Life History

Notes

• Most grandchildren called her Mamma Jennie (or Mama Jenny).  Some adults called her Jennie (or Jenny).  Her Christian grandchildren (Sallie's children) called her Grandma.
  
  Mamma Jennie came to visit us in Texas when I was about age 4, at my brother Gary's birth.  We lived in the country south of Quanah, in Hardeman County, Texas, at that time.  I usually saw her when we went to visit her and my grandfather in Chickasha, Oklahoma, about three hoursaway.
  
  I remember attending the funeral for Julia Virginia (my grandmother) held at First Baptist Church in Anadarko, Oklahoma.  I was 17 years old at that time, and lived in Arkansas. She had been living there in aretirement care center, near her son Thomas Asa. Her children had moved her there after her husband Joseph Asa had passed away in 1962.  I remember visiting her there many times.
  
  She was buried in Chickasha, however.  After the funeral in Anadarko,the funeral party processed to Chickasha (about 20 miles away) to theChickasha Fairlawn Cemetery for burial in the family plot, next to her husband, my grandfather, Joseph Asa Jenkins.
  
  The Family History compiled by Harold Christian gives the date of death as 22 Jan 1966, while the gravestone reports 24 Jan 1966.  The records of Fairlawn Cemetery report burial as 26 January 1966.
  
  The 1910 Census shows Julia V as wife of Joseph A, married 9 years.  Note that the birthplace of all the children's mother is reported as Texas.  This is correct regarding Sallie and Mary, whose mother was Hester Smith.  But what about the children of Julia?  Family tradition reports that Julia Virginia was born in Georgia, even though some censuses on her married children later indicate they reported Texas as theirmother's birthplace.
  
  In my earlier analysis of this I concluded that this should be considered a recording error by the census official.  Harold Christian 30 orso years earlier also had this view.  This type of error is numerous in the censuses of the 1800s.
  
  I saw in March 2007 that the problem is more complicated than that.I had overlooked the fact that in the 1900 Murray County, Georgia, census, while she is still in her father's household, Jennie's place of birth is reported as Texas.  I also outline below later censuses whichlikewise report Texas as her birthplace.
  
  1900 Census, Murray County, Georgia, McDonald District,  District 71,Page 5B, Hse #86, Family #89
  Terry, Thomas D Head M W  Jun  1857  42  m-20-yrs  GA SC NC  Farmer
  Mattie        Wife  F W  Nov 1861  38  m-20-yrs  NC  NC NC
  Jennie       Dau   F W  Dec 1880  19  single       TX GA NC
  
  For a long time I could not account for this.  Later reports in Oklahoma also report a Texas birthplace for Jennie.  Nothing in family knowledge accounts for this.  Some census reports on married her children report her birthplace as Texas, while some say Georgia.  Harold Christian reported that her obituary in the Chickasha Express newspaper gaveher place of birth as Dalton. Georgia.
  
  I had been unable to find any record otherwise of Thomas Duncan Terryhaving been in Texas for some short period when the eldest child, Julia Virginia, could have been born.  I thought it odd that the would have moved there about a year after their marriage, had one child, then moved back to the exact same place in Georgia.  But I did find that other members of his family were in McLennan and Milam County, Texas around that time.  It occurred to me that perhaps Thomas, a young, singleman, had joined some of his cousins in their westward trek, but then later returned to the family's home are in Georgia.
  
  I could not find Thoams Duncan and Mattie in any census for 1880, despite various strategies for searching.  Finally in August 2007, I found and entry in McLennan County, Texas, for T D and M M Terry.  While Mattie's middle initial is W, not M, the ages matched, and their marriage date of January 1880, made this look right.  It seems to be the proper family, and there are other members of their Terry family in the same county.
  
  I would like to locate a birth record for Jennie in McLennan County to definitely confirm this.  Lacking that, however, I do have a good source, just obtained in May 2007, that suffices.  In May 2007 my mother found some old family records she did not remember having, in a boxdiscovered while she was moving to a different house.
  
  There were several pages of family names dates and places in my mother's handwriting.  The list of births included a statement of birth of Julia Virginia Terry, with the birth date we have from other family sources, with the place of birth McLennan County.  My mother, Lou Jenkins, thought this information had to be from Julia Virgina herself, but the source of this family information was not stated anywhere on the pages.  Lou surmised that she had taken this down with all the other information on Jennie's brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents on both sides.  The information included some nieces and nephews also.
  
  About 1954-55, Lou had also gathered some information from members ofher family in Oklahoma and California, so it seems likely that this extensive family detail was indeed elicited from Jennie.  My cousin Harold Christian did not have access to this when he began compiling family information in the 1970s, after Jennie's death in 1965.
  
  I wanted to find more objective information to corroborate this family report in Lou's notes.  The 1880 census in McLennan County seems quite strong in supporting Jennie's birth in the same county where her parents and some other Terry family members were living a few weeks before her birth.  I hope that a birth record for Jennie will cap off theissue.
  
