Hi guys, I am gonna post my genealogy again for the new members in hopes that someone new may know something about my folks, so here goes: Nancy Smith Jenkins married Harrison Jenkins on April 1, 1850 in Gates County, NC She was 22 and he was 29; Nancy's mother was "foreign born" and neither of them could read or write and they were both white and "from someplace? in VA" (though I do not know where in VA). Next door to them is: Ann Jenkins age 57 and living with Ann is James Jenkins age 24 ( I believe this to be Harrison's mother and younger brother, just a 6th sense I am going on here). In 1860, Harrison is still listed in Gates County age 40 and living with Anna Jenkins age 87 years ( believe this to be Harrison's grand mother....just another hunch). The neighbors in 1860 are the same as in 1850...Eure, Harrell, Parker, Smith...but it looks like they have moved into one house in 1860 and they are all living under one head of household...odd. Anyway Harrison is living without Nancy...AND they had a son named Joseph William Jenkins in 1859 who states that he was born in Portsmouth/Norfolk County, VA..so this leads me to believe that Nancy was up here where I live having a baby without Harrison and I can't find her living here in Portsmouth or Norfolk County under her own name, so she must have been living with relatives..(yes I need to sit down and go through all the people in Portsmouth/ Norfolk County for that 1860 census year..haven't done that yet). My mom said that maybe Nancy came up here to have her baby at a sister's house or Nancy's mom's house. OK, I'll buy that. But then I go to the 1870 census and find Nancy living in the Tazewell Taylor household, as a domestic servant age 40 (here the age is wrong) and her son Joseph age 11 is an errand boy..PLUS we find Laura Jenkins age 8 living in an orphanage in same city with Nancy. ( I have always been told by my now deceased granny that, my great great grand mother brought her kids up here and put them into an orphanage..and I have never been told that I had "any" kin on my Jenkins side...none at all...no one ever knew anything according to my granny, about my Jenkins. My dad always wanted to know about his people and never knew anything and died not knowing even what I have found out since his death...I did one time ask my dad's brother about our Jenkins and my uncle said, "You better not go looking up those Jenkins, you might find skeletons in their closets you wished you had never found, better to leave them alone....and that is all I ever knew). ok, so then I check out Joseph's death certificate....it lists that Joseph's parents are: Harrison Jenkins from "VA" and Nancy Smith Jenkins from "VA". I check out Joseph's first marriage certificate and it lists Joseph's father as: W.H.H.Jenkins and his mother as Nancy Smith Jenkins. Ok, so then I get an obituray on Joseph for 1926 the month and day and year that he died....and it states that Joseph is survived by a sister named... Mrs. Laura Murray of Norfolk and that a 'John W.Jenkins' is a pall bearer at Joseph's funeral and a member of the 'Odd Fellows' organization and is there to represent that organization. ok, so I call my aunt, my dad's sister, the only living relative I have left...she says that she never heard of any Laura Murray or John W.Jenkins and that the orphanage story is not true and that just cause I found a Laura Jenkins in an orphanage still does not prove that this was Joseph's sister. She doesn't believe Joseph ever even had a sister and tells me that "I don't know what I am doing"...she is in denial over all that I have found, even though I tell her it is in an obituray on him... she wants to get off the phone with me in a huff. Ok, so I figure if she really wanted to find out anything about her family relatives, she'd have said....oh, yippee...find all you can...but since she is defense and into denial...I figure she knows something and is hiding something from me. I don't know how to take my family back to 1840 and find anything cause the 1840 census only lists heads of households....and I don't know who the parents are of Harrison and Nancy or where in VA they are from....??? so, I can't go backwards unless I find their births in a family bible someplace in VA..... The only thing I know to do is check the soundex for Mrs. Laura Murray using the 1920 soundex.....I haven't been able to find the death of Nancy Jenkins in Portsmouth or Norfolk....but I wonder does anyone know what the name of Newport News/Hampton/Denbeigh/Warwick area would have been named back in the 1800's??? Cause I haven't checked for Nancy's death in that area, under the last name Jenkins....now I don't know if Nancy got married again either, don't know how to check that out either. My great grand dad, Joseph W.Jenkins