My Genealogy Hound

Hairl P. Jenkins, a prominent farmer and successful stock raiser of Prairie Township, was born in Sevier Township, Tenn., September 1, 1837, the third of a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to James and Hettie (Smith) Jenkins. The family can be traced back to North Carolina, and ultimately to Wales. The grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution War. The ancestors of the Smith family were originally from Virginia. The parents of the subject were married and lived in Sevier County until the death of the father in about 1849, when the mother and part of the children moved to Dunklin County, Mo., and here she married Thomas Brumley. During the war they moved to White County, Ark., where the mother died in 1883. The father was a farmer, was a Whig in politics, and the mother was a member of the Baptist Church. Their son, Hairl P. Jenkins, assisted his father on the farm, and received a limited education in the old subscription schools. At the age of eighteen he learned the carpenter’s trade, at which he worked for about fifteen years. In 1858 he came to this county, and has made it his home ever since, with the exception of a few years. June, 1861, he enlisted in Capt. Gunter’s company, Confederate State troops, and remained in service three months. In the spring of 1882 he joined Company A, Thirty-fourth Arkansas Infantry, Confederate States Army, and served until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Wilson Creek, Prairie Grove, Helena and Jenkins’ Ferry, and was never wounded or taken prisoner. After the war he worked three years in Little Rock, then moved to White County, and In 1872 came to Washington County, Ark., where the same year he married Miss Nannie S. Rainwater, who was born January 16, 1848, in Washington County, and daughter of John B. Rainwater. To this marriage were born five children: John T., James P., Ethel, Harvey M. and Jefferson P. Mr. Jenkins filled the office of deputy sheriff for a year and a half, is a Democrat in politics, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Jenkins is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Jenkins is the owner of over 248 acres of land, of which 175 are under cultivation. He has made every dollar of his money since the war.