Jenkins Research - Changing Course

 At this point the only thing I'm convinced of is that M.O. Jenkins father is a Jenkins. After further review of the descendants of Drury who connect to my father and/or M.D. Jenkins I realize that the amount of DNA they share is nearly identical to those that descend from Joseph Jenkins and his daughter Mary Jenkins or Aaron Jenkins. This leads me to believe that there is a most recent common ancestor (MRCA) further back that connects all of them. 

Knowing that the current DNA matches alone are not helping me solve this mystery I'm in the process of changing course in two ways. First, I upgraded M.D. Jenkins kit to the Big Y. I'm hoping that will help pinpoint the MRCA on the Jenkins line that all of us can trace back to. Then I can trace all the lines down in order to find where M.O. Jenkins belongs. Second, I'm turning back to the paper trail.

I'm starting my paper trail search in Lincoln County, NC of ALL Jenkins that were in that area in the early 1800's around the time of M.O.'s birth. It's most likely that M.O.'s father lived in Lincoln County, NC in 1823 when M.O. was conceived. It's not like today when a man can father a child, hop on a plane and disappear the next day without having ever lived in the place the child was conceived. 

Wills are a great place to start with in the 1700's and early 1800's when you don't know who you are looking for, but you are trying to compile complete families. Census records are not that helpful in this time period as they only list the head of household until the 1850 census. I will start on Family Search with Lincoln County, NC Wills and Probates 1735-1970 North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:37SQ-2964-8T9?cc=1867501&wc=32LT-6TL%3A169766601%2C170752501

Each one of these Jenkins, listed on this index I will pull each of their wills, transcribe the will and compile the family. Then from there I will search for all records related to their family members and attach to the tree until each tree begins to branch out and possibly even connect to each other. From research I have done in the past of the Jenkins, I do believe that almost all of the Jenkins in Lincoln, Rowan, and Gaston Counties, NC are all connected to each other, so I plan to build out all of their trees and I'm certain they will all connect back to a MRCA.

This will be a lengthy process, and it may be a while before I have anything worthwhile to report. Hopefully, I will have the Big Y test back in the next couple weeks and I will report back with what that is telling us.