Henry County AlArchives Biographies.....Jenkins, W. J. February 21 1851 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 26, 2004, 11:30 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   W. J. JENKINS, one of Dothen's wealthy business men and speculators, was born
in Henry county, Ala., February 21, 1851. He was a son of Wilson R. and
Elizabeth (Daniels) Jenkins, the former of whom was born in South Carolina, and
while young moved to Tallahassee, Fla., where he grew to manhood without
education. In 1840 he settled in Henry county, Ala., where he engaged in
farming, but subsequently lived an unsettled life, and in 1882 moved to Geneva
county, where he died in July, 1887. Mrs. Jenkins was born in Alabama, came to
Henry county while young, and there grew to womanhood and was married at the age
of twenty. She is the mother of nine children, all of whom survive. She is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Our subject grew up on the
farm, and without being able to read or write. Upon arriving at mature years he
began for himself by working on a farm for wages. He was married when nineteen
years old, and then engaged as a laborer in. a saw mill, working one month. He
then engaged to work for W. Carroll on his farm in Dale county, remaining one
year, then for Mr. Filcher one year, and also for John W. Branch, one year. He
had now accumulated sufficient means to buy forty acres of timber land, which he
proceeded to improve by building a house, clearing a few acres and putting in a
small crop. At the end of four years from his marriage he had saved $400, and
the year after purchasing his first forty acres he bought ninety acres more.
This he improved, and at the end of ten years from his marriage he owned 700
acres of land. He continued to farm until 1881, when he sold out and moved to
the present town of Dothen, then nothing but a cross roads with one small store.
Here he purchased 160 acres of land, and erected one of the best equipped mills
in southeastern Alabama. This contained a grist mill, a gin and a saw mill, run
by steam. At that time there were not more than sixty people within a mile from
his mill in all directions, yet he went ahead, got things to running smoothly,
and bought more land. After operating this mill for eighteen months it was
destroyed by fire. Previous to its destruction it could have been sold for
$2,500. He then built a steam gin, and later a steam mill, and continued doing
business until the town of Dothen started and the price of land began to
advance. He then turned his attention to dealing in horses and mules and lands,
and bought the first lot put on sale in Dothen, and also the second, and he
built the first frame house in lower Henry county. The first lumber sawed in his
mill was for a church and school house. The first land he procured at Dothen was
that upon which the business part of the town is now located. He was married to
Miss Cain August 21, 1870. She was a daughter of William Cain, and was brought
up in Dale county. She was married in her twenty-second year, and became the
mother of seven children: William L., at present a student of medicine at
Atlanta, Ga.; Elizabeth, now in attendance at the Female college at Tuscaloosa,
Ala.; Savannah, also at the same college; Marcellus, Arlevy, Adina, George W.,
at school in Dothen under Prof. Espy. The wife of our subject was a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church, south, continuing such until her death, which
occurred March 28, 1883. Mr. Jenkins was married the second time in 1883, to
Miss Adeline Benefield, daughter of Jacob Benefield. She grew to womanhood in
Henry county, having been born there July 20, 1861, and has no children. W. J.
Jenkins has witnessed the entire growth of the town of Dothen. within the past
ten years it has grown from a place of sixty-three inhabitants to one of more
than 3,000 inhabitants. To this growth he has contributed in no small degree,
especially to the upbuilding of churches and schools. He organized the first
music class in Dothen, and brought the first organ to the town. He was a
persistent worker for the introduction of the railroad, and is a stockholder in
the company. He owns about 1,900 acres of land, beside numerous lots in the town
of Dothen, and his income from his property is over $1,000 per year. He is
giving his children a good education, of which he was himself deprived. Mr.
Jenkins is in every sense a self-made man, and takes great interest in public
affairs.'



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 1096-1097
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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