Preston County, West Virginia    Biography: C. E. WILKINSON, M. D.

**************************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, 
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is 
obtained from the contributor of the file.

These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation 
by other organizations.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this 
material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of 
the contributor.

Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@earthlink.net>, March 2000
**************************************************************************


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 382

C. E. WILKINSON, M. D. His professional labors as a
physician and surgeon have been the chief element in the
esteem Doctor Wilkinson enjoys in the Bruceton Mills com-
munity of Preston County. He has practiced in that dis-
trict for seventeen years, and in that time has also acquired
considerable business interests and has been a useful factor
in furthering movements associated with the common wel-
fare.

Doctor Wilkinson was born at Wayne, Wayne County,
West Virginia, July 1, 1877, son of Samuel Wellman Wil-
kinson and grandson of William E. Wilkinson, who came
from the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia, and spent his
active life as a farmer in Wayne County. William E.
Wilkinson married Miss Mary Smith, and one of their
seven children was Samuel Wellman Wilkinson, who was
born at Wayne. His first wife was Elizabeth Ferguson,
who became the mother of two children, Doctor Wilkin-
son, of Bruceton Mills, and LeRoy, of Columbus, Ohio.
The parents separated, and Doctor Wilkinson grew up with
his mother, who in the meantime became Mrs. A. W. Pres-
ton, of Dickson, West Virginia.

Doctor Wilkinson spent the first fifteen years of his
life on a farm in the vicinity of Wayne, and he knows
the meaning of toil in the fields. After that he worked
for the most part in his stepfather's store until he was
about twenty-four. In the meantime he had finished his
literary education in the Oak View Academy, and in 1900
attended the University of Louisville Medical School, where
he graduated M. D. in 1904. After graduating he returned
to West Virginia, took the examination of the State Board
of Examiners, and began practice at Brandonville, and
in 1908 removed to Bruceton Mills, but all his work as a
physician has been in Grant District. He has done post-
graduate work in Chicago and is a member in good stand-
ing of the County, State and American Medical Associations.
During his work as a physician Doctor Wilkinson has been
called upon for special effort in combating two epidemics
in this community, one of smallpox in 1915 and the other
the influenza scourge in 1918-19. About a hundred cases
of smallpox came under the observation and treatment
of Doctor Wilkinson, with only two fatalities. During the
influenza epidemic practically all of his clientage were
afflicted more or less both years, but the fatalities were
few as compared with those of urban localities. Of the
500 cases under Doctor Wilkinson's care less than half a
dozen deaths occurred.

Outside his profession Doctor Wilkinson for some years
has owned a large farm in the community and has been
more or less of a stock dealer. He has also handled trans-
actions in real estate and coal lands, and owns some un-
developed coal properties. He has been active in advancing
the educational standards of his locality, has served as
a village councilman at Bruceton Mills and was a member
of the district committee of the democratic party for a
time. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Moose and Eagles and is a
Methodist.

At Chillicothe, Ohio, in February, 1906, Doctor Wilkin-
son married Miss Lula McGinnis, who was born at Hunt-
ington, West Virginia, but was reared and educated in
Ohio as well as in Huntington. Doctor and Mrs. Wilkin-
son have a son, Renick Eugene, born May 12, 1907. Doctor
Wilkinson and wife are fond of travel, both as a source
of recreation and knowledge, and they usually spend a few
weeks of the year at near or distant resorts and in new
scenes.