Life History

Notes

• The middle initial is reported differently in sources.  He was called "Bud" by his family, so family references do not commonly reference either first or middle name.  There are discrepancies in sources as to the middle name of William, as well as John Jenkins, whose middle initial was W.
  
  "It is just possible that Joseph's family lived in the Atlanta, Georgia, area when William, Lide and Amanda were born. Or perhaps they had relatives living in that area during the period they were receiving the paper.  Later known as "Bud," William accompanied the family from Georgia to Cass County, Texas, ca 1860."
  --  Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian, p 5, http://objgenealogy.com/articles/josephsanfordjenkinshistory.pdf
  
  Jimmy Epperson reports the middle initial as L.
  http://epperson.eppygen.org/FamilyTree/F014.htm
  
  In the 1860 census for Cass County, Texas, this child is reported as W L, which may be the source of the L initial in the Epperson compilation.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas, 17 October, Beat #3, Post Office Unionville & Cusseta, Page 73, Hse #483, Fam #495
  Jinkins Jno 32 M W Farmer 300 SC Cannot read and write
  Jinkins L 36 F W MS
  Jinkins N 14 F W MS Attended school during the last year
  Jinkins J W 10 M W MS Attended school during the last year
  Jinkins W L 7 M W GA matches William S in family sources]
  Jinkins M L 3 F W GA
  Jinkins L 1 F W GA
  
  Harold K Christian, however, finds family information indicating that the son born in 1853 was William S.  He appears in Cass county tax rolls as W S Jenkins.  Sources do not indicate what either S or L might have stood for.  It seems likely that the S was for Sanford, after his father.  Sanford is a common middle name in several Jenkins lines in South or North Carolina.  And it is the only name beginning with S in Joseph Sanford's family and descendants.
  
  William's mother died about 1868, and no census has been found for William's father and his children in 1870.  It may be they were traveling to the east and back, based on a story in family tradition of events while they were traveling across the country for some time.
  
  In 1875, W S was listed in the Cass County Tax Roll, along with his father J S and J S's new wife Louisa Christian.
  
  Texas, County Tax Rolls
  J S Jenkins, abstract #1013, original owner T Wood, 215 acres, $400 Real Estate value, personal property $140, Total $540, tax ad valorem $2.70, poll tax $1.00, total tax $3.70
  W S Jenkins, No Real Estate, personal property $65, tax ad valorem $.32, poll tax $1.00, Total $1.32
  Louise [Louisa] Jenkins, abstract #1076, original owner H Millsap, 160 acres;  $300 Real Estate value, total value $433, tax ad valorem $2.16, no poll tax, Total Tax $2.16
  1875 Tax Assessment, Cass County, p 45
  
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  Some think William (Bud) Jenkins never married.  But a census record in 1888 matches him in Morris County, the small county to the west of Cass County.  It is not far from Dalton, and the Jenkins farm was west of there, it seems.  One of William Jenkins' daughter was named Louisa, the name of William's stepmother, strengthening the likelihood that this is the same William Jenkins.  At age 25, William would have been born about 1855.  Joseph Sanford's son William was reported as age 7 in 1860, so born about 1853.  Two years in age reports is close in censuses.
  
  But this William Jenkins in Morris County may be the son of another Jenkins enumerated on the same page, Charles Jenkins and his wife Lucy.  Charles is reported as age 55 and Lucy as age 53, born in Georgia.  William reported his birth state as Georgia, the same also as for William the son of Joseph Sanford.  Charles reported his parents both born in Virginia, wile Joseph Sanford reported his parents both born in SC.  This William's report is inconclusive, as he reported his father born in Georgia but his mother born in South Carolina, where Lucy reported both her parents were born.
  
  Thus the identity of William Jenkins in Morris County is inconclusive.
  -------------------
  
  Family information indicates William died in Bowie, Texas, in Montague County. This is in north central Texas, along the Red River.  Mary Lydie died farther west and south, in Cleburne, Johnson County, south of Fort Worth.  Most of the information we have about the family is from Cass County, Texas.
  
  Harold Christian reports in his Jenkins Family History:
  "Sallie Christian said she once heard that Bud died while on a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas.  This may have occurred in the summer of 1888.  Sallie said she believed Bud was buried near Bowie, Texas."
  
  Bowie is on the Chisolm Trail, the major trail for cattle drives from Texas, to Abilene, Kansas.  (At various points along the trail and in various historical references the name Chisolm is spelled various ways, including Chisam and Chisom.

Sources

• 1. 1860 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 17 October, Beat #3, Post Office Unionville & Cusseta, Page 73, Hse #483, Fam #495
• 2. Epperson Genealogy
  • Name: Jimmy Epperson;
  • Jenkins, William L, http://epperson.eppygen.org/FamilyTree/F014.htm
• 3. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
• 4. Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910
  • 1875
• 5. Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910
  • 1874