It is not often one can visit an enterprise entwined with the inventive genius of an ancestor. This is a story of an unusual facility from the 1600’s in Saugus Massachusetts and about an ancestor who was integral in the creation of that facility. Until I researched my family history I had never heard of Saugus Massachusetts, or of Joseph Jenks my own 9^th great-grandfather. His story and the story of the Saugus Ironworks is fascinating. 

Joseph Jenks Background

Joseph Jenks was born about 1599 in London, a grandson of a German cutlery maker. Joseph mastered the craft of his grandfather and also his own father who was engaged in the same trade. Joseph became a sword maker marking his work with the mark of a thistle.^[1]

Joseph Jenks was recruited  to immigrate to America and bring his knowledge and skills to Massachusetts in the early 1640’s. 

 Joseph Jenks was in Lynn Massachusetts by 1642. ^[2] [3] Saugus was once a part of Lynn. All indications are that he laid out the plan for the Saugus Ironworks, and that plan was ingenious.^[4] Joseph was granted a patent in 1646 for creating a machine works. Shortly after that, in January 1648, he was authorized by Richard Leader, the manager of the ironworks, to set up his iron mill and hammer at Saugus.^[5]

The NPS Saugus Ironworks Site

Saugus Massachusetts is home to the first successful ironworks in America. The Saugus Ironworks is a 12 acre NPS National Historic Site. The site was rebuilt with funding from the American Iron and Steel institute. Lost for several centuries, it was rediscovered by Roland Robins and associated archeologists. It is now partly reconstructed and is a partially working replica of the ironworks built in the late 1640’s. Although the two-story tall furnace is not fired up and producing molten iron, the waterwheels are set in motion a short time for visitors bringing some of the reconstructed machinery to life.

We started our tour with the NPS Ranger that would take us throughout the reconstructed ironworks facilities. The first part of the facility that we saw was a house constructed over the remains of the original building built in the mid-1600s. The house is built in the architectural style of that era. 

Next we saw the “tactile exhibit”. The exhibit is a metal model of the ironworks. One building on the model, labeled as the workshop of Joseph Jenks, has not been reconstructed yet. Using the model the ranger demonstrated the flow of water to the waterwheels that drove various machines at the ironworks. 

Built on the Saugus River, the area has a 36 foot drop in elevation. The ironworks used a reservoir fed by the river which was dammed for the purpose. The elevation drop from the reservoir increased the water pressure flowing against the ironworks waterwheels. 

The waterwheels drove gigantic bellows that superheated the furnace. Each of the two bellows is the size of a large truck. The bellows are capable of forcing the enormous amount of oxygen required in the iron making process into the furnace. 

The two story furnace no longer is fired but often ran 24 hours a day. Iron making ingredients were fed into a hole in the top. Molten iron was raked out at the bottom of the furnace into sand covered molds. Pig iron from the furnace building was taken next door to the hammer building, or chafery. The waterwheels produced the power that lifted and dropped the 550 pound hammer that pounded the iron into merchantable slabs and bars. Next to the chafery the slitting mill rollers powered by waterwheels flattened the bars into desired thicknesses and cut them into thin strips.

Creation of the Colonial Ironworks 

Back in the 1640’s the nascent American colonies imported all of their iron and iron products from England. The colonies needed their own source of iron and related products, from iron ingots to pots and nails. John Winthrop Jr. a future prominent colonial governor, went to England seeking financial backing for creation of an iron industry in the colonies. Richard Leader was the man selected to manage the project.

Richard Leader arrived in Massachusetts midsummer 1645, hired by “The Company of the Undertakers of the Iron Works”, an English investment group.^[6] He was an accountant and merchant. His background in ironmaking is a mystery, more a conjecture than a fact. 

Leader called himself a London merchant and was a salaried manager hired to run the ironworks.^[7] He probably relied heavily on the many years of experience of 46 year old Joseph Jenks to set up the layout of the buildings and machinery that created the iron products of the Ironworks. 

