Teresa was born October 5, 1873, in Uniontown, Ky., to John and Althea Payne Jenkins. Her father was a physician. Both parents were descendants of Maryland pioneers through Nelson County. An uncle, Father Thomas Jefferson Jenkins, made a great impression on the entire family. Teresa spent her girlhood days in Uniontown where she attended the local elementary school. She attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy for her high school education and graduated in June 1895, with high honors. On the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1895, Teresa, with four other young ladies, entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. They were the original five to receive the Ursuline habit at Mount Saint Joseph on June 12, 1896. Teresa was given the name Sister Ursula.
Sister Ursula taught at Mount Saint Joseph Academy for 10 years. In 1906, Sister was called to Louisville by Bishop William George McCloskey to open St. James School, the first mission school taught by the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines. For 15 years, she served as teacher and principal of St. James School and as local superior of St. Angela Home. On August 15, 1911, Sister Ursula accompanied Sister Agnes O’Flynn to Washington, D.C., to present to the apostolic delegate an appeal for autonomy for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. Ten years later, Sister Ursula gave up her duties in Louisville and returned to Mount Saint Joseph as assistant to Sister Agnes O’Flynn.
Sister Ursula suffered a gall stone attack in the spring of 1922, and was taken to St. Joseph Infirmary in Louisville where she had surgery on May 2. She died that same evening. A Mass for the Dead was celebrated at St. James Church the next morning and Sister’s remains were brought to Mount Saint Joseph. On May 4,1922, Father James L. Whelan, chaplain, offered the funeral Mass. Sister Ursula’s remains were buried in the convent cemetery with the 23 other Sisters who had gone before her.
Sister Ursula Jenkins I and Sister Ursula Jenkins II were aunt and niece. Sister Ursula Jenkins II, the niece, entered, after her Sister Ursula had died four months earlier, and was given the same name.