Margaret, Daughter of Jacob and Nancy Christlieb
1797–1855
The Christlieb-Chrislip-Crislip Family Association, in the 1980s, asked Association members to design and construct banners for each branch of the Christlieb-Chrislip-Crislip family. This banner represents Margaret (Martha) Chrislip, the eleventh child of Jacob and Nancy Christlieb.
Margaret Crislip and her twin brother, Isaac, were the eleventh and twelfth children born to Jacob and Nancy Christlieb. They were born on 16 October 1797, about five years after the family settled in Harrison County, Virginia.
This is Margaret’s birth entry as set down in an old family record:
Margaret was 24 years old when her father died. Jacob Christlieb wrote the following in his will which was drafted in April 1821:
“…I desire that my said two daughters Patty[Margaret] & Sally [Sarah] have out of my personal estate one cow, one bed & furniture, thereof and one spinning wheel each.”
It is apparent that Jacob was making every effort to provide for his two youngest daughters, who were unmarried at the time.
Harrison County Marriage Bonds, Book No. 4, p. 197.
Four years after her father’s death, Margaret married, 31 July 1826, David Jenkins. Their marriage bond was obtained on that same day. Assumed to be a clerical error, Margaret’s name on the bond appears as Martha Crislip. In the settlement of her father’s estate, Margaret appears as “Patsy.”
Margaret died at age 57, on 30 June 1855. She and David Jenkins had been married for 29 years. When David reported her death, he gave “Patty” as his wife’s name.
There is a possibility that David Jenkins was the son or a close relative of Captain W.K. Jenkins of Barbour County, West Virginia.
“The oldest commissioned Captain of Cavalry Militia in Virginia at the commencement of the [Civil] war was Captain W. K. Jenkins, of Barbour County. His troop of cavalry was organized September 1858, and he was commissioned Captain, October 12, 1858. This cavalry was called out by Governor Letcher, and was mustered into service at Philippi under Colonel Porterfield, May 22, 1861.” History of Barbour County, West Virginia, p. 247.
If a will exists for W.K. Jenkins, it may reveal if there was a relationship between him and David Jenkins. Another possible relative of David Jenkins may have been an Anna Jenkins, who was a contemporaneous resident of Barbour County. An unnamed and undocumented source gives Anna’s birth and death dates as 1797 and 1869.
Persons with the Jenkins surname number among the earliest immigrants in New England and Virginia, including a Walter Jenkyns who settled in Virginia in 1635.
Children of Margaret Crislip and David Jenkins
Elizabeth Jenkins (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Margaret Crislip3) [780], born 1829.
Jesse Jenkins (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Margaret Crislip3) [781], born ca. 1830; died 4 December 1900 in Doddridge County, West Virginia; married 1st, 10 November 1848 in Barbour County, Virginia, Ursula Reed, died ca. 1858; married 2nd, Elizabeth Costlow.
Julia Ann Jenkins (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Margaret Crislip3) [781], born 1837.
Isaiah Jenkins (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Margaret Crislip3) [781], born May 1839; married Rachel Ann Reed, born ca. 1839, daughter of Mahala Reed. Isaiah moved his family to Gilmer County, West Virginia, between 1870 and 1880.
William Jenkins (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, Margaret Crislip3) [783], born 1843; died 1 December 1859, Barbour County, Virginia.
