Stephen Jenks

JENKS, Stephen. b. 17 March 1772; d. 5 June 1856. Born in Glocester, Rhode Island, into an old New England family, Jenks for many years led the itinerant life of a singing master in rural Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York’s Hudson River valley. He probably gained his musical training in singing schools, where he learned the rudiments of music and choral singing. Sometime in the 1790s, Jenks settled in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on the New York State border, where he farmed and taught singing schools throughout the general area. During the early 1800s he moved frequently between Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, teaching singing schools and selling his tune books, which he...