Jacob Reece Jenkins (1855-1933) and
Mollie Ida Jordan (1862-1928)

2. JACOB REECE JENKINS, son of Jesse Mercer1 and Rebecca (Reese) Jenkins, was born in Greenville, Greenville County, SC, 25 Jan 1855, and died in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas, 20 Jun 1933. He married, in Cotton Gin, Freestone County, Texas, 21 Dec 1882, MOLLIE IDA JORDAN, who was born in Cotton Gin, Freestone County, Texas, 10 Feb 1862, and died in Downing, Comanche County, Texas, 2 Jan 1928, daughter of John D. Jordan and Jane F. Mayo.

Jacob Reece Jenkins spent the first years of his life in the Fork Shoals area of Greenville County, South Carolina. His father was a farmer, and Jacob was a farmhand when he was enumerated with his parents in the 1870 census. A few years after that, about 1873, his sister Rebecca and brother-in-law Thomas Rice moved to Texas. Jacob followed them to Texas, and was enumerated in the 1880 census living with them in Navarro County, Texas. He lived with them six years, according to a story written by his niece, Rebecca Rice Kelton.

"In 1879, Father bought 80 acres in Navarro County (2 miles north of Frost, Texas) of the Haggerty Survey. He paid $2.50 per acre. Then he lived on a rented farm. They moved into the new home in 1881. Uncle Jake Jenkins was living with us then. He lived with us six years."

Mollie Ida Jordan was living in nearby Freestone County with her widowed mother when she and Jacob married. The marriage was performed by Brother (Rev.) Groves, in the home of the bride, in presence of Mrs. Jordan and friends.

They lived in Navarro County, Texas from their marriage until about 1900, their first ten children born in the town of Frost. They moved next to Goldthwaite, Texas, where the last two children, Gladys and Ruth were born. By 1911, they were living in Comanche County, their land in the river bottom area on Rush Creek, 8 miles south of De Leon, near Downing. The first house there was one room with a wood burning stove. They had pecan orchards.

Mollie Ida Jordan was a Baptist for 34 years. She was in poor health for the last twenty years of her life. She died of heart failure, her obituary printed in the De Leon Free Press. Jacob remained a widower until he followed her in death five years later.

James Holdridge, although too young to remember his grandmother Mollie Ida, has a clear memory of his grandfather Jacob and his car.

Grandpa Jenkins
"My memories of our time in the house on Weatherford Street are few in number and very dim. One of the clear memories, however, is the sound of the feed mill at the family store grinding feed on a breezy summer afternoon. I remember Grandfather Jenkins visiting our house in his Model-T Ford Coupe one day just after having gone fishing. I found a small, dead perch in the luggage compartment which I wanted to keep, but was denied. This perch had not been dead very long, and I suppose I had not experienced at that time how badly a fish can smell after it has been dead for awhile."

Jacob Reece and Mollie Ida Jenkins are buried next to one another in DeLeon Cemetery, De Leon, Comanche County, Texas.

Children of Jacob Reece Jenkins and Mollie Ida Jordan:

  1. Edgar Reece Jenkins, b. in Navarro County, Texas, 12 Oct 1883; d. in Brownwood, Brown County, Texas; m. (1) Mittie Tollos, (2) Rowena Strother
  2. Effie Viola Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 28 Feb 1885; d. in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas, 21 Jun 1956; m. Arthur Van Nort; children Roy Van Nort, Winnie May Van Nort, Gertrude Van Nort
  3. Thomas Homer Jenkins, b. in Navarro County, Texas, 28 Oct 1886; d. in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas; m. (1) Gertrude (2) Etta; child Thelma Jenkins
  4. Carl Mercer Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 26 Aug 1888; d. in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas, 2 Oct 1934; m. Georgia Pearl Loudermilk, daughter of George Hardy Loudermilk and Susan T. Burford; children Peggy Jenkins, Raymond Jenkins, Norman Jenkins, Jack Hardy Jenkins, Bobby Carl Jenkins
  5. Willie Boyd Jenkins, b. in Navarro County, Texas, 1 Jul 1890; d. in Coleman, Coleman County, Texas, 23 Nov 1923; m. Vinnie Higgings
  6. Clyde Denton Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 1 Jan 1892; d. in Brownwood, Brown County, Texas, 17 Feb 1981; m. in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, 15 Mar 1918, Berta Millie Loudermilk daughter of George Hardy Loudermilk and Susan T. Burford: child Clyde Denton Jenkins, Jr.
  7. Franklin Clarence Jenkins, b. in Navarro County, Texas, 5 Dec 1893; d. in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas, 28 Sep 1961; m. Mattie Sanduskey; child Sybil Fay Jenkins
  8. Earl Haddon Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 25 Oct 1895; d. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 2 Mar 1897
  9. Roy Dudley Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 30 Aug 1897; d. in De Leon, Comanche County, Texas, 30 Nov 1976; m. in Panhandle, Texas, 22 Jun 1924, Dussie O'Keefe; child Roy Neal Jenkins
  10. Grace Claire Jenkins, b. in Frost, Navarro County, Texas, 22 Jun 1899; m. in Comanche, Comanche County, Texas, 24 Oct 1924, Joseph Hulsey; children Juanita Francis Hulsey and Virginia Grace Hulsey
  11. Nina Ruth Jenkins, b. in Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas, 21 Apr 1902; d. in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, 29 Mar 1949; m. (1) P.W. Hancock (2) Unknown Blalock
  12. Gladys Lois3 Jenkins, b. in Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas, 12 Mar 1905; d. in Comanche, Comanche County, Texas, 26 Sep 1993; m. in Comanche, Comanche County, Texas, 30 May 1926, James Marvin9 Holdridge, son of Horace Benton Holdridge and Mary Ophelia Morgan; three children