Henry Jenkins, son of Jonathan or not?

I had a good deal of information about lawyer Jonathan Jenkins of Rensselaerville NY.  He was the son of Samuel Jenkins and Mercy Squire and the sister of Sarah who married Thomas Watson of my RI line.  In 1809 Jonathan married “Betsey” Mulford and I knew they had son Charles in 1810 and daughter (Julia) Harriet in 1816.  I thought that was it. Then I came across a listing of beneficiaries from the 1842 will of Eli Hutchinson of Catskill. Named were Charles, Henry and Harriet Jenkins, children of Jonathan. Really? I had not heard of Henry.

It is difficult to identify children who were born in those decades before the census named everyone in the household. I went back to check Jonathan’s records in 1810, 1820, 1830 – there was more than one assumed son. I did not find Henry living in Rensselaerville in 1850 … but thought perhaps I had found him, with wife Jane and daughter Mary in Albany.

I searched around for more information on Henry and thought he seemed to be the one referenced as living in Albany and Hudson, NY, at times a banker, legislator and later referred to as a lawyer (somewhat of the “family business” for Jenkins). I stumbled upon death notices published both in Arizona and in New York (both Albany and Hudson) for a Henry who died suddenly in Tucson in Nov 1868 – saying he was from NY, had arrived in 1859 and “left family in Albany”. Was that him?

I followed Jane and Mary who were found again with Henry in the 1855 state census. I found a marriage record for Henry Jenkins and Jane Storrs in 1843. I learned that Jane was from Hudson NY and found her there in 1860 in the household of her brother George, a druggist. That would correspond with Henry having left for Arizona—but was he the “right” Henry Jenkins?

I really did not know how to verify my hunch UNTIL I found Jane and Mary with Henry’s mother Betsey in the 1865 state census. That pretty much convinced me although no relationships are recorded in that census. I had actually seen a Jane and Mary living with the widowed Betsey Jenkins earlier in my research of the family, but was unsure who they were & had no reason to think Jane could be a daughter-in-law since I knew she did not marry Betsey’s one known son, Charles.

So I still do not have definitive proof, but will look further for a marriage record, for some property or probate records than might confirm my assumptions. But I feel I can say that Henry WAS the son of Jonathan Jenkins and Elizabeth “Betsey” Mulford. One more item of interest is that Jane’s daughter Mary named her first born Mary MULFORD Wasson in 1868 – not long after moving out of her grandmother’s home.