JENKINS, DELIA

According to her headstone, Delia Mitchell Jenkins was born on 10 June 1860.¹Geer Cemetery (800 Colonial St, Durham NC), Delia Jenkins headstone, photographed by Nicholas Levy, 12 Mar 2021.  Her parents were Willie/Wylie and Judith/Julia Mitchell, whom we first see in the 1870 Census in Mangum Township, Orange County NC, indicating Delia had likely been born enslaved.²1870 US Census Mangum: Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/35035670:7163 : accessed 13 Oct 2022. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Willie was working as farm laborer. Delia was one of 11 children, eight of whom were still alive as of the 1900 census.³1900 US Census Durham: Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/68132604:7602 : 13 Oct 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

Youngest child: 1880 US Census Durham: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13428577:6742 : accessed 13 Oct 2022. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

The family moved to the growing city of Durham around 1874, where Wiley bought 2 acres in what would become the West End neighborhood, placing him among Durham’s earliest Black property owners.⁴Register of Deeds, Orange County, NC. https://rod.orangecountync.gov/orangenc/ Book 42, p. 329. The 1880 census shows Willie working as a drayman (horse carriage driver), with subsequent records indicating he worked in this capacity for the Blackwell Tobacco Factory.⁵“A Dead Negro,” Durham Globe (Durham NC), 24 May 1893: p. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/61956268/?terms=Mitchell&match=1 : accessed 13 Oct 2022. Delia is listed as living in the family house in the 1880 census, but later that year she married Washington (a.k.a. Manse) Jenkins.⁶Washington Jenkins marriage license: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5470649:60548 : accessed 13 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. It appears that Washington was from the University Station area of Chapel Hill Township, Orange County, which is where he can be found with his brother Nelson in the 1870 Census.⁷1870 US Census Chapel Hill: Year: 1870; Census Place: Chapel Hill, Orange, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1153; Page: 169B. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20029048:7163 : accessed 13 Oct 2022. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

The Jenkins family and the extended Mitchell family lived on the 800 block of Chapel Hill Road (today named Kent St.) bordering Maplewood Cemetery. The 1889 City Directory lists Delia as a “sack maker,” crafting the muslin bags that loose tobacco, like Bull Durham, was sold in.⁸Turner & Co.’s Durham Directory for the Years 1889 and 1890 (Durham, NC: E.F. Turner & Co., 1889) p. 111, Jenkins surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25129 : accessed 13 Oct 2022). Willie died in 1893 while at work.⁹“A Dead Negro.” Julia survived another decade, passing away sometime after 1905, the last time she was listed in the city directory. Where they were buried is unknown, but it is possible that they rest in Geer Cemetery.

It appears Washington and Delia lived apart for much of their married lives, as he can be found in city directories for 1897 and 1902 and in the 1900 census living apart from the family, who was still on Chapel Hill Road.¹⁰1900 US Census Durham, and various Durham city directories. However, we do know they remained legally married from a 1904 property deed, where they are listed as heirs of property likely passed down from Delia’s father.¹¹Register of Deeds, Durham County, NC. https://rodweb.dconc.gov/web/search/DOCSEARCH5S1. Book 40, p. 61.

The Durham Morning Herald recorded the gory details of Delia’s death on 22 October 1905 from severe burns received from an accident while lighting the household stove, a common hazard of the era.¹²“Woman Burned to Death,” The Morning Herald (Durham NC), 24 Oct 1905: p. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/786309096/ : accessed 14 Oct 2022. She was buried in Geer Cemetery, where her brother Nelson Mitchell was one of the founding board members listed on the original 1877 cemetery deed.¹³Register of Deeds, Orange County, NC. https://rod.orangecountync.gov/orangenc/ Book 45, p. 89. Hers is the only extant headstone for the Mitchell family in Geer, one that mysteriously lists her death date as 22 October 1923, 18 years to the day after her actual death. The inscription on the headstone reads, “‘Tis not the whole of life to live, nor all of death to die,” an excerpt from James Montgomery’s hymn, “The Second Death.”¹⁴https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16455/16455.txt Search for The Second Death.

While no headstones exist for them, records tell us that Geer holds many of Delia’s family as well, including husband Washington (d. 1922), his brothers Nelson (d. 1931) and Samuel (d. 1931), and Delia’s sisters Beatrice Hayes (d. 1928) and Ellen Mebane (d. 1936), as well as potentially her parents, other siblings and children that died before the advent of death certificates.¹⁵Washington death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/143290:1121 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Nelson death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/72139:1121 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Samuel death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/217862:1121 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Beatrice death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Deaths, 1906-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/892022:60090 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina, Deaths, 1906-1930. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

Ellen death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/72139:1121 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Delia’s daughter Hattie Jenkins, born 18 July 1881, was the only one of Delia’s five children to survive to adulthood.¹⁶Birth month July 1881, number of Delia’s surviving children: 1900 US Census Durham.

18 July: Hattie Jenkins death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/645534:1121 : Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. She never married, and after Delia’s death she stayed with other family members, first with Washington’s brother Nelson, then with the Mitchells in their family home at 512 Dawkins.¹⁷Nelson: 1910 US Census Durham Ward 4: Year: 1910; Census Place: Durham Ward 4, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1108; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 0041; FHL microfilm: 1375121. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/152566295:7884 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: https://www.archives.gov/research/census.

With her aunt Ellen Mebane (formerly Mitchell): 1930 US Census :Year: 1930; Census Place: Durham, Durham, North Carolina; Page: 28B; Enumeration District: 0009; FHL microfilm: 2341421. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77138532:6224 : accessed 14 Oct 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. At the time of her death, on 17 May 1970, she was still living at 512 Dawkins, and her cousin Geneva Mebane was the informant on her death certificate.¹⁸Hattie Jenkins death certificate. Hattie graduated from North Carolina Central University and had a graduate degree from Columbia University in New York. Teaching was her life’s work, both at Durham city schools and at the nursery school at St. Joseph’s AME Church. The charitable causes she supported include the Ladies’ Aid Society, the Stewardess Board, the Vokamenia Literary Society, and the National Retired Teachers Association.¹⁹“Miss Hattie M. Jenkins,” The Herald-Sun (Durham NC), 18 May 1970; p. 14. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787503071/?article=670dc771-c4ec-492c-bb2e-3c550b649ab7 : accessed 15 Oct 2022. Hattie’s contributions to Durham are an important part of Delia’s legacy.

BORN: 10 June 1860.²¹Delia Jenkins headstone.

DIED: 22 October 1905.²²“Woman Burned to Death.”

BIRTH PLACE: Mangum Township, Orange County, NC.²³1870 US Census Mangum.

DEATH PLACE: Durham NC.²⁴“Woman Burned to Death.”

SPOUSE: Washington Jenkins.²⁵Washington Jenkins marriage license.

PARENTS: Wylie and Julia Mitchell.²⁶1870 US Census Mangum.

CHILDREN: Hattie Jenkins.²⁷Hattie Jenkins death certificate.

OTHER FAMILY: Washington’s brother Nelson.²⁸1910 US Census Durham Ward 4. Delia’s sister Ellen Mebane.²⁹Beatrice Hayes death certificate; Ellen Mebane death certificate.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Washington, Nelson, and Samuel Jenkins. Delia’s sisters Beatrice Hayes and Ellen Mebane.

OCCUPATION: Tobacco worker.³⁰1889 Durham City Directory.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 512 Dawkins.³¹1930 US Census Durham.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A