  Her parents were married in January 1880.  I have not yet confirmed whether that was in Georgia or Texas.  Some of Mattie's family also arefound in Texas and Oklahoma, and possibly Arkansas.  Thomas and Mattie's next door neighbor in the 1880 census is an E P Wall, age 30, bornin Arkansas, and there are other Walls in Arkansas, some of whom later shown up in Oklahoma in the area of Thoams and Mattie.
  
  In the newly-discovered family information form Jennie, there are twobrothers of Mattie listed also.  Though the name E P Wall is not included in the family information from Jennie, the location and the birthin Arkansas makes it likely this is a brother or a cousin, or perhapsa young uncle.  E P is 10 years older than Mattie.
  
  The next daughter of Thomas Duncan and Mattie, Nannie, was born in March 1884, a little over three years after Jennie's birth, in Murray County, Georgia, Duncan's old home area.
  
  As a child I always heard that my grandmother had been born in Georgia.  My father, Orville Lee Jenkins, commented on occasion about her genteel Southern accent, which was still perceptible in certain situations.  Of course if the family moved from her birthplace in Texas back to Georgia when she was young, she would still have developed this Georgia accent.  My dad may have just got some details confused in his memory of childhood information about his mother.  I don't remember evertalking to my grandmother about her birthplace.
  
  The 1910 census is inconsistent on the birthplace of Julia.  Georgia is indicated on her own entry, but Texas is entered for the birthplaceof the mother of her children!
  
  1910 Census, Stephens County, Oklahoma, 2 May 1910, District #239, Wall Township, Marlow City, Fourth Ward, page 18a, (scan p 251), Family #347:
  Jenkins, Joseph A. Head M W 43 m-2 9-yrs TX SC MS City Marshall
  Jenkins, Julia V. Wife F W 29 m-1 9-yrs 5/4 GA GA TX (should be NC)
  Jenkins, Sallie Dau F W 16 s OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Mary Dau F W 13 s OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Mabel Dau F W 8 s OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Asa Son M W 7 s OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Rondafay Dau F W 3 s OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Baby Son M W 2mos s OK TX TX (This is Arthur Carthal)
  
  In the census report above, there is an error in the age of the baby son.  The ages of other children match birth dates the family has, butthere was no child born at a time that would have allowed a child of2 months old in 1910.  Arthur Carthal would have been about 4 months old at that time.  The next son, Orville, was not born until 1912.
  
  The same census reports Julia's father's family, with names that match family knowledge of Julia Virginia's siblings.  Wife of Thomas Duncan Terry, Mattie W (Martha Wiley Wall), is reported to have been born in North Carolina, as well as both her parents.
  
  Earlier LDS data had recorded the mother of Julia Virginia Terry as born in Waco, Texas.  This coincides with the birth report in the 1900 census.  However, it was uncertain, since there are other Jenkins and Terry families in that area that appear to be unrelated to our families.  It had been considered an error up to now.
  
  There was one uncertainty related to the move of the family form Georgia to Indian Territory in about 1900.  The Terry family are still in the 1900 census in McDonald District of Murray County, Georgia.  It isknown that some of the Terry families from Georgia had migrated to Texas, while Thomas Duncan Terry moved his family to Oklahoma.  However,all children (living in 1910) were born in Georgia before the move.  That would mean the move occurred after 1905.  But Julia married Joseph Jenkins in March 1901.
  
  I note that Harold Christian comments at one time that Rama was born in Oklahoma.  This census report and some other indicators say he was born in Georgia.  But at least some of the family had already moved toOklahoma before 1901, because Julia married Joseph Jenkins in March 1901.  So if Rama was born in Georgia, perhaps Thomas and older children moved to Oklahoma early.  It seems more likely that the report of Rama's birth in Georgia is a census recording error.
  
  1910 Census, Stephens County, Oklahoma, 27 April, Richland Township, District 243, Page #9a, No Hse/Fam #
  Terry, Thomas D Head M W 52 m-1 29?-yrs GA SC NC Farmer
  Terry, Mattie W Wife F W 50? m-2? 29?-yrs 7/7 NC NC NC
  Terry, Nannie Dau F W 22 s GA GA NC Farm Labor
  Terry, Arthur Son M W 20 s GA GA NC Farm Labor
  Terry, Jeffie Dau F W 17 s GA GA NC Farm Labor
  Terry, Claris Dau F W 15 s GA GA NC Farm Labor
  Terry, Oeda Dau F W 10 s GA GA NC Farm Labor
  Terry, Rama Son M W 5 s GA OK?) GA NC
  
  I have now discovered that in the 1920 Kiowa County, Oklahoma, census, the birth place of Julia is again Texas.
  
