Which son of Joseph Jenkins was the Father of M.O. Jenkins

 

After looking at the grandmother of M.O. Jenkins, Elizabeth Hambright, and seeing the strong DNA connections between other descendants of Elizabeth’s Father, Fredrick Hambright. I am convinced that Joseph and Elizabeth Jenkins are the paternal grandparents of M.O. Jenkins. Now I must look at their sons as the possible father of M.O. Jenkins. This shouldn’t be too hard. They only had two sons, Hugh and David.

David was born in 1786 in North Carolina. There are two marriage records involving a David Jenkins in Lincoln County, NC.

A marriage record can be found for David Jenkins and Nancy Carpenter in Oct 1811.

From the wills of Hugh, David’s brother, and Hugh their grandfather, we can conclude that David and Nancy had at least three children; Margaret, Mary, and William. This also rules out the other marriage record as not connected to our David.

In Hugh’s will he leaves several pieces of property to his wife Susannah, and to his brother’s two youngest children William and Mary. No mention that he ever had children. His will was written in 1835. If he was the father of M.O. he doesn’t even mention him.

I went back to the will of Joseph Jenkins in 1821. It’s clear by that will that Hugh had no children at the time of his dad’s will in 1821. He leaves to his two sons David and Hugh the following:

I can’t help but notice something I had never realized before. To Hugh he leaves this property “during the term of his natural life and if he has children born in lawful wedlock then to him his heirs………and if he has no heirs………” But to David he leaves property and simply states to him and his heirs. It would appear that by 1821 David must have had children, which would make sense if he were married to Nancy in 1811, and that Hugh as of this point, did not have any children “born in lawful wedlock.” Is this a clue that Hugh had a son? Was Joseph purposely leaving him out of the will, if he were Hugh’s child because he was not born in lawful wedlock? Was this a way of saying that though he knew that Hugh may have had an illegitimate child, that child was not entitled to an inheritance because he was illegitimate?

I can’t help but notice that M.O. Jenkins was born in 1820 and raised in and among this family but is never mentioned in any of these wills. DNA also now confirms he was a Jenkins. How he must have felt to be so rejected in such a blatant way by his family because he was conceived, obviously by no fault of his own, out of wedlock.

I’ve researched both Hugh and David Jenkins lines. All hope of finding a male descendant to provide a useful Y-DNA test is lost. The only line that may have male descendants may also have endogamy, as Richard L Jenkins, the grandson of David Jenkins married another Jenkins. I have not yet proven their relationship, but it’s very likely since all the Jenkins in Gaston County (where David and is following four generations settled) and Lincoln County so far have all appeared to be related and can trace their ancestry back to Hugh Jenkins (Joseph’s father) or one of his brother.

In looking for male descendants of David, here is where the lines lead:

David and Nancy had one son, William Jenkins born 1817 in North Carolina. William married Lavinia Eaker. They had two sons, Christy (Christohper) and Phillip. Phillips line ends with one daughter. Chrisopher married Eliza O’Brien and they had one son, Richard L Jenkins. Richard married Cora Jenkins, the daughter of Jonas Grier Jenkins and Sarah Jane Bell. Though they had two boys, the likely endogamy on this line is not ideal. They did have three sons, James, Phillip, and Ruben. Ruben died young leaving only one daughter. Phillip died tragically when he was shot in the heart by his father at the age of 20, leaving no children. That’s a story I’d like to dig into deeper someday, but for now I’m on a mission. James had two sons, James and Robert. The potential endogamy may affect autosomal DNA research in the amount of shared centimorgans, however, I'm not sure how it will affect the Y-DNA which only follows from father to father. I will continue on and see if I can find a direct male descendant of David Jenkins.

I would also be remiss if I did not address the possible endogamy regarding Richard Jenkins and Cora Jenkins. I did trace Cora's line back to a Harrison Jenkins born in Lincoln County, NC. This is very concerning. It's very possible that Richard and Cora were as much as 3rd or 4th cousins. At this time I cannot quiet connect Harrison her great grandfather to my Jenkins line, but considering they are all from the same place in North Caroline, it's not far fetched that they possibly be related. This will skew the DNA a bit, but I will continue on with that possibility in mind.