Great-uncle Will Jenkins

Will Jenkins 1881? - ?

I went to a recent family reunion hosted by the descendants of my great-uncle Will Jenkins and I'm sorry to have not shared this already it was held at the Dan Ryan Woods Forest Preserve near 87th Street & Western Avenue. My time at this event was unfortunately very brief, however, it was great to meet my cousins and from one of them I certainly got some good information on my uncle Will - the man.

It was interesting to hear my great-uncle referred to as grandpa Will. It was interesting to know he had his own favorite grandchild who is still with us to possibly tell us more about Will.

It was also interesting to hear about Will's wife Cora who lived on the west side of Chicago on Adams Street with her son Hollis. And I went over  what my mother had told me about her visit to Hollis' residence and that funeral whom we had to guess who it was for.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to talk to everyone on this day, hopefully there will be more opportunities. Though I will share what I have found on Will.

And yes the one thing that led me to find him and his wife. His brief interest in Tom's land  near Mound Bayou, MISS until he retuned that interest to his brother. His son Hollis was mentioned in this branch of the Jenkins tribe, however, no idea of the connection and sorry to say I never really asked.

Well once I found those legal documents I had to see what could be found on him. Via FamilySearch.org, here's a Bolivar County, MISS marriage record. For Will Jenkins and Cora Dancy

I should add that I already had found a US Census enumeration from 1900 in Pike County, MISS which showed Tom, Will, JayGou, Levi and their other brothers and sisters with Garrison and Delia Jenkins. It's in the post about Uncle JayGou.

And another piece of info as with the Head of the Table I found a draft card from the First World War for Uncle Will.

Born February 6, 1881?

Finally I wanted to share this Second World War draft card with Hollis Jenkins. Uncle Will is listed as a contact "who will always know your address"

I was hoping through my new connections with that branch of the Jenkins it's possible to determine about when Uncle Will passed away since so far that information is elusive.

Though it's still great that his memory continues through later generations.

What I would like to share with you all is how did Tom and Will wind up in Bolivar County, MISS?

And I look forward to further meetings with this branch of the tribe.