Lincoln County, West Virginia   BIiography of Hon. John S. WILKINSON

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West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, Supplement Vol. 7, Hardesty's,
Lincoln County, published by Jim Comstock, Richwood, WV 1974

    Hon. John S. Wilkinson, was born in Harrison County, (now) West Virginia, 
on the 7th day of June 1820. He was educated in the schools of that county, 
and at the age of eighteen learned the trade of cabinet maker, and on the 6th 
day of February 1844, was united in marriage with Mary, the daughter of 
George Kayser, Esq., of that county, soon after settled in Bridgeport, a 
short distance east of Clarksburg, where he remained until 1850, when he 
removed to Cabell (now Lincoln) County, and settled at the mouth of Big 
Buffalo Creek, on Mud River, and in connection with his uncle and brother, B. 
B. Wilkinson, began the manufacture of furniture. In 1852 he was elected a 
justice of peace, and served until 1856. In the latter year W. B.  Moore was 
elected sheriff of the county and appointed Mr. Wilkinson deputy. Mr. Moore 
was reelected in 1858, and his former deputy was continued in office, and at 
the election in May 1860, was elected high sheriff of the county, receiving a 
majority of more than 300 votes. The civil war found him in office. He voted 
against the ordinance of secession and then retired to his quiet home where 
he remained with his family while the terrible storm scattered destruction 
far and wide. In the meantime his first wife had died, and in 1861 he was 
married a second time to Isabel M. Carroll, a daughter of Samuel Carroll and 
granddaughter of James T. Carroll, one of the first settlers of Cabell County.
    When Lincoln County was formed in 1867 it, with Cabell, constituted the 
eighth delegate district, and Mr. Wilkinson was elected the first 
representative, and took his seat in January 1870. During the session he 
frequently occupied the speaker's chair pro tem., and on all occasions 
presided with entire satisfaction to all concerned.
    When the commission was appointed to appraise the railroad property 
within the state, Mr. Wilkinson was chosen as the member from the third 
congressional district, and in 1882 was appointed by the auditor to reassess 
the real estate in the second district of Lincoln County. He has two sons and 
one daughter engaged in teaching in the public schools; one son, David E., a 
practicing attorney at Lincoln Court House, and another in the hardware 
business in Huntington.