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Thomas Jenkins |
Thomas Jenkins was born 1804 in Tennessee, most likely in Cocke County. Although Thomas' parents are known to have lived in Cocke County during the 1820's and 1830's, it is not known if they were living here when Thomas was born.
Indeed, very little is known of Thomas' life. He probably met and married Nancy LaNetta Rose in Cocke County before moving to Polk County, Tennessee sometime during the 1820's. We know he was living here by 1830 since his daughter, Delilah, was born in Polk that year. He settled his family on a farm near the small town of Benton.
Nothing is known of Nancy LaNetta Rose's heritage. The only fact we have is that she was born 1808 in South Carolina.
Thomas remained in Polk County until the late 1850's and possibly as late as 1860. During this time they had at least twelve children: Tilman Allen in 1826, John in 1828, Delilah in 1830, Nancy E. "Camelia" in 1831, Rutherford Buck in 1835, Joseph Alexander in 1837, Eleanor Jenkins in 1840, Thomas Jr. in 1841,Abraham in 1843, William in 1848, Elizabeth Jane in 1851, and Louise Ann (date unknown).
Around 1860, Thomas moved westward to Arkansas. They settled near Alpena, which lies near the Boone/Carroll county line and in which county they established their farm is unknown. When they first moved into the area, they dug up the dirt floors of neighbor's smokehouses to boil and extract the salt from the soil.
While Thomas and Nancy likely lived out their lives near Alpena, it is unknown when or where they died.
E-Mail: denis@kcnet.com