Chicago Defender to the Rescue!

I love searching the Chicago Defender Newspaper online. Just when I think I’ve discovered all the articles printed about my long-lost family members or Texas families that I am researching, I find a gold mine of additional treasure.

So, I verified that Henry and Louis Jenkins were brothers. Now I needed to find where their children all disappeared after 1910.

Henry’s children were: Oliver, Victoria, Louisa, Henry Jr., Matthew, Lloyd Joseph, Profit, Clarence, Agnes, Maviola. Several of Henry’s sons moved to Texas, but most remained in Louisiana.

Louis’ children were: Robert, Prophet, Northern, Roselia, Campbell, Clinton, Aurelia, Horace and Ezekiel.

I’d found 2 of Louis’ sons on the 1910 census in Omaha, Nebraska .

Now comes the other really cool part!!

I was searching the Chicago Defender Newspaper via the Houston Public Library online resource. I typed in Jenkins and Omaha. And among the search results was a obit for N. Jenkins who was born in Iberia Parish Louisiana and died in Omaha, November 1935. N’s (Northern) children: Helen Jenkins Lambert and Guy Taylor are mentioned. Also mentioned were Northern’s surviving siblings: Robert and Horace of Houston, Ezekiel of Chicago, Clinton of San Diego, Orelia Johnson of Cleveland and P.H. (Prophet) Jenkins of Omaha. Northern’s funeral was officiated by Rev. J. S. Williams at Hill Side Presbyterian Church and he was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. He worked at the University Club.

P.H.  Jenkins was identified as a detective with the Omaha Police Department. Also, in the search results were stories about arrests that P.H. made, of his commendations and about his promotion to police detective. Included were the names of his wife Amanda and his daughters: Verdia Forman and Neola Combs. Even his church is mentioned–Zion Baptist .

And joy of joys, there was even a photo of P.H.! Another bonus in the search results was information about P.H. and/or wife Amanda visiting their married daughter Verdia Forman who lived in Chicago.

After I found out where the other Jenkins siblings moved to from Iberia Parish, I was able to read more about them in the Chicago Defender, through Ancestry.com., Familysearch.org and through old city directories.

I discovered that Ezekiel lived in Chicago and drove a cab and that Robert Jenkins had moved to Houston by 1915 and lived in 3rd Ward Houston with his wife Sophia and daughter Geneva. He operated a barber shop at 2411 McKinney Street. Robert died in 1943 and was buried in Jeanerette, LA.

I found information that P.H. died in 1956. His daughter Verdia married Sidney Forman of Marshall, Texas. They had a daughter who the named Neola. Sidney worked as a cooper (barrel maker) for a packing house.

So, I will continue to mine the Chicago Defender newspaper to see what additional nuggets of information are there to be uncovered.