I don't know if this is a connection or not. I didn't go searching but looked up on ancestry for a possible location for Willis Jenkins. It told me the only listing was for Smith County, No township listed page 238. I looked in the Online Images and in family 39 it lists the following:

Willis Jenkins age 55 Blacksmith born NC
Becca age 47 born NC
John age 17 born NC
Moses age 15 born MS
Willis age 13 born MS
Andrew age 10 born MS
Becca A. C. age 6 born MS

Hope that helps. Didn't have a chance to check out John Smith yet. I'll try to get to that later this week. Remind me if you don't hear from me.

Hope this helps,
Jennifer Dubal