married a woman from Mathews County, VA and I wonder why he was up in that area when Joseph and Nancy were last seen on the 1870 census in Norfolk County, VA....I do know that Joseph went to work at the NNSY in Portsmouth and I sent for his personnel records and it said that he worked for Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock before he went to work for NNSY (Norfolk Naval Shipyard)...now Newport News Dry Dock is near Mathews County area...and I wonder if he took his mother with him over to that area and maybe even Laura went with him, and maybe Laura got married over there...maybe even Nancy got married there too, or else died over near there....does anyone know the county name for Newports News area, so that I can check them out??? Oh, yeah, I sent for Nancy's marriage cert with Harrison and it listed a witness as: Wilkins and the man at the courthouse who singed it was a Riddick. I called Gates county courthouse the other day, and guess who answered the phone?? A man named Riddick....very odd that a relative is still keeping that job>smile< but Mr Riddick said he didn't know if there was any kin at all cause he did not know anything about genealogy...( I loved hearing this...aaaah!) I can't get anything out of Gates county folks, and I can't find out where the family started out in VA...I do believe that W.H.H.Jenkins stood for William Henry Harrison Jenkins....but that is only a guess.The marriage bond did not list parents of Harrison or Nancy...but I do not know if they sent me the actual Marriage Bond...does anyone know what one would look like?? I have checked out the Harrison that Amy has in her book, and that Harrison is 10 years older than my Harrison...:( Amy's Harrison is listed on the Loudoun County 1870 census as a man age 60 years..."my Harrison would be 50 in that 1870 census"). I don't know if the lose estate papers have an index to them someplace in some library so that I can look for Harrison's name in there before I send to Raleigh for the papers, does anyone know if there is an index to lose estate papers??? I also am taking a guess that maybe Joseph is named after his grand dad either in the Jenkins line or the Smith line....but have no way to prove this. Can some kind soul please read this epistle that I have submitted and give me some clues?? Also, can someone please suggest a true blue paid genealogist who can help me out with this, someone that has been tried by someone and has proven to be smart and seasoned in doing genealogy?? Thanks guys, please e-mail me if you can help, Susan of Tidewater VA PS I watched The Irish In America the other night and it said that Irish women took over the domestic servant jobs in this country...and that Smith was Irish, I go to the pbs site and go to genealogy on Irish and it says that the English Smith's went into Ireland to live...so they are both English and also Irish....does anyone know about this? I have heard that Jenkins, though a Welch name, there were many fellow Jenkins living in Donagal Ireland for some reason, which now escapes me....I am wondering if my Jenkins man was a farm laborer who just went where he could find work....oh, I forgot, because there "is no land deed for Harrison/or W.H.H.Jenkins in Gates County"....somebody please help me out with all of this, pleeease!! I am thinking about sendin this into Unsolved Mysteries....no kidding, I wonder if even those folks could figure this thing out! Does anyone know if Alex Haley is still alive? No kidding, maybe he would take this on as a challenge!? Plus does anyone have access to the Library of VA micro film for births? If so can you check Joseph William Jenkins born in 1859; Nancy Smith born about 1828; Harrison/W.H.H.Jenkins born about 1821 and look for any births on John W.Jenkins probably born near the same time as Joseph, maybe some time before or after...but only about 10 or so many years one way or the other???? And if Harrison is dead in the Civil War, then there are so many William Jenkins, that I'd be spending a lot of $8 for each one I tried to find info on, to see if he were my man...anyone have a better idea of finding this Civil War info on W.H.H./Harrison without me requesting all info for each and every William in North Carolina who ever served?? Plus my dad was named "Harry Jenkins...and granny just always said that she 'liked the name'...and now I see for sure that dad was named for his great grand dad, and boy he would have loved knowing that one!!! Yep I am long winded all right...heck folks I cut this one down to the bare bones for you and still I take up probably 4 pages! Sorry this is always sooo long. Thanks again, now will some loving, kind, generous, Christian soul please help me out, please??? _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]