Our Wilkinson Family
My grandson, Drew Ellis Wilkinson, at 5 months old. Drew Ellis Wilkinson at 5 months old

I suppose it is time for the obligatory comment that: This site is under construction!

But then aren't they all?

The history of any given nation is by default the history of the families that reside within that nation. In the "Wilkinson Family History", published by the American Genealogical Research Institute, in 1978, on the first page of the preface the author writes, "Practically every great civilization on earth has found root in the organization of the family, and, thus, each history is composed of many family histories."

On more than one occasion, over the past couple of years, I have been asked, "What got you interested in genealogy?" I believe that people naturally have an innate desire to know from whence they came. As my grandson approached his second year, I realized that, since I grew up outside of my biological family, I needed to uncover our family history in order to pass it on. I have been fortunate to find several others, from various branches of the tree, that have contributed greatly to this task. To those, who have so graciously shared information, my most heartfelt thanks goes out to you.

Our Wilkinson Family began, in North America, with John Wilkinson, who was born in Ireland. John settled in Orange County, North Carolina. The area where John settled later became part of Chatham County. There is a creek in Chatham County called Wilkinson Creek. It was named for our ancestor(s). That area was predominantly Quaker in religion, thus it is believed that John was also of that religion; although, no record exists, that I have found, to substantiate that claim.

If John was indeed a Quaker, he most likely attended the Napton prepatory meeting, which met on land owned by George Dixon. Unfortunately, none of the Quaker records for the Napton meeting appears to have survived. One of George Dixon's granddaughters, Amy Dixon, married John2 (John1). Another of John's sons, Solomon, married a Ratcliff, Alice Ratcliff. The Ratcliff and Dixon families were definitely of the Quaker faith. Alice was a daughter of John Ratcliff and Ruth Ward. John Ratcliff was a witness to our John1 Wilkinson's will. Beginning about 1795 there was a Quaker migration from North Carolina to Ohio, which Congress had declared to be a non-slave territory. Accompanying this migration were our Wilkinson, Dixon, Ratcliff, and Ray cousins. This may be our only support for the belief that our initial Wilkinson ancestor was of the Quaker faith.

About 1766, John1 Wilkinson married Margaret (the LDS IGI lists her maiden name as MacGume). John1 and Margaret were the parents of eight known children: Robert, Richard, John2, Martha, Jacob, Solomon, Eleanor, and Margaret. Margaret survived John1, as she and the oldest son, Robert, were excutrix and excutor of John1's will, which was probated in 1788. Robert (John1) married Mary Rives, and was still in North Carolina on the 1810 Census. The remaining children of John1 and Margaret Wilkinson had moved on to Ohio.

