I was recently alerted to the identity of the person in this photo shared in December . I identified this photo as my great-uncle Levi Jenkins, it seems that was in error. Levi "Boots" Jenkins Jr.? One thing that seems apparent as seen in the last post here is that it seems the Jenkins name their children after their family. My grandfather Levi Jenkins Sr. was possibly named after his uncle. One of my great aunts - well Levi Sr.'s sister - Delia possibly named for her grandmother Delia Newman Jenkins. Of course, Garrison Jenkins - Levi Sr. grandfather was yet the namesake for the son of Willie Jenkins ( to whom there was a DNA match to me). EDITOR'S NOTE: Willie Jenkins is not to be confused with Tom Jenkins' brother Will Jenkins. Willie could possibly be the brother of Garrison Jenkins and thus the uncle to Tom, Will, Levi, and JayGou though to be honest his familial relationship to the family is not known beyond DNA. I also want to note that the picture shown a

Have you bought your kit? I was eagerly waiting my Ancestry DNA results and have spent a lot of time since about the first Tuesday of March assessing the results. It blows my mind that aside from having my DNA being registered from such African regions as Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, etc. I'm also registering 16% Celtic - Scottish, Irish, & Welsh and it's being assigned to my paternal side more than anything. Also they noted that I'm part of the genetic geographical groups of early Southern African Americans and my DNA is being registered in the area around Pike County, MISS. In my own research I have found some ancestors (not necessarily Jenkins) who hail from the counties nearby to Pike. Namely Amite County, MISS and St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. This is how I will introduce some other Jenkins I had found out of the 1900 US Census. Other than Garrison there were three other Jenkins men who were recorded that year all with their own families. And in my recent experi

Will Jenkins 1881? - Unknown I mentioned that in the early 1970s my mother had attended a funeral on Chicago's West Side with her Jenkins in-laws - see the Who was Uncle JayGou post. She visited the home of a Hollis Jenkins who is the first cousin to my grandfather Levi Jenkins and is also a son of Will Jenkins - the brother to the Head of the Table Tom Jenkins. Hollis' home was on West Adams Street at the time My mother and I had to do a process of elimination for who's funeral it was. She just wasn't sure who's funeral she attended back then. Hollis had died in November 1974, and my mother noted that she possibly met him at his home on the West Side or at the funeral. So the funeral of course wasn't for him. She mentioned his wife Daisy Lee Jenkins, however, she had died in 2008. Therefore, it wasn't her funeral either and my mother vividly remembered her at this funeral then. My own theory: If my mother was on the West Side of Chicago for a funeral in M

Garrison Jenkins 1820? - 1933 I can confidently identify Mr. Garrison Jenkins as my great-great grandfather. The evidence shows that he died on January 21, 1933. He died at last one year before his son Tom Jenkins. As explored in the most recent post regarding JayGou Jenkins finding him in the 1900 US Census out of Pike County, Mississippi shows him the father of both Tom, Will, and JayGou. I got a listing of deaths in early 1933 which was published in the Magnolia Gazette with help from the blog Pike County Deaths . Look at the eighth name listed under colored. In my research I've seen some discrepancies as far as his birthdate. His gravestone in the Spring Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery in Ruth, MISS it shows his birth year as 1820 which would make him  113-years-of-age at his death. It also mispells his name as Garson. Other birth years might be 1827 or 1835 likely found in other US Censuses where he's counted. In 1900 his year of birth is recorded as January 1838. Reality

One of my uncles decades ago mentioned the name of an ancestor and he used the name JayGou .  My mother told me recently that in the early 1970s she went with her family to Chicago's west side for a funeral. I have an idea who this funeral could be for. She visited the home on the West Side on Adams Street of one Hollis Jenkins. Hollis, the son of Will Jenkins , is Tom Jenkins' nephew and in fact the first cousin of Tom's oldest son Levi Jenkins. Another name my mother mentioned from that period of time is JayGou Jenkins . What she can't recall is whether or not he was actually at Hollis' home, nor whether or not she actually met him. JayGou Jenkins 1894-1984 BTW, I spell his known name that way for a reason which we'll get into later, at that time I didn't know what it represented it was clearly a nickname and I didn't know how to spell it. Decades ago I only knew about the grandfather I never met Levi Jenkins (he passed away before I was born) and it w

 I mentioned that my grandfather Levi Jenkins as one of Tom Jenkins' 10 children, however, through some digging on Ancestry.com it was discovered that Tom Jenkins also had a brother named Levi Jenkins (we could call him the other Levi Jenkins to distinguish him from my grandfather). There was a tip from an uncle that the origin of the Jenkins is in McComb, MISS which is located in Pike County, right on the Mississippi-Louisiana state line. At some point we'll discuss the Jenkins family (or families) discovered in Pike County. Great-Uncle Levi Jenkins was discovered through these findings. Also I had learned my mother - who married into the family - had actually met one of this Levi's sons little did she know. His name was Rev. Ellis Jenkins and in the 1970s she had met him through one of Tom Jenkins' daughters - Bertha Jenkins McGhee. Bertha was the first lady of a church in Chicago known as Christ Chapel Baptist Church located near Marquette Road & Racine Avenu