Isaac Jenkins (1846 - 1911) was an American politician who served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 1880s.[1][2]
Jenkins was born on August 10, 1846, in Leon County, Florida.[1] An African American born into slavery, Leon lived on the farm of his owner, General Robert Butler, until the American Civil War broke out in 1861.[1] He served as a cook in the Confederate Army until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863.[1]
After being freed, he moved to Tallahassee.[1] He worked as a tinner for two years, then as a store clerk.[1] He married Mary Adkerson in 1860, and worked as a painter, clerk, and sexton of the city cemetery.[1]
Jenkins served as a Tallahassee councilman in 1876.[1] He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1880 and again in 1882, to serve in the 1881 and 1883 sessions representing Leon County.[1] Charles Rollins and Wallace S. Weeks were his fellow Representatives from Leon County.[3]
Jenkins was a Baptist.[1] He died on November 30, 1911, in Leon County, Florida.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Brown, Canter (1998). "Jenkins, Isaac". Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924. University of Alabama Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN 9780817309152.
- ^ Work, Monroe N. (January 1920). "Some Negro Members of Reconstruction Conventions and Legislatures and of Congress". The Journal of Negro History. V. ISSN 1548-1867.
- ^ House, Florida Legislature (July 15, 1883). "Journal ..." – via Google Books.