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Note: <p style="text-align: center; "> <img src="http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~masonhalltn/wcpix/001.jpg"/>
<p style="text-align: left; ">My grandfather, Mr Tom, or T.S. as he was usually called, was born in Hardin County, Tennesee in 1883. He was the seventh of eight children of John Sanford Jenkins. He came to Mason Hall in 1901. His parents were disabled, indigent, and had lost their farm. During the Civil War his father was injured in battle and now suffered from scurvy he had contracted then and he could no longer work his land. At 18 farm labor was the only work T. S. knew. Times in Hardin County were especially difficult on the farms then and many began leaving around the beginning of the century. His siblings had already left for better opportunities in the Oklahoma.
At first I believed Mr. Jenkins came to Gibson County to work for his uncle and cousin. His ‘Uncle Bill’, William Neel Jenkins, had come here years earlier with his children Susan Catherine, Nancy, John, and Jim. They had a small farm on Cool Springs road near Morella Road in northwest Gibson County near Mason Hall. Their cabin was not far from the Base Line and Turnpike Roads, which was part of the Jackson, Tennessee to Hickman, Kentucky Road. Many the of early pioneers from the southeast in the mid-1800s used this route in their migration west. Hickman was one of the few points where crossing the Mississippi River was possible. But ferrying the Obion River between Gibson and Obion counties was difficult at times and many just ‘settled-in’ in the area waiting for improving conditions. William Neel may have well been on his way west too and couldn’t ferry the Obion River. William Neel’s grandfather, Thomas Jenkins of North Carolina, and his children traveled this same route to Stoddard County, Missouri in the 1840s.
William Neel's daughter, Susan Jenkins’ husband died earlier and she had only one grown son, Charlie Marcus Glover, to help her and her elderly father farm. Tom was about the same age as Charlie even though Charlie's mother was Tom's cousin. They became very close and even married on the same day. Tom married a neighbor's daughter, Mattie Lou Bradford but he continued working for Susan and Charlie until he could afford his own farm. Tom and Mattie started having children in 1906 and kept on having them for 23 years. With $500 cash and two $500 notes over the next two years, he was able to buy 31 acres in 1907 just east of the Bethpage Baptist Church down the road from the Fairview Store. It's been said he helped clear the land for the church cemetery.
His mother who had come here later from Hardin County lived with the family until she died. Some of the Jenkins children remember her but knew nothing of their grandad, John Sanford, and Tom's siblings back in Hardin County or in Oklahoma. After the first nine children were born, they outgrew the small home and Tom bought a 70 acre farm and bigger home in 1922 from Mattie's parents on what is now called Tom Jenkins Road, closer to Cool Springs. They now had 11 children to help on the farm. T. S. bought and sold hogs primarily but grew cotton, and with all those children, did not want for farm hands.
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Evidently his children didn't appreciate the joys of life on the farm, or the closeness of 14 people in a 4 bedroom house, and began leaving as soon as they were able. Jobs were plentiful 'Up North’ in the steel and auto plants of Detroit in the mid 30's. The oldest son and daughters were the first to leave. Garrett and Lorene went to Detroit with a neighbor, Waymon Hundley. Grace went to Texas to stay with her Uncle Charlie Bradford then moved to Detroit. Many of them left but most returned to Gibson County later on. Garrett died from Addison disease shortly after he and his family returned home. They lived in Tom's old house near Bethpage. Four other sons left home to join the Army when World War II broke out. Carl was able to stay behind to help his dad farm. All four of his boys returned safely after the war in the 1940's, as did the four Jenkins brothers two generations before. Mr. Jenkins’ father and three uncles, William, Alexander, and Richard were all veterans of the Civil War.
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~masonhalltn/wcpix/006.jpg"/> <p style="text-align: center; ">Jake ... Sully ... Ray ... Lloyd
<p style="text-align: left; ">Most of his children once having been to the city, were not interested in the farm life any longer and found jobs elsewhere. Grace, Lorene, and their younger brother Welton remained in Detroit. Jake stayed in the Army after the war, Naomi and Ora Mae married and lived on farms nearby. Sully and Lloyd found worked in Trimble, and Ray, in Kenton. Carl was the only son to take up farming and helped Mr. Jenkins farm until his retirement.
<p style="text-align: center; "> <img src="http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~masonhalltn/wcpix/002.jpg"/>
<p style="text-align: left; ">Mr and Mrs. Jenkins stayed on their farm alone for a few years after their children left though most of their children lived nearby. In their final years, Mrs. Mattie went to live with her daughter Lorene, but Mr. Tom insisted on staying on his farm alone, almost until the end. They spent their last months in a nursing home together and both passed away in 1973. They're with their children, Carl, Jake, Garrett, and Lorene in Bethpage Cemetery now. Tom's mother, his Uncle Bill, Aunt Eliza, cousin Susan Glover, and other nieces, and nephews are buried near him. When my research begun in the 1990s, none of the living Jenkins even knew of the William Neel Jenkin's family.
After discussing our family history with some of my newly-found second cousins in Hardin County years later, I found the real reason my grandfather was in Gibson County. Tom and a grandson of his Aunt Emeline, William Julius Welch, left Hardin County like his older brothers and sisters years before looking for new opportunities elsewhere. The two young boys left Hardin County on horseback headed to Alaska to look for gold. After several days’ ride they got as far as Gibson County, the Obion River, and Uncle Bill’s. Tom decided that the trip would be too difficult and stayed on with his uncle. His cousin did go on to Alaska, robbed and killed a man for his gold, and served time in prison before returning to Hardin County.
The research and the recording of this Jenkins story in 2005 from Rappahannock, Virginia in the 1600s to Mason Hall, Tennessee is now complete.
The passing of Tom's son, Ray, in 2011 marks the end of the 8th generation of this Jenkins line. Out of over 75 living Jenkins in this family now in the 9th, 10th, and 11th generation, only four males carry on the Jenkins name.
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~masonhalltn/wcpix/005.jpg"/>
<p style="text-align: center; "> The 9th Generation Jenkins, 1957
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