John Winthrop Jr. was the primary promoter of creating ironworks in America and of the Saugus Ironworks project. His first but unsuccessful experiment at creating an ironworks was at Braintree, Massachusetts. The following paragraph describes Winthrop’s effort in England:

“…in 1641 John Winthrop Jr., then in London, requested Capt. Bridges to bring to him by the next ship samples of the ore for assaying to determine its value. It was found to be of excellent quality and of such good promise that a dozen men including a minister and two tailors were persuaded to subscribe a total of 100 £ to form ‘‘The Company of the Undertakers of the Iron Works” to establish a foundry beside Saugus River. A year or two later Capt. Bridges and Winthrop arrived…With them came some half dozen skilled iron workers from Hammersmith with their leader, Joseph Jenks.”^[8] In late Fall 1643 Winthrop arrived with some of the men and materials required to set up the furnace at Braintree. ^[9]

The effort at Saugus was assisted with the arrival of additional labor. In 1650 Scottish prisoners taken at the Battle of Dunbar arrived. They were indentured as workers at the Saugus Ironworks, 36 of whom can be identified.^[10]

Jenks and his crew immediately went to work:

“Under the patronage of young Winthrop, Joseph Jenks laid out the plan for the works, designed the plan for the now historic Tudor house for the occupancy of Richard Leader, the iron master coming from England, and directed the construction of the stone stack, bellows, dam and network of canals for transportation of the ore. Quarters were found two miles away for the Scottish prisoners who were brought each morning by ox cart to the works. The home of Joseph Jenks was a mile distant. Construction of homes for the directors of the works was soon under way and the little village was established now known as Saugus but then named Hammersmith after their native town in England.”^[11]

The forge at Braintree was considered uneconomical and it was abandoned in 1647. A new location for an ironworks was pursued and Saugus was selected. By May 1647 Leader purchased all of the land for the Saugus Ironworks.^[12]

Joseph Jenks and the Saugus Ironworks Setup and Machinery

The Saugus Ironworks waterwheels and other machinery would not function properly without a well laid out site plan. The machines needed sufficient waterpower to produce the forces required to drive the bellows, power the hammer and the other nmachinery.

In 1646, at the same time the Saugus Ironworks was being planned, Joseph Jenks applied for the first machine patent granted in America.^[13] [14] It was for “…making novel machines for or ye making of engines for mills to goe by water for the more speedy dispatch of worke than formerly and mills for ye making of sithes [scythes] and other edged tools with a new invented saw mill that things may be afforded cheaper than formerly… ”^{[15] [16] [17]}

The Saugus Ironworks was developed as one unit. Construction started 1646, the same year that Joseph Jenks received his machine patent, and went on into 1647.^[18] The Saugus location was purposely selected because it had all of the ingredients for a successful ironworks. The Saugus River had a natural water drop that powered the waterwheels, and a reservoir and canals were built to guide water direction. There were ample old growth trees for making charcoal, abundant bog iron, and gabbro nearby provided the flux. (Gabbro is an igneous rock containing, iron, aluminum, titanium, and most importantly, calcium).^{[19] [20] [21]}

By 1650 “water stored in a large pond created by throwing a heavy stone and earth dam across the Saugus river ran through a 1600 foot long canal to a central reservoir running from there through wooden flumes to no less than seven waterwheels powering bellows for the furnace, two fineries, a chafery a slitting mill and a smiths forge”.^[22]

The ironworks was in operation for well over a decade.

More Joseph Jenks Inventions

Joseph Jenks had other inventions and patents beyond the one mentioned above. In 1654  he contracted with Salem, Massachusetts to create the first fire engine. ^[23] [24] He patented a scythe that is still in common use. ^{[25] [26] [27]}He is said to have cut the dies for the first New England coins.^[28] [29]

Conclusion

The Saugus Ironworks embodies the ingenuity of early Americans like my ancestor Joseph Jenks. Visiting the ironworks and researching both its history and construction, as well as the life of Joseph Jenks, gives me an appreciation of my ancestor’s part in the  development of early Massachusetts.

Joseph Jenks helped create the iron industry in an undeveloped land that had many natural resources, but almost no industry. In the midst of a virgin forest he helped lay out the plans for a new ironworks. He assisted in the construction of buildings and machines that would power the creation of the products required for the fast growing American colonies.

Over the next centuries Joseph Jenks faded from the recollections of my family. I was able to rediscover our family descent from him by first finding another forgotten ancestor, Reuben Blanchard, a Rhode Island Revolutionary War soldier. Working my way back through four more generations from Reuben Blanchard I arrived at Joseph Jenks and the story of the Saugus Ironworks. 

