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Sarah
'Rebecca' |
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| Bluemont Cemetery |
Sarah "Rebecca" (Fawcett) Jenkins was born on Dec. 1, 1858 near Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the daughter of William M. and Naomi (Fortney) Fawcett.
Rebecca married William E. Jenkins (1852-1927), a native of Pennsylvania, and the son of James and Mary (Miller) Jenkins. They were six years apart in age.
William was a blacksmith, a portable occupation and much needed in good economic times and bad. When the federal census was taken in 1880, they made their home in the Lyon District of Preston County.
In 1889, they resided in nearby Taylor County, WV, most likely in Grafton.
Sadly, Sarah died at the age of 31 on Oct. 12, 1889. It's not known the cause behind why she died, or if she left behind any young children. She was laid to rest in the family plot in Bluemont Cemetery where her husband and parents later would be buried.
William outlived his wife by almost 40 years. He remarried, in 1891, to Louretta "Lourie" Collins (1876-1932), the daughter of George and Lydia (Tasker) Collins. It was his second marriage, and her third. They did not reproduce but were close with a nephew, Earle E. Jenkins.
They made their home in the Fetterman section of Grafton, with William continuing his lifelong occupation as a blacksmith. The federal census of 1900 shows them living together in Grafton.
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| William and Luretta rest next to Rebecca and first set of in-laws, the Fawcetts, at Bluemont Cemetery in Grafton. |
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| Grafton Sentinel, 1927 |
In 1910, the census shows that William had become a "general merchant" in Grafton. That year, nephew Dewey Collins, age 11, lived under their roof. When taken again in 1920, the census shows William and Louretta in the Fetterman District of Grafton, with William still employed as a merchant.
Said the Grafton Sentinel, William "was a member of the Baptist church, which he attended during the whole of his lifetime. For many years, he had been prominent in the business and fraternal life of this city, and had many close friends and associates..."
In about 1926, William began to be affected by hardening of the arteries. He suffered a stroke of paralysis in early December 1926.
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| Bluemont Cemetery gate |
After about two-and-a-half months of suffering, he died on Feb. 20, 1927, at the age of 74. Said the Sentinel, "He had been in failing health for about a year, but had not been dangerously ill until recently, when he seemed unable to prolong his years of usefulness, and the end came peacefully, as he had lived." He was laid to rest beside his first wife and her parents at Bluemont Cemetery.
Louretta went to live with her sister Martha Lanham in Independence, Preston County, and survived her husband by only five years. She fell and broke a hip in about September 1931, while at Martha's, and tried to recover. Sadly, her injury led to "interstitial nephritis" (kidney failure).
She died eight months later, on May 12, 1932, at the age of 61. The headline in the Grafton Sentinel read: "Hip Injury Kills Woman." She was buried beside her husband and his first wife in Bluemont Cemetery. Mrs. Rachel Turnley of Newburg, Preston County, was the informant for her death certificate.
Copyright © 2008-2010, 2019, 2021 Mark A. Miner