Joseph Jenkins (27 February 1818 – 26 September 1898), was an educated tenant farmer from Tregaron, Ceredigion, mid-Wales who, when aged over 50, suddenly deserted his home and large family to seek his fortune in Australia. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says that "Jenkins's noteworthiness stemmed from the rich documentation of his experiences and thoughts that has survived". He was a consistent diarist for 58 years of his life and a consistent if not outstanding poet, under the bardic name Amnon II. He achieved fame posthumously from publication of some excerpts of his Australian writings. The compiler, his grandson Dr William Evans, a Harley Street cardiologist, coined the title Diary of a Welsh Swagman by which name he is familiar to generations of Victorian school students for whom the book became a prescribed history text in 1978.

Joseph Jenkins was born at Blaenplwyf farm near Ystrad Aeron in Ceredigion, Wales. He was the fourth child of 12 brought up by Jenkin Jenkins and Eleanor (née Davis). In 1846 he married his second cousin Elisabeth (Betty) Evans of Tynant. They purchased the lease of Trecefel farm, Tregaron and had nine children, the last of whom, John David, was born in April, 1868.

Joseph Daniel Jenkins (October 12, 1890 in Shelbyville, Tennessee – June 21, 1970 in Fresno, California) was a right-handed Major League Baseball catcher who played for the St. Louis Browns in 1914 and the Chicago White Sox in 1917 and 1919.

Jenkins made his major league debut on April 30, 1914. He spent the 19 games with the Browns that year, hitting .125 in 32 at-bats. In 1917, with the White Sox, he hit .111 in nine at-bats. In 1919, his final season, Jenkins hit .158 in 19 at-bats. He played his final game on September 27 of that year.

Overall, Jenkins played three seasons in the big leagues, hitting .133 in 40 games (60 at-bats). He had two doubles, one triple and three RBI.

Though his big league career was over after 1919, he toiled in the minor leagues until 1930, when he was 39 years old. He spent seven of those years in the Pacific Coast League. In 1923, with the Salt Lake City Bees, he hit .350 with 23 doubles and nine home runs.

Following his death, he was interred at Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno.

Joseph Jenkins Roberts (March 15, 1809 – February 24, 1876) was the first (1848–1856) and seventh (1872–1876) President of Liberia. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, Roberts emigrated to Liberia in 1829 as a young man. He opened a trading store in Monrovia, and later engaged in politics. When Liberia became independent in 1847, Roberts was elected the first president, serving until 1856. In 1872 he was elected again to serve as Liberia's seventh president.

Roberts was born free in Norfolk, Virginia, the second oldest of seven children. His father was said to be a planter of Welsh origin. Joseph's mother Amelia, described as a mulatto who was quite fair, was the planter's slave mistress or concubine. He freed Amelia and her children when she was still young. Amelia gave all of her children but one the middle name of Jenkins, which suggests that may have been the name of their biological father.

Once free, Amelia married James Roberts, a free black. Roberts gave her children his surname and raised them as his own. Roberts owned a boating business on the James River. By the time of his death, he had acquired substantial wealth for an African American of those times.

Stephen Joseph (13 June 1921 – 4 October 1967) was an English stage director and pioneer of "theatre in the round".

Stephen Joseph was born in London, the son of Hermione Gingold and the publisher Michael Joseph (whose name survives as an imprint of the Penguin Group). He was educated at Clayesmore School in Dorset. At the age of 16 he became a student of the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he graduated two years later. From 1941 to 1946 he served as an officer in the Royal Navy, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

After the war he studied English Literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, leading to the award of an MA degree. While at Cambridge he joined Footlights and both wrote and directed La Vie Cambridgienne, a revue broadcast by the BBC in July 1948.

In November 1948 he joined the Lowestoft Repertory Theatre as director, then moved on to manage the Summer Theatre season at Frinton-on-Sea. While there he saw a production by Jack Mitchley of the Christopher Fry play A Phoenix too Frequent, staged in the round, which caused him to experience “a bee beginning to buzz at the back of my mind.” He returned to the Central School of Speech and Drama as a tutor, then in 1951 was granted leave of absence to study for a degree in playwriting at the University of Iowa.