Untitled
Surnames: MacGregor, Murphy, Meeker, Reamer, Bradley, Downing, Bitz
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - PAGE 70-72
JOHN T. WILKINSON, a resident of Platteville, Grant county, who was one of the bravest soldiers who fought to preserve his native land from ruin in the war of the Rebellion, was born in Indiana July 15, 1835.
Mr. WILKINSON is a Scottish descent. His great-grandfather, Angus WILKINSON, a man of property in England as well as in Scotland, joined the Scots and became a soldier of renown in the defense of his country. He had married a lady named MacGREGOR, a sister of the famous Highland chief dubbed "Rob Roy," and at the termination of the struggle he and his wife disguised themselves as peasants and came to America. Two of his brothers, William and Joseph, came also, and they settled in Ohio, where Angus WILKINSON passed the remainder of his life. One of his brothers was a soldier in the American army in the war of 1812, and the other went to South America. Their estates were all confiscated for a term of years to the Crown of England. A register of the family as far back as the sixteenth century, which our subject's great-grandparents brought to America with them, was destroyed by fire when their home in Ohio was burned, and the family have gone to considerable trouble and expense to re-establish the chain of descent thus broken. John WILKINSON, our subject's grandfather, was born on shipboard, during his parents' voyage to the country; he was their eldest child.
James WILKINSON, father of John T., was born in 1810 in Butler county, Ohio, and removed with the family from Ohio to Ripley county, Ind., where the parents died They had born to them five children, of whom James was the only son, and all are now deceased. In 1833 James married Rachel P. MURPHY, a lady of Irish parentage, and about 1838 went back to Ohio with his wife and young children. In 1842 he returned to Indiana, and located in Indianapolis; five years later he went to Illinois, and in 1850 came to Grant county, Wis., settling in the town of Liberty, where he entered a tract of government land at $1.25 per acre. About four years later he exchanged his land for the "Lancaster Hotel," in Lancaster, which he very successfully conducted several years, when he sold out and purchased a farm in the town of Ellenboro. There he lost his wife, and for his second spouse he chose Phebe BITZ. To Mr. WILKINSON and his first wife were born nine children, six of whom lived to reach mature years, and five are still living, namely: John T., the eldest; Daniel S., who resides at Gilman, Ill.; Elizabeth J., wife of Andrew MEEKER, of Cherokee, Iowa; William H., of Grangeville, Cal.; and Phebe M., wife of Levi G. REAMER, of Grant county, Wis. Mr. WILKINSON was a powerful man physically, and enjoyed robust health up to within a few days of his death, which occurred on his Ellenboro farm July 14, 1885. He was mild, kind and jovial by nature, was hospitable to a marked degree, and was universally respected. In politics he was a Democrat, but as an outcome of the war of the Rebellion he voted for Abraham Lincoln on his second candidacy for the Presidency.
John T. WILKINSON was about fifteen years of age when he came to Wisconsin with his parents, and is the only son still living in Grant county. When nineteen years old he entered the office of the Grant County Herald to learn the printer's trade, but two years later withdrew, on account of ill health. He then went West, and for nine months was assistant surveyor on a military road between the Big Platte river and the Yellowstone. On his return he attended an academy for a year, under a Mr. Page, and then himself began teaching; was also employed in mining for a while; and then commenced farming. In 1861 he married Miss Adelia A. BRADLEY, a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, but a year later parted with his bride to answer the call to arms, enlisting Aug. 9, 1862, in Company C, 25th Wis. V.I. He was at first assigned to the Minnesota frontier. In February, 1863, he was stationed for a time at Columbus, Ky., whence he was sent to take part in the siege of Vicksburg. The following winter he spent at Helena, Ark., and was on the Meridian raid in February, 1864; was again at Vicksburg; then at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and took part in all the engagements from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Ga. At the siege of Atlanta he was severely wounded by a gunshot through his left shoulder, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered. After the war, when he had become strong enough, Mr. WILKINSON re-engaged in farming. From 1884 to 1886, he conducted a mercantile business in Ellenboro.
Mrs. WILKINSON having become invalided, in the hope of improving her health Mr. WILKINSON traveled with her for a considerable length of time in the South and West. The winter of 1894-95 they spent in California, and another winter in Alabama. Mrs. WILKINSON however, on returning North, died Feb. 16, 1899, leaving an only child, Eva E., wife of George E. DOWNING, of Thornton, Iowa. Mr. WILKINSON is recognized as a gentleman of great intelligence, improved and refined by travel and contact with the world, and expanded by a somewhat cosmopolitan life. He has derived much knowledge also from closely studious habits, is well posted in history and general literature, and is an edifying and entertaining conversationalist. Fraternally he is a member of the F. & A.M., and politically was originally a Republican, but of late has seen fit, owning to the mutations in political policy, to change his views, and he now affiliates with the Democratic party. Retired from active business life, he passes his summers in his pleasant home in Platteville, in the enjoyment of the society of his numerous warn-hearted friends while his winters, as a rule are spent in the mild region of the south.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck