Person:John Wilkinson (65)

1835 May 14, John WILKINSON md. Mary Ann COEN [COON], Fountain Co., IN.

1839 October 24, JOHN WILKINSON md. HARRIET B. JONES, Fountain Co., IN. Be it Remembered that on the twenty-Second Day of Novr. 1839 A Marriage License Issued to JOHN WILKINSON and HARRIET B. JONES both of the county of Fountain and State of Indiana and of Lawful age who was Legally Married and is thus Certified I do hereby Certify that on the 24th day of October 1839 I Joined together as Husband and wife JOHN WILKINSON and HARRIET B. JONES Given Under my Hand this 4th day of Jany. 1840. / H. S. Scott. J. P. / Recorded Jany. 7th 1840. --from the marriage record by the Clerk of Fountain Circuit Court, May 18, 1971.

1840 Jan. 4 (incorrect date; see above), John WILKINSON md. Harriet B. JONES, Fountain Co., IN. --Index of Indiana Marriages through 1850 http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/indiana/genealogy/mirr.html

1840 Fountain Co., IN, census, p.239A-B, Richland Twp.: line 12, John WILKERSON, 2 M & 2 F 20-30 (b. ca. 1810-1819); 1 F under 5 (b. ca. 1835-1840); 5 total; 2 engaged in agriculture. (John 1813, unknown male, Harriet 1816, unknown female; Frances 1836) http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/in/fountain/census/1840/0239A.jpg

1847 Jan. 1, John Wilkinson of Fountain Co., IN, patented 160 acres, NE4 Section 9, Twp. 69N, Range 12W, Davis Co., IA. --Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/

1847 Davis Co., IA, tax list, p.22, John WILKINSON.

1848 July 1, John Wilkinson of Davis Co., IA, patented 40 acres, NE4 NW4 Section 34, Twp. 69N, Range 12W, Davis Co., IA. --Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/

1849 April 10, John Wilkinson of Davis Co., IA, patented 80 acres, W2 NW4 Section 34, Twp. 69N, Range 12W, Davis Co., IA. --Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/

1850 Davis Co., IA, census, p.245B, Union Twp., August 29, 1850, Samuel T. Caldwell: 81/82 John WILKISON, 37 M, farmer, $2600 real, OH; Harriett B., 33 F, OH; Frances, 13 F, IN; Sidna J., 10 F, IN; Evans I., 8 M, IN; Moses, 6 M, IN; Evaline, 4 F, IN; Sylvester, 2 F[sic]; IA; Emily, 6/12, F, IA. Frances, Sidney, Evan, Moses, and Evaline attend school.

1852 Davis Co., IA, state census, John WILKINSON, p.28, Union Twp.

1860 Davis Co., IA, census, p.787, Union Twp., P.O. Troy, July 17, 1860, J. Dunlavy: 968/910 John WILKENSON, 46 M, farmer, $5800 real, $1200 personal, OH; Harriet D., 45 F, OH; Frances, 21 F, IN; Sydney, 20 F, IN; Even W., 17 M, IN; Moses, 16 M, IN; Evline, 14 F, IN; Sylvester, 13 M, IA; Emily, 11 F, IA; Manerva, 6 F, IA; Varner, 4 M, IA; Clifford, 2 M, IA. Sydney, Evan, Moses, Eveline, Sylvester, Emily, and Minerva attend school.

1863 May 4, Cedar Villa, Hamilton Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff wrote her cousin Tighlman Jones: "Evan Wilkinson has gone to California / I think he will have a gay time of it. I would rather enter my countries service and run the risk of my life in a noble cause. He will stand as good a chance of living there as he will croping [crossing] the plains"

1865 March 28, Troy, Iowa. Samantha "Mattie" Vorhis wrote her uncle Joel L. Jones and cousin Jane Love: "Slvester [Vorhis] is going to California [with] Cousin John Wilkinson / [text lost] so Sorrow for they say the __dians is so bad but thare / [text lost] I fear they will All git Fed / well let that ?suffice"

1866 October 5. John's daughter Emily died in Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., CA

1870 Sonoma Co., CA, p.421A, Santa Rosa, P.O. Santa Rosa, July 19, 1870, J.W. Hartman: 422/405, Jno WILKINSON, 57 M W, farmer, $4,000 real, $500 personal, OH; Harriet, 53 F W, keeping house, OH; Moses, 26 M W, of the family, $400 personal, IN; Sylvester, 22 M W, IA; Minerva, 17 F W, IA; Vernon, 14 M W, IA; Clifford, 12 M W, IA; Sarah B., 9 F W, IA. Minerva, Vernon, Clifford, and Sarah B. attend school.

