Eliza J. Jenkins was the daughter of Joseph Alexander Jenkins and Susan A. (Atterbury?), born about 1859 in Illinois, living in Carrollton at the time of the 1880 census. On page 235A of this census, she was age 21, living with her father and a stepmother and some younger siblings.

According to the social security application of William Jonah Robertson, Eliza was his mother, and Thomas Robertson was his father. There was also an association of some kind with someone named "Fletcher," known by the family as someone to find in the event of an emergency, but the relationship was unknown and no one knew where he was.

On page 233A of the 1880 census, I have found Thomas J. Robertson, a 25-year-old widower with a 6 year old named Ambrose Robertson and a 4-month old named Thomas F. Research on Thomas F. Robertson revealed his name to be Thomas Fletcher Robertson, born 24 Feb 1880, mother died in childbirth. Ambrose was Ambrose Henry Robertson, born in 1874.

Family legend indicates that Eliza Jenkins either married, or became involved with, Thomas Robertson and had three children with him - a single birth of a boy, and then twins - and died in childbirth with the twins. Stories handed down through Jonah's widow indicate Jonah was separated from his twin and his family and may have been raised by foster parents or some other part of the family. Names of the brothers may have been Charles or Charlie, and William (something?) Robertson.

It is believed that Jonah was born about August-September 1886 in or near Carrollton, Arkansas, and later lied about his age and place of birth on various documents and census records for reasons known only to him.

We would like to discover
1. What happened to Eliza? (when died, where buried?)
2. Was there a marriage record for Eliza & Thomas?
3. Were there birth records for the children of Eliza?
4. Where did Joseph Alexander Jenkins live after 1880?
5. Where did Thomas J. Robertson live after 1880?
6. Where was Jonah Robertson living between 1886 - 1905?
7. Is there a marriage record for William Jonah Robertson to a Mamie D. Scoles anywhere in NW Arkansas, for the approximate period of the summer of 1906?