There is much more to the story of Joseph Jenks and his family. His sons followed in his craft and established iron foundries and mills in Rhode Island. Notably, one grandson was an early governor of Rhode Island and reputedly seven foot two.^[30]

My ancestors followed the expansion of the country as it moved westward, from Rhode Island to New Hampshire, New York, Indiana and finally to Michigan. Along the way hundreds of years passed and this story was lost to our family. It is my pleasure to find it again and to visit the reconstructed Saugus Ironworks. The ironworks stands in testimony to the creative genius of early Americans like Joseph Jenks and the birthplace of the American iron and steel industry.

---

^[1] Meredith B. Colket, The Jenks Family of England, NEHGS Register, v. 110, p. 15-16, 1956. Jenks Family of England, NEHGS Register, v 110, p.11, 14-15, 1956. https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/image?pageName=15&volumeId=11659&rId=235971795

^[2] Joseph Jenks British-American Inventor, Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Jenks, Last Accessed 1 June 2026.

^[3] Meredith B. Colket, The Jenks Family of England, NEHGS Register, v. 110, p. 17.  https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/image?rId=235971805&volumeId=11659&pageName=17&filterQuery=

^[4] Meredith B. Colket, The Jenks Family of England, NEHGS Register, v. 110, p.11, 14-15, 1956. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11659/11/23511759

^[5] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 127, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[6] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 121, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[7] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 117-120, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[8]  William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, Rumford, Concord NH 1952. p xiii, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n22/mode/1up

^[9] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 106, 54, 57-58, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[10] Scottish Prisoner of War Society, Scottish Prisoners in New England. https://spows.org/new-england/

^[11] William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, p. xiv, Rumford, Concord NH 1952. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n23/mode/1up

^[12] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 125, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[13] Meredith B. Colket, The Jenks Family of England, NEHGS Register, v. 110, p. 18 https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/image?rId=235971805&volumeId=11659&pageName=18&filterQuery=

^[14] William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, Rumford, Concord NH 1952. p. xv, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n28/mode/1up

^[15] William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, p. xv-xvii, Rumford, Concord NH 1952. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n28/mode/1up

^[16] Alonzo Lewis, and James R. Newhall, History of Lynn, p. 220, Herbert, Lynn, 1890. https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00inlewi/page/220/mode/1up?q=jenks

^[17] William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, p. 24 Rumford, Concord NH 1952. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n24/mode/1up

^[18] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 122, 127, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[19]  Nell Porter-Brown, The Birthplace of the American Iron Industry, Harvard Magazine, Sept.-Oct., 2016. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/museums-collections/america-iron-industry-innovation-industrial-revolution

^[20]  Gabbro: Composition, Types, Properties, Uses. https://www.geologyin.com/2023/06/what-is-gabbro-and-why-is-it-important.html

^[21]  E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 149, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[22] E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus, p. 126, U. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

^[23]  John G. Morse, Apparatus For Extinguishing Fires, v. 47 Popular Science Monthly, August 1895. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_47/August_1895/The_Development_of_American_Industries_Since_Columbus:_Fire_Fighting_I

^[24] Alonzo Lewis, and James R. Newhall, History of Lynn, p.235, Herbert, Lynn, 1890. https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00inlewi/page/235/mode/1up?q=jenks

^[25] William Bradford Browne, Ancestry of Harlan Walker Jenks, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America, Rumford, Concord NH 1952. p xvi-xvii https://archive.org/details/genealogyofjenks00brow_0/page/n25/mode/1up

^[26] Hon. Jas. S. Grinnell. Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Extract from the Thirtieth Annual Report of The Secretary of the Board of Agriculture,  p. 9-10, 15, Wright, Boston, 1883. https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/101728750/PDF/101728750.pdf

^[27] Alonzo Lewis, and James R. Newhall, History of Lynn, p.235-236, Herbert, Lynn, 1890. https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00inlewi/page/235/mode/1up?q=jenks

^[28] Joseph Jenckes Sr., Wikipedia Article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jenckes_Sr.

^[29] Alonzo Lewis, and James R. Newhall, History of Lynn, p.233-4, Herbert, Lynn, 1890. https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00inlewi/page/233/mode/1up?q=jenks

^[30] Alonzo Lewis, and James R. Newhall, History of Lynn, p.233-4, Herbert, Lynn, 1890. https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00inlewi/page/208/mode/1up?q=jenks

Bruce A. Wright, Esq.     Copyright 2026