1870 May 31, Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., CA. John Wilkinson wrote his brother-in-law James Love: "we came to this co[a]st in 1865 with all of our family except Even our oldest boy / he was hear / had him here too years and he went back the same fall that we came out / he bought aplace clost to the old place that we left and the balans are here except emley / She died the next fall [Oct. 5, 1866] / we are likin this county very mutch / the climet in pertukler / I think this is one of the fines climates that can bee found / healthley / plesant / land is high from 30 to 100 dollars per aker / rents is high / one half and one third of the crop / from 5 to 7 dollars per aker cash rent / we rase any thing here that we could rase in Iowa and froot of every kind that can bee rased any where can bee found here / crops has failed in some parts of the states on account of the drouth but in this part of the sate we have a full crop / we are done cutting our hay and have got the most of it hula [hauled] in / wheat and barlay is ripening fast"

1873 December 24. John's son Sylvester married in Denton Co., TX.

1878 Oct. 4, Sixteen Mile Stand, Hamilton Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff Hopkins wrote her cousin Jane Love: "We have not heard for some time from John Wilkinson as all communication from the south by mail was cut off during the yellow fever scourge. Poor creatures how I pity them, / several that went from Cincinnati as nurses and physicians were stricken down."

1878 October 26. John's son Evan died in Davis Co., IA.

1880 Denton Co., TX, p.46C, no Twp. listed, June 22, 1880, H.M. Murray: 311/332, John WILKINSON, W M 67, md. farmer, OH PA NJ; Harriet, W F 63, wife, md., keeping house, OH OH OH; Clifford, W M 22, son, single, farm laborer, IA OH OH; Sarah, W F 19, dau., at home, IA OH OH.

1880 Nov. 25, Burrton, Harvey Co., KS. Evan J. Love wrote his sister Jane: "you wanted to know how I liked Wilkinsons / I think much of them / Aunt Harriett was a fine Old Lady and uncle Jack cant be Beat, and Bell is as fine a young woman as you would want to see / I have Been aiming to write to her for a long time But it seems as I cant get time / what did she say they were all doeing / I would like to see them / uncle Jack Especialy"

1882 Nov. 12, Denton, Denton Co., TX. Sarah Belle Wilkinson wrote her cousin Jane Love: "one of Paps brothers is staying with us* / we have a very lonesum time / one of the boys lives on the place. Pap is building a house for a nother renter. . . . Pap myself & only sister that lives in Texas [Minerva] went to Mo to see our oldest sister** / she moved there a bout a year a go / I had not saw her for more than eleven years / we was not gon but two weeks / we had a very pleasant visit / Pap went to St Louis to the fair & we went a (?)l part of the way a lone / they did not know us."

• John's brother Aaron lived in Davis Co., Iowa, and was a widower by the 1880 census; Aaron is the only logical choice for the brother mentioned here.
  • Sidney Jane "Jennie" Gregg and Eva Jackson lived in Sonoma Co., CA, in 1880, and Bird Helm lived in Denton Co., TX. Jennie Gregg was a widow living with her son Pearl in Polk Co., MO, in 1910, and lived in Denton Co. with Bird Helm in 1920.

1883 Aug. 10, Sixteen Mile Stand, Hamilton Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff Hopkins wrote her cousin Jane Love: "We have just received a letter from John Wilkinson / he is talking of visiting us."

