Alice J. Johnson was the daughter
of Leonard Beatty Johnson, a prominent business man who once owned Johnson’s
Island. She was born in 1850 to Mr. Johnson and his wife, the former Permelia
Nettleton. In 1868, Alice was a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. On December 28,
1875, Alice J. Johnson married Charles H. Jenkins. In 1880, U.S. Census records show that Alice and Charles
Jenkins lived very close to Alice’s parents, on Columbus Avenue in Sandusky,
Ohio. During the years of 1879 and 1880, Alice was a trustee of the Sandusky
Library Association. This was before the construction of the Sandusky Library
building on West Adams Street. Alice was part of a group of ladies who were
interested in raising funds for the building of a public library in in the city.
On January 24, 1881, Mrs. Alice Jenkins passed away at the age of 31. An
obituary for Mrs. Jenkins appeared in the January 25, 1881 issue of the Sandusky Register. A transcription of the
obituary reads:
Death of Mrs. Jenkins
It was with painful shock indeed that a large circle of
friends yesterday learned of the death of Mrs. Alice J. Jenkins, wife of Mr.
Chas. H. Jenkins, and elder daughter of one of the oldest and most respected
families of our city. Mrs. Jenkins was seriously ill for several weeks. All
that professional skill and the most careful nursing of a devoted family could
do was done, but the time for the unseen messenger had come, and a lovely
woman, beloved by family in the deepest affection of the human heart, and
cherished by friends for an intelligence, grace and nobility of character whose
impress was felt in all the broader circles of acquaintance, has been called to
the other an better life, free from suffering and death. To a stricken family,
the sympathy of many friends is extended.
Mrs. Alice Jenkins was buried in the Johnson family lot at Oakland Cemetery.