  1920 Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma, 3 January, Mt View, District 14,Page 1A, Hse/Fam #1
  Jenkins, Joseph A  Head  M W 54  TX NC MS Farmer
  Jenkins, Juliva  Wife  FW 39 TX GA NC
  Jenkins, Ronda F  Dau F W 12 OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Author C  Son M W 10 OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Orville L  Son M W 7 OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Gladys L  Dau F W 5 OK TX TX
  Jenkins, Matty N  Dau F W 1 OK TX TX
  
  The 1930 census record for this family from Fort Cobb, Caddo County, Oklahoma, also reports Texas as the birthplace of Julia, as well as Joe.  This corroborates earlier reports that she alone of all the Terry children was born in Texas, though those after her were born in Georgia until the final child born in Oklahoma.  The presence in Texas for Julia's birth, followed by the subsequent presence of her family back in Murray County, Georgia, is still unexplained.
  
  1930 Census, Caddo County, Oklahoma, 1 April, Fort Cobb, District 26,p 9A, Hse #181, Fam #215
  Joe A Jenkins  Head  M W 63 TX MS MS
  Julia Jenkins  Wife  F W 49 TX GA NC
  Carthel Jenkins son M W 20 OK TX TX
  Orville Jenkins son M W 17 OK TX TX
  Lahoma Jenkins dau F W 12 OK TX TX
  Netheline Jenkins dau F W 11 OK TX TX
  Virginia Jo Jenkins dau F W 4 yrs 8 mos OK TX TX
  Rondafaye Jenkins dau F W 22 OK TX TX
  
  Note that Rhonda's name is written all as one name rather than two, as the family seem to have it.  It is also unusual that her name is entered last, though she is the oldest child still at home.
  
  In 1930, in contrast to the listing for Jennie herself, the record for her daughter Mabel (Mable) reports that Mabel's mother was born in Georgia!
  
  1930 Census, Stephens County, Oklahoma, 2 April, Ft Cobb Town, District 26, page 2B, Hse #35, Fam #46
  Mable Hill  Wife F W 26 OK TX GA
  
  This may mean that Mabel, and maybe other children, had over the years come to think of their mother as born in Georgia, when in reality the actual birthplace, as still reported by Jennie in her own census reports, was Texas.
  
  Julia Virginia died 22 January 1966 while a resident in Friendship Manor in Anadarko, Caddo, Oklahoma.

Sources

• 1. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
• 2. Gravestone of Joseph Asa and Julia Virginia Jenkins, Fairlawn Cemetery, Chickasha, Oklahoma
• 3. Various Jenkins Family Sources
• 4. 1910 Federal Census, Stephens County, Oklahoma
  • 2 May, District 239, page 18A, (scan p 251), Wall Township, Marlow Cit
• 5. Julia Virginia Terry Jenkins, personal interview by Lou Ila Jenkins, about 1955
• 6. Fairlawn Cemetery, Chickasha, Oklahoma, listings
  • Online Address now invalid
• 7. 1900 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 8 June, McDonald, District 71, Page 5B, House #86, Fam #89
• 8. 1930 Federal Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma
  • 1 April, Fort Cobb, District 26, p 9A, Hse #181, Fam #215
• 9. 1920 Federal Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma
  • 3 January, Mt View, District 14, Page 1A, Hse/Fam #1
• 10. Orville Boyd Jenkins, Personal Knowledge
• 11. 1900 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 4 June 1900, McDonald, Murray, Georgia, District 71, page 5B, Hse #87
• 12. 1920 Federal Census -- Oklahoma
  • Mt View, Kiowa County, District 14, Page 1A, Hse/Fam #1
• 13. Gravestone of Mabel Jenkins Hill, Fairlawn Cemetery, Chickasha, Oklahoma
• 14. Social Security Death Index
• 15. Jenkins Family Notes by Lou Ila Jenkins, uncertain source, 1950s
• 16. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
  • p 17
• 17. Marlow (Oklahoma) Cemetery List
  • Name: http://www.rootsweb.com/~okstephe/MarlowCem2.txt;
• 18. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
  • Joseph Asa Jenkins Family Group Record
• 19. RootsWeb Death and Interment Records
  • Interment Record for Rhonda Fay Boyd, http://userdb.rootsweb.com/cemet
• 20. Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
  • Certificate 49280, http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=4876&en
• 21. R Christian GED
  • Joseph Asa Jenkins Family Group Sheet
• 22. Asa Jenkins Family Interview by Orville Boyd Jenkins, 29 May 2007
• 23. Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
  • Certificate 47522
• 24. 1920 Federal Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma
  • Mt View, District 14, Page 1A, Hse/Fam #1
• 25. 1930 Federal Census, Caddo County, Oklahoma
  • 1 April, Fort Cobb, District 26, p 9A, Hse #181, Fam #215
• 26. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
  • p. 16; and Joseph Asa Jenkins Family Group Record
• 27. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
  • p 19
• 28. Joseph Asa Jenkins Family Group Report, Harold Christian GED
• 29. Harold K Christian, Pedigree Chart, January 1990
• 30. Obituary of Joseph Asa Jenkins, Oklahoma City paper, name unknown, June 1962