Patience Jenks was born 13 August 1797, in Adams, Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Laban and Prudence White Jenks.  This locale was the second stop on the family’s migration from Rhode Island to Michigan.    There would be two additional stops along the way for the Laban and Prudence Jenks clan, both in the Berkshire Purchase area of New York.  The first was a settlement that was named Jenksville [named for the Jenks cousins who founded the hamlet and Grandfather became the first postmaster].  The second, a bit to the north of the first was a second setttlement named Speedsville — Grandfather opened a general store and also became the postmaster there.   Wanderlust did not stay hidden long and when the Michigan Territory opened up, Grandfather was ready to move again.

It was while the family was still living in New York that Aunt Patience married Nathan Park on 23 April 1815 in neighboring Caroline, New York.  The couple had three children: John, Oliver, and Emily Harriet (1816).  Nathan died before the Jenks family migrated to Michigan in 1822 and Aunt Patience and her three children came to Oakland County with her her parents and siblings.

After the migration to Michigan, Aunt Patience met and married John A. Williams.  The couple also had three children: Olive (1831), Edwin R. (1836), and John O.  The Williams family removed from Oakland County and settled in nearby North Plains, Ionia County, Michigan.  It was here that Aunt Patience died on 11 April 1869.