Dr. Philip O. Jenkins was born in Kentucky and educated for the medical profession in Louisville.

Since the war, Dr. Jenkins devoted himself to painting, and was one of the few miniature painters on ivory in the country. He was known also as an inventor, having patented an improvement on the electric light and other inventions.

He was a fellow of Wake College, North Carolina, and a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having belonged to Moore Commandery No. 6, and Oriental Royal Arch Chapter, No. 14 in Kentucky, and to Dawson Lodge, No. 5, in Washington.

Notable for having painted the first known portrait of Abraham Lincoln, in 1856. It was painted from life, before Lincoln had gained national fame, and before he had grown his famous beard. The painting was discovered in Illinois in 1990.