Sarah Dye Jenkins was born in Fairfield District, South Carolina in about 1754. In November 1777 she married John Jenkins. Her husband had been on a furlough home during their marriage, but he soon had to return to his regiment in the South Carolina Continental Line before receiving his discharge in 1778. Shortly after their first son was born, her husband John again enlisted, this time as a private in the Fairfield District Militia. While her husband was away in service, first in 1778 and again in 1781, Sarah Jenkins had to raise their son Jesse independently and also help raise a crop in her neighbor's field.

By 1800 Sarah and John Jenkins were living with their adult son Jesse and his family. In 1810 they were listed as residing in Chester, South Carolina and by 1820 they were residing in Rutherford County, North Carolina. In 1827 John Jenkins successfully obtained a veteran's pension under the provisions of the Pension Act of 1818, which he only could have done if he and Sarah were living in indigent circumstances. Though their son supported them, John claimed to own no personal property aside from the clothes he was wearing, and by extension Sarah could not have had much personal property, if any at all, either at the time. After her husband died in 1830, Sarah Jenkins never remarried and continued to live in Rutherford County.

In 1839 while still living with her son, Sarah Jenkins filed an application for a widow's pension based on her husband's military service. Her application was successful and in December 1840 she was awarded a pension of $60 per year from 1836 until the time of her death. In 1842 she filed for a readjustment of her claim. Though they had credited her with her husband's 18 months of service in the South Carolina Continental Line, she asked them to recognize his two tours in the militia as well. However, before the pension office could reconsider her claim, Sarah Jenkins died later that year.