More Jenkins Data

About three weeks ago we published some information on the Jenkins family. It was stated that the first Jenkins of the name to come to this section of Middle Tennessee was William Jenkins and his wife, Nancy. We have found in the State Library at Nashville the following relative to this couple.

"WILLIAM JENKINS , DECEASED. Inventory of the goods and 'chattles' belonging to the estate of William Jenkins, deceased: Five head of horses, 11 head of cattle, three sows, six shoats, one bed, etc., two pots, one oven, one dish, one half dozen 'knife' and forks, one tub, two pails, one keeler, one half dozen tin cups, one half dozen spoons, one spinning wheel, one pair of cards, two plows, one grubbing hoe, one axe, one broad hoe, one old saddle and bridle, one gin. Return this day, March 2, 1807. Ann (her mark) Jenkins.

"State of Tennessee, Smith March term, 1807. I do hereby certify that the within inventory of the estate of William Jenkins, deceased, was duly exhibited in open court and admitted to record. Teste, Robert Allen, Clerk.

"WILLIAM JENKINS, Deceased, Memorandum of the perishable estate of William Jenkins, deceased, sold at public sale on the 4th day of July, 1807 as follows (viz) Articles sold, purchaser's name -- One white heifer, Roderick Jenkins, $7.00; one red heifer, Isaac Green, $12.00; one horn cow and calf, Nancy Jenkins, $13.43; one pied heifer, Nancy Jenkins, $8.33; one red and white pied heifer, Nancy Jenkins $8.00; one red and white pied heifer, Samuel Southerland, $4.16 1/3; one large pot, Allen Wilkerson, $9.00; one smooth-bore gun, Tandy Witcher, $5 1/2; bed and furniture, Nancy Jenkins, $5.00; one flax wheel and cards, Nancy Jenkins, $2.00; one pail, Leonard Jones, 50c; one piggin, Nancy Jenkins, $6.00; one set of pewter plates, Nancy Jenkins, 25c; one cooler (keeler), Nancy Jenkins, 16 1/2c; six tincups, Nancy Jenkins, 33 1/3c; five pewter plates, Isaac Green, $1.85; one small pot, Roderick Jenkins, $1.50; one Dutch oven, Nancy Jenkins, $1.50; one shovel plow, Nancy Jenkins, $1.00, one plow, Andrew Hesson, $, $2.33; one corn hoe, Andrew Hesson, 67c; one broad hoe, Nancy Jenkins, 16 1/3c; one axe, Nancy Jenkins, 60c; one bay horse, Leonard Jones, $21.50; one bay mare, Thomas Jenkins, $21.00; one bay filly, Maryon Jenkins, $21.00; one bay mare, Nancy Jenkins, $28.00. Total, $203.69 1/3.

"State of Tennessee, Smith County, December Term 1807. I do hereby certify that the within amount of sales of the property of the estate of William Jenkins, deceased, was duly exhibited in open Court and ordered to be recorded. Teste. Robert Allen Clerk"

Evidently the name of Mrs. Jenkins was Nancy Ann, for she had her mark made as Ann Jenkins. But in the record made by some other party at the sale, she was called Nancy Jenkins. So we jugde (sic) her name to have been Nancy Ann. That she was the widow is evident from the above figures which show that bidders for the property did not, in most instances, run up the bid on Mrs. Jenkins. The set of pewter plates cost Mrs. Jenkins only 25c; but the five pewter plates cost Isaac Green $1.85. A corn hoe cost Andrew Hesson 67 cents, but Mrs. Jenkins bought a broad hoe for only 16 1/3c.

A keeler was a low sort of tub in use 150 years ago. It was called a cooler in the sale. The gin listed before the sale was, we suppose, the flax wheel that Nancy bought. "Pied" means mottled or variegated and was applied to spotted cattle. Our father once owned a cow that he called "Old Pied", but we would have spelled her name, "Pide", if we had been called on 45 years to write the name of the old family cow.

A smooth bore gun was one without rifles in it. A shot gun is always a smooth-bore gun, but there were some smooth bore rifles many, many years ago. They were not accurate and were not to be compared with the gun with the rifles in the barrel. Bed and furniture meant the bedstead, straw tick and feather bed, with perhaps a quilt or two. Springs were unheard of then. A pewter plate would not break and chinaware was almost unheard of in pioneer homes. Dink Perdue, of Lafayette, reports that he has eaten from a pewter plate may times.

A piggin was a sort of pail or bucket with wooden staves, generally of cedar, with one of the staves extended perhaps twice the length of the remaining staves. In the top of this long stave, there was an opening or hand hold cut out, by which the piggin was carried from place to place. A Dutch oven was a baking outfit, generally rather shallow, made of iron with a top of iron and whose sides were raised enough that a lot of live coals could be placed on top of the oven lid or top. Thus with fire under the oven and fire in the top or lid, the contents, generally bread of one kind or another, were soon cooked. We saw them more than 50 years ago, and the sweetness and goodness of the things cooked in them still live in fond memory. Pots or kettles were very scarce in Smith County in 1807, for one of the large ones sold for $9.00, which would equal today perhaps $100.00. A small pot brought $1.50.

Hoes of various makes were common 140 years ago. Then they had grubbing hoes and we are mighty well acquanted with them, having been introduced to the first one more than 50 years ago. Then there was a sprouting hoe, which was sort of a weeding hoe, but made large and strong enough to chop off sprouts. The modern, goose-necked hoe was unknown then. In fact we never used one of them until we were perhaps 15 years old.

Roderick Jenkins was the son, we suppose, of William and Nancy, and was the ancestor to most of the Jenkins family in the Russell Hill section. In fact most of those whose names appear in the paper about three weeks ago were his decsendants. He was the man who married and Indian woman named Pack. Two other Jenkins mentioned amoung the purchasers are unknown to the writer, Thomas Jenkins and Maryon Jenkins. If any reader of this article knows anything about these two, please write us. We know nothing of Isaac Green. Samuel Southerland was a member of the once rather numerous family in Virginia and Tennessee. Mrs. George Oldham, who arrived in 1808 in the Peyton's Creek section below Pleasant Shade, was a Miss Southerland prior to her marriage. She had a sister that also came to Smith County, and was the wife of a Grenead. Allen Wilkerson, who paid $9.00 for the large pot, was perhaps the first of that name to come to Smith Coutny, and was very probably the ancestor of the Wilkersons of the Pleasant Shade and Difficult sections at a much later date. Leonard Jones is believed to have been the ancestor of the late Jesse and Guy Jones, formerly of Russell Hill. Their father was named Leonard Jones, and so was their grandfather. So it is assumed that the Leonard of 1807 was thier ancestor.

Andrew Hesson was perhaps a brother of old Arthur Hessian (sic), one of the earliest settlers in the Pleasant Shade section, and the ancestor of many members of the Hesson family in both Macon and Smith Counties.

Tandy Witcher, who bought the smooth-bore gun, was perhaps the first of the family of Witchers to settle in Tennessee, although this is only a supposition. We wish we knew more of the Witcher family, but we do not at this time have the opportunity to trace their line of descent.