• JOHN JENKINS was born perhaps in Kent, England about 1609 and died at Barnstable, Massachusetts between 25 September 1683 when he made his will, and 26 October 1685, when it was proved. He married, perhaps second, at Barnstable, 2 February 1652/3, Mary (Wallen) Ewer, widow of John Ewer and daughter of Ralph and Joyce (_____) Wallen of Plymouth.
Nothing is known of John Jenkins' life before his arrival in America, aged 26, on the Defence of London, Edward Bostock, Master, which sailed the last of July 1635 and arrived at Boston 8 October following with about 100 passengers. Some researchers suggest he came from Wales where the name is common; however, it seems more probable that he was from Kent, England, and was perhaps the brother of Edward Jenkins of Scituate, Massachusetts, of Sarah Jenkins who married George Lewis (later a close neighbor of John in Barnstable), and Susannah Jenkins, wife of John Whiston, whose granddaughter Abigail later married John Jenkins' grandson, John III.2525, p 339