Life History

Notes

• Most of the many genealogies of this family are deplorably undocumentated, so there is no way to tell where they got what they present, making them thus unreliable.  There are signs that most details is from genealogies just copying each other.  Some records are attached in a few.  One or two trees try to present a credible reconstruction.
  
  I have found only one that has any maiden name for Sarah Catherine, wife of Samuel Jenkins.  The Steakly Family Tree by Linda Turner has her as Sarah Catherine McFall.  The name is undocumented.
  
  This name seems, thus, to come from some family source that LInda has not botherred to tell us about.  On that assumption, I am filling the blank of Sarah Catherine's maiden name with this name McFall.  Perhaps that will lead to some record.
  
  One genealogy referenced here reports all the children, born up to 1849, as the children of Sara.  This would mean she was bearing children till she was 60 years old, possible, but not very likely.
  
  In the 1950 census, Samuel is a single parent, with a 1-year-old in the home.  These various genealogies report good detail of names, though some are missing, seeming to indicate information from family sources.  But various errors indicate lack of careful work.
  
  Sara Catherine Jenkins
  Birth 1790, Death Unknown
  Marriage abt 1810 South Carolina to Samuel Jenkins
  Birth Nov 5 1789 in Union, South Carolina
  Death Bef 1900 in Attala, Mississippi)
  --  Weber-Welsh, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20259609/person/1000347539
  
  "My grandfather was Joseph Samuel Jenkins, whose ancestors settled in Attalaville in the mid-19th.  My great grandfather was Owen Selby Jenkins 1837-1872; my great, great, great grandfather, Samuel M. Jenkins 1791-1850 & his wife was Sara Catherine; my great, great, great, great grandfather was James Randolf Jenkins 1760-1824, and his wife was Deborah Eliz. Darby."
  --  Joseph H. Miller, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 29 June 2016
  
  Another genealogy presents the names of the children fairly completely.
  
  Drusilla Jenkins b 1810
  Ephraim Jefferson Jenkins 1812 - 1880
  Anna Jenkins 1816 - 1880
  Samuel Joseph Joe Jenkins 1818 - 1863
  Deborah Amanda Deby Jenkins b 1819
  Margaret Jenkins 1820 - 1893
  Nancy Jenkins b 1820
  James Richard Jenkins 1824 - 1880
  Eliza Jane Jenkins 1826 - 1923
  Elizabeth Jenkins b 1826
  Owen Selvy Jenkins b 1837
  William Trazevant Jenkins b  1839
  Samuel Joseph Jenkins 1843 - 1862
  Sarah Catherine Sally Jenkins 1846 - 1860
  Richard White Jenkins b 1849
  --  Neely, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16192189/person/1757937233?ssrc=&ml_rpos=6&ftm=1
  
  In 1860 there is another young woman of 40 named Nancy who appears to be a second wife.  But this person was not reported in the 1850 census.  Nancy is 16 years older than Elizabeth in the 1860 census.  And there is a Bettie (nickname for Elizabeth) in the home with them in 1870, whose reported age is 13 years higher than in 1860.  There was no child in the 1850 census named Nancy, so it appears Nancy is a second wife of Samuel.  But several genealogies report her as a daughter, though she does not appear in the family until the 1870 ecnsus.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi, 18 September, PO Attalaville, page 203 (scan #463), Hse #1277, Fam #1396
  Samuel Jenkins 66 M Farmer $800 Real Estate $700 Personal  born SC
  Nancy Jenkins 40 M Housekeeper born SC
  Elizabeth Jenkins 35 F born SC
  William Jenkins 19 M Laborer in Farm b SC
  Joseph Jenkins 16 M Laborer in Farm b SC [b abt 1841]
  Dick Jenkins 11 M b Miss
  John Hawkins 25 M Farm Laborer $100 Personal Estate b SC
  
  From the age of Nancy and Elizabeth, it appears that Nancy is the second wife and Elizabeth is a daughter of the first wife.  All the boys named in the 1860 census appeared in the 1850 census with their widowed father.
  
  It appears that the first wife Sara Catherine (no maiden name) died at childbirth with Richard (Dick) in 1849.  She would have been 59 years old.  It is remarkable that she was still bearing children, with Joseph born about 1956 when she was about 56 years old.
  
  If Bettie is the Elizabeth of 1860, however, she has gained 13 years since the last census.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi, 24 August, Beat 4, PO Kosciusko, page 40, Hse #76, Fam #77
  Jenkins, Sam 81 M W Farmer $500 Real Estate $500 Personal born SC
  Jenkins, Nancy 50 F W  Keeping House born Miss SC
  Jenkins, Bettie 48 F W born SC

Sources

• 1. Ancestry Trees
  • Weber-Welsh, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20259609/person/1000347539
• 2. Ancestry Comments
• 3. Ancestry Messaging
• 4. Ancestry Trees
  • Neely, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16192189/person/1839194183
• 5. Ancestry Trees
• 6. Ancestry Trees
  • Neely, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16192189/person/1839194261
• 7. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 8. Gravestone of Anne Jenkins Burell, Fellowship Cemetery, Sallis, Attala County, Mississippi
• 9. 1850 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 5 September, page 105B, Hse/Fam #143
• 10. 1870 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 16 June, Beat #4, PO Kasciusko, page 39 (scan #117), Hse/Fam #135
• 11. Ancestry Trees
  • Neely, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16192189/person/1839194288
• 12. 1880 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas
  • 15 June, Prairie Township, District 2, page 21, Hse #142, Fam #143
• 13. 1860 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 18 September, PO Attalaville, page 203 (scan #463), Hse #1280, Fam #1399
• 14. 1870 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas
  • 1 July, Prairie Township, PO St Charles, page 6, Hse/Fam #42
• 15. 1850 United States Federal Census
  • 5 September, Township 12 R 5 E, page 209, Hse/Fam #134
• 16. 1850 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 5 September, page 105B, Hse/Fam #139
• 17. 1870 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 24 August, Beat 4, PO Kosciusko, page 7, Hse #93, Fam #95
• 18. 1850 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 5 September, page 105B, Hse/Fam #137
• 19. 1850 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 5 September, Hse/Fam #136
• 20. 1870 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 24 August, Beat 4, PO Kisciusko, page 40, Hse #76, Fam #77
• 21. 1860 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 18 September, PO Attalaville, page 203 (scan #463), Hse #1277, Fam #1396
• 22. Alabama, Deaths and Burials Index, 1881-1974
• 23. 1850 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 5 September, page 105B, Hse/Fam #135
• 24. Email Sources
• 25. Ancestry Trees
  • Neely, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16192189/person/1839194336
• 26. 1870 Federal Census, Attala County, Mississippi
  • 3 June, PO Kosciusko, page 5, Hse/Fam #33