Lewis M. Wilkinson

WILKINSON RATCLIFF HIGGENBOTHAM

Posted By: Sandra Wilkinson Blandford (email)
Date: 7/1/2013 at 22:04:11

Lewis M Wilkinson
Lewis M. Wilkinson is a direct descendant of Joseph Wilkinson (1791 – 1847) and Ruth Ratcliff (1791 – 1863) natives of Chatham, North Carolina. Joseph and Ruth were married in 1810 at Chillicothe, Ohio. Most, if not all of their children were born in Ohio. However, Joseph died 1846 at Oxford, Benton County, Indiana.
Seth Wilkinson, one of Joseph and Ruth’s sons, was married to Nancy Higgenbotham on October 16, 1836 in Warren County, Indiana. Warren County borders with Benton County on the north end. Seth was born about 1816 in Ohio. According to the United States Census for 1840, Seth was residing in Smith Township, Belmont County, Ohio. By that time he and Nancy had one son under age five and one daughter between the ages of five and nine. By 1850 Seth was farming in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio. They have the following children listed: Maria L. age 13; Sarah E., age 12; James L., age 11; George W., age 9; William W., age 8; John R., age 6; Jane M., age 4; Nancy E., age 3; and Margaret R., age four months old. The fourth house listed on the census after Seth contains his mother, Ruth Wilkinson and perhaps two of her daughters: Amy, age 32 and born in Ohio; and Harriet, age 30 and born in Ohio. Seth and Nancy would have several more children and relocate to Iowa.
According to the United States General Land Office Records, 1796 – 1907, Seth, on 20 Apr 1860 purchased forty acres of land in Appanoose County, Iowa. His son George W. Wilkinson, age 19, is married to Harriett, age 16, and they are living with the rest of the Wilkinson family. By 1870 Seth’s wife Nancy is head of her household with three children. Son George and his wife Harriet are living with the Darrel Sell family. Harriet now has four children: Sarah, Nancy E., Miranda E. and Lewis M. Wilkinson, ten months old. Lewis was born in Moulton, Appanoose County, Iowa on September 21, 1869. He would later say he removed to Tama County with his parents in 1879.
George Wilkinson was farming in Columbia, Tama County Iowa according to the United States Census for 1880. His son Lewis lived in Tama with the exception of three years spent in Kansas (about 1897 – 1900). About 1900 Lewis located in Toledo and employed as a drayman. He was married to Miss May Burge on March 7, 1893 and they had four children. Lewis M. Wilkinson died at the young age of thirty-two and is buried in the Woodlawn cemetery.
Sandra Wilkinson Blandford
(no known relation to this Wilkinson family)