1883 Oct. 24, Denton, Denton Co., TX. Sarah Belle Wilkinson wrote her cousin Jane Love: "I would like very much to go & see you this fall but Papa & I cant boath leave home at the same time & he does not like for me to leave him a lone very long at a time, / he is going to Dallas to day & will not be back untill tomorrow / Merve & her husband will stay with me / Could not you & Zilman or L come down / if there was any one to tend to our things we could leave home much easyer"

1883 Oct. 30, Sixteen Mile Stand, Hamilton Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff Hopkins wrote her cousin Jane Love: "We have not heard from John Wilkinson since he wrote that he thought of coming although we have written to him but have received no answer"

1884 May 25, John Wilkinson md. Mrs. Sarah A. Parkey, Denton Co., TX

ca. 1885 Dec. 28, Sixteen Mile Stand, Hamilton Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff Hopkins wrote her cousin Jane Love: "I suppose in Texas they are almost ready to plant corn / We heard your uncle John Wilkinson was married again / did you hear who he married."

1892 July 1, Mason, Warren Co., OH. Ada Wyckoff Hopkins wrote her cousin Jane Love: "Do you ever hear from any of John Wilkinsons family / I never do."

1892 Dec. 10, Troy, Iowa. Ada Tharp wrote her cousin Jane Love: "Grandma said to tell you John Wilkison was dead / he died last Spring."

1893 Feb. 13, Troy, Iowa. Ada Tharp wrote her cousin Jane Love: "Yes it was your Uncle John Wilkison that died." Correspondence from the family letters and papers of Jane Love and her cousin, Lillice Jones Harper, courtesy John, Danny, and Dave Harper in 2001 and 2004, transcribed by Brenda Boyer

Revised and updated from a memoir written by John's great-granddaughter in the 1980s: When John WILKINSON moved to Davis Co., IA, in 1846, he sold his land in Fountain Co. to his sister and brother-in- law, Mary and John STEVENS. John remained in Davis Co. until 1865 when he sold his land February 7th and headed for California, probably traveling with the same wagon train as his daughter and son-in-law, Frances and Jasper NEWPORT. By 1866, John was in Santa Rosa Twp., Sonoma Co., where his daughter, Sydney Jane, married Isaac GREGG March 18th, and daughter, Evaline, married Edward JACKSON May 21st.

  Family tradition has that John went back and forth to California several times, sometimes by way of the Cape, and sometimes overland by wagon train, and was wagon-master on several trips.  In 1871, by rail to Kansas City, MO, he returned to the midwest for the last time (the transcontinental railroad was completed May 10, 1869).  There he bought teams of horses and went to Texas where he settled in Denton Co. five miles southwest of Justin where he was recorded in the 1880 census.  He owned lands in both Denton and Young counties, most of which he sold to his son, Sylvester "Tuck" WILKINSON, and to his son-in-law, Augustus "Gus" RUTHERFORD.  John's wife, Harriet Bell, died in Denton Co., July 9, 1882.  Two years later, he married Mrs. Sarah A. PERKEY or PARKEY, May 25, 1884.  John died May 13, 1892, and was buried next to Harriet Bell in Denton's IOOF Cemetery.
  [Observation:  Family stories and traditions don't always include much arithmetic and are invariably lacking in vital details.  John had his family in CA for six years, going out in 1865, and returning in 1871 (both dates have been documented).  Therefore, discounting the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, only two additional trips were possible during this period because travel was possible only in the spring, summer, and fall months, whether overland or by sea, thus consuming two summers for a round trip.  Note, too, that John was enumerated with his family in every census, 1850-1880.  If the tidbit is true concerning the trip by ship, it means that he most likely disembarked somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico -- probably New Orleans or in Texas.  If in Texas, perhaps this explains why he later settled there.  However, we do not know if he made trips to CA prior to 1865.  I suspect, though, that he probably did not, and if there were a way to know for sure, I also suspect that these interesting "extras" were probably thrown into the mix through Uncle Tuck's storytelling.  Nothing personal here against Uncle Tuck and his storytelling abilities, but the storytellers of the past had no way of knowing that later generations would struggle to verify the family traditions that they created.]

Additional information courtesy Gord Cook <gord_cook@@bc.sympatico.ca>

John and Harriet are buried in the IOOF Cemetery, Denton Co., TX.

See photograph of John WILKINSON at http://members.aol.com/wilenesmth/wilkinsonphotos.html and his and Harriet's gravestone at http://members.aol.com/wilenesmth/wilkinsonphotos2.html