Adventures in Ancestry DNA...

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 experience with genetic genealogy, there were matches through these other Jenkins.

What caught my eye about all of them was that they all listed themselves as being born in Mississippi, however, all of them listed their parents (mother & father) as being born in Virginia. This was too coincidental for me to believe they weren't related.

In the post about JayGou I shared the census enumeration of Garrison, wife Delia, and their children which included Will, Tom, Levi (spelled Levy), and Jay G (JayGou). The other Jenkins and their families are seen below.

YOU'RE FREE TO click on the below images to enlarge them

Just below Garrison is Bob Jenkins and his family.

Then at the bottom of that page is Wille Jenkins and his family

And then at the top of the next page is John Jenkins and his family

For all the men (husbands, heads of families) you see all were born in Mississippi and their parents were born in Virginia. And as stated I've got DNA matches through both John and Willie Jenkins.

One match I discovered was through Willie's son Floyd who wasn't yet born at the time of the 1900 US Census. And also note that Floyd has an older brother named Garrison. As you might see with Tom's brothers there seems to be the need to name their children after their family.

As indicated earlier my grandfather Levi Jenkins was likely named after his uncle Levi. I'd be willing to guess my great-uncle Will Jenkins was named for his uncle Willie Jenkins. Incidentally in the 1900 Census, Will was listed as Willie under his father Garrison Jenkins.

As for the matches to John Jenkins, I see evidence of a couple of people who are DNA matches through one of John's sons DeWitt Jenkins. You will see him in the 1900 US Census as well with John's family.

One piece of advice I got from my distant Jenkins cousins was to research Jenkins out of Walthall & Marion County, Mississippi.

As for where my searches for Jenkins takes me I found evidence of Jenkins out of Clarksville, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas and Virginia. Of course what will be difficult is to see if there is a true connection between all these Jenkins. I can at least connect the dots somewhat between Lousiana, Mississippi, and Virginia at least.

The next question becomes how many of us Jenkins are out there?