William Edward Jenkins was born in Yorkville, SC and educated at King's Mountain Military Academy there. As a young man, he worked for the C.P. Poppenheim Hardware Company in Charleston. Then he became a traveling salesman for several hardware manufacturing companies. His first wife, Elizabeth Tobias, was educated at Charleston schools. About 1890, he moved his family from Charleston to Rock Hill, South Carolina where his third child was born. In 1893, they moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina where they were members of St. Steven's Episcopal Church. At the death of his first wife, in 1894, William's mother, Caroline Jamison Jenkins, came to be with him and his young family. His second wife was educated at Goldsboro schools and studied music at Rocky Mount, North Carolina. About 1911, he formed the partnership of Stansbury and Jenkins of Norfolk, Virginia, importers of cartridges from Germany, which was interrupted during the First World War. Before re-establishing his importing business about 1927, at Wilmington, North Carolina, under the name of Jenkins and Overby, he operated the old Hotel Morgan at Morganton, North Carolina for several years, and with his wife, successfully ran tea rooms at Winter Haven and Lakeland, Florida. After an illness which brought about his retirement, he returned to Goldsboro to be with old friends. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and duplicate whist. After his death, his wife moved to New York City to be with her children. She died at her daughter's home in Port Chester, New York and was buried at Willow Dale Cemetery, Goldsboro, where she had been a member of St. Steven's Church, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Colonial Dames of America.

Parents:

General Micah Jenkins (1835-1864)
Caroline Harper Jamison (1837-1902)

First Wife:

Eliabeth Tobias (1867-1894)

Children with Elizabeth Tobias:

Elizabeth Jenkins (1887-1900)
Sophie Jenkins (1889-1985)
William Edward Jenkins 1892-1856)
Latham Jenkins (1894-1894)

Second wife: Catherine B. Huggins (1878-1956)

Children with Katherine Huggins:

Micah Jenkins ((1898-1971)
Catherine Jenkins (1903-1904)
Kate Jenkins (1907-1980)