Elinor "Ellie" Jackson (born Eleanor Junkin)[1][2] (March 6, 1825 – October 22, 1854)[a] was the first wife of Thomas J.

Elinor was the daughter of the prominent Presbyterian theologian George Junkin, who since 1848 was president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia.

In 1853, Elinor met Thomas Jackson, then a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, at her father's home in Lexington.

Jackson was a frequent visitor to the Junkin home; the shy young professor and the old college president were united by common interests in theology and Presbyterian doctrine, and Elinor and Jackson both taught at the Presbyterian Sunday school in Lexington.

It resumed again, however, with Margaret's reluctant blessing, and George Junkin married Elinor and Jackson in August 1853.