found in a state of apoplexy on 25 January 1823, with his right side paralysed. He never fully recovered and eventually died of an apparent stroke, his second, on 26 January 1823, aged 73.