| Other People | Frank J. Bradley | Olive Rambo Cook | Jerry Litton | | |||
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Past and Present of Livingston County Volume 2. Biographies by Major A. J. Roof. 1913 |
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Pages 79-80
Marion Richmond Jenkins, inventor of the Jenkins hayrake and stacker, founder of the company which manufactures it and today the active factors in the industrial development and upbuilding of Chillicothe, is a native of Missouri, born in Audrain county, August 15, 1854, his father being Andrew J. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins of this review acquired his education in the public schools of his native section and remained upon his father's farm until he was seventeen years of age. Believing, however, that business life offered him more advantages and better opportunities for success, he left the homestead and for four years engaged in railroad work as an operator and agent. After his marriage he moved to Browning, Missouri, in order to look after his farming interests in that section and during this period worked upon the hayrake and stacker which he was inventing. In 1880 he received his first patent from the government and seven years later engaged in manufacturing at Browning, and in 1890 moved to Fort Madison in order to place the machine upon the market to the best advantage. He is a keen and resourceful business man and in the exploitation of his invention has displayed the acumen and shrewdness upon which his success is founded. He rented shops in Fort Madison, remaining there for two seasons, at the end of which time be returned to Browning, where be organized the Jenkins Hayrake & Stacker Company in 1891. He established a factory there and remained until 1907, when the increasing expansion of his business and the volume of his sales obliged him to seek larger quarters. He moved to Chillicothe and here established his modern concrete and brick factory, one hundred and fifty by two hundred and twenty-five feet in dimensions and including shed room and all containing forty thousand feet of floor space. Under one roof are the woodworking shops, the paint shop, the foundry and machine shops, engine rooms and offices, all separated by fireproof walls. The company has its own power plant and the machinery is run by electric motors, so arranged that any number can be operated independently. The business is well organized and the work reduced to a definite system and every department runs smoothly, showing the powerful control of an expert manager. These implements are sold in all states west of the Mississippi, and some east of it, and also in South America, Canada and New Mexico. As head of this great business Mr. Jenkins is a dominating factor in industrial circles of the city, where his executive force and comprehensive business ability have placed him in the front ranks of valued and useful citizens.Mr. Jenkins was united in marriage in Linn county, Missouri, to Miss Birdie L. Seaman and to their union three children have been born: Seaman, who is engaged in railroad work; Max, who is in business with his father; and Roberta, who lives at home. Mr. Jenkins gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and his religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Baptist church. He has ever been a busy and active man and his well directed work has gained him notable and enviable success. Prosperous in his business connections, respected and esteemed in social circles and public-spirited in his citizenship, he forms a valuable addition to the community in which he resides and where his work has been such an important force in development.