BIO: The Wilkeson Family; Buffalo, Erie Co., NY

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen

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MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY NEW YORK
VOLUME I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL, ILLUSTRATED, PUB. 1906-8

THE WILKESON FAMILY. The founder of the American branch of the Wilkeson family
was John Wilkeson, who, with his wife, Mary Robinson, came to this country in
1760, and settled in Delaware. Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War,
John Wilkeson entered the Patriot army with the commission of Lieutenant, and
served until the end of the war.

SAMUEL WILKESON, son of John and Mary Robinson Wilkeson, was born in 1781, at
Carlisle, Pa., and in his infancy he accompanied his parents to Washington
County, Pa., where his education was obtained in a log school-house. After his
father’s death, Samuel Wilkeson settled in Southeastern Ohio. Later he removed
his family to Chautauqua, N. Y., and engaged in boat building. During the War
of 1812 he built a fleet of transports for the Government, and took part in
the defense of Buffalo. At the close of the War of 1812 he removed to Buffalo,
where social and civic conditions had become unsettled to a degree that
threatened the total disruption of law and order. It was to Samuel Wilkeson
that the people turned to defend the rights of honest citizenship in this
crisis, and in 1815 he was induced to accept the then important office of
justice of the peace. Up to the time he was elected a magistrate he had
probably never opened a law-book, yet he rose to the situation in a manner
which made his record as a justice, and later as a judge, memorable in time
annals of jurisprudence in Buffalo. In February, 1821, he was appointed First
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County. In 1824 Judge Wilkeson was
elected to the State Senate, and in 1836 he was elected Mayor of Buffalo. He
was among the leading advocates of the Erie Canal, and in 1822 he successfully
argued before the Canal Commissioners the claim of Buffalo to be chosen as the
canal’s western terminus in preference to Black Rock. Among the many episodes
of Judge Wilkeson’s eventful life, his connection with the building of Buffalo
Harbor has won for him the most accurately defined place in local history.
While Judge Wilkeson was occupied with public services, his business activity
was undiminished. He was a merchant, warehouseman, vessel owner and lake
forwarder. He built the first iron foundry ever erected in Buffalo, and a
section of the Erie Canal. The death of Judge Wilkeson occurred in July, 1848,
in his 67th year.

Judge Wilkeson was married three times. His first wife was Jean Oram, daughter
of James Oram, who was of Scotch-Irish extraction and served through the War
of the Revolution. The second wife of Judge Wilkeson was Sarah St. John, of
Buffalo. His third wife was Mary Peters, who was famous as an educator of
girls. Judge Wilkeson was the father of six children, all issue of his first
marriage. They were Elizabeth, John, Eli, William, Louise and Samuel.

JOHN WILKESON, eldest son of Judge Samuel Wilkeson, was born October 28, 1806.
When a young man he went t.o Central America, and on returning to the United
States in 1840, he became secretary to his father. Two years afterward,
President Tyler appointed him United States Consul to Turk's Island, in the
West Indies. After he resigned from his consulship, Mr. Wilkeson spent many
years in iron manufacture. In 1858 he built one of the first elevators on the
Buffalo lake front. He was a strong Republican and a personal friend of
Millard Fillmore, with whom he made a trip to Europe in 1866.

In 1832, Mr. Wilkeson married Maria Louise Wilkes, of Portsmouth, England, a
daughter of William David Wilkes and E1izabeth Fry. Mr. Wilkeson was the
father of three children, John Wilkes, Col. Samuel H. and Maria Louise
Wllkeson. The death of John Wilkeson occurred on the 4th of April, 1894.

COL. SAMUEL H. WILKESON, second son of John Wilkeson was born in 1836. With
the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 21st New York Volunteer
Infantry, as First Lieutenant of Company H. On February 22, 1862, Col.
Wilkeson was mustered into the 11th N. Y. Cavalry (Scott's 900) as Captain of
Company C. he was promoted to Major June 24, 1862, Lieut. Colonel December 24,
1862, and Colonel March 15, 1865, and was discharged March 21, 1865, at
Memphis, Tenn. In the Davidson raid in the far South, he was Inspector General
in the field, and was the commanding Lieutenant-Colonel in the Ripley raid. In
addition to his services in Maryland and Virginia, he served in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and West Tennessee. His official stay in the Gulf Departnient
lasted eighteen months. In August, 1864, he participated in the Mobile
expedition, as an officer on the staff of Gen. Gordon Granger. His total time
of active service lasted about four years.

In 1868. Col. Wilkeson married Matilda Gertrude Franks. Mrs. Wilkeson was born
on Mackinac Island, November 4, 1849, and died in Buffalo, February 24, 1903.
She was prominent in the affairs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, for many
years was a member of the managing board of the Church Charities Foundation,
amid was actively interested in the charities of her own church, St. Mary’s on
the Hill. Mrs. Wilkeson is survived by her husband and six children, Jolmn,
born Sept. 11, 1869; Edward Samuel, born iii August, 1871; Mary Juana,
Elizabeth Wilkes, now the wife of John K. Freeman; William, born in 1885, and
Margaret Livingston.

MISS MARIA LOUISE WILKESON, sister of Col. Wilkeson, was a lifelong resident
of Buffalo, where her death took place on the 24th of Marclm, 1903, in the
66th. year of her age. Miss Wilkeson was one ot the representative women of
Buffalo, being noted for her wealth, culture, benevolence and social
distinction. For many years she occupied a brillant and distinctive position
in the social world of Buffalo. Miss Wilkeson was keenly interested in the
fine arts, of which she was a liberal patron. Her collection of paintings,
bric-a-brac and other articles of vertu was a notable one The patriotic spirit
so conspicuous in her family was also a marked characteristic of Miss
Wilkeson. She was an honorary member of Bidwell-Wilkeson Post, G. A. R.,
which, after her death, paid her memory an honor said to be unprecedented in
the history of the G. A. R., the Post attending her funeral in a body. In her
will, Miss Wilkeson left generous endowments to the Children's Hospital and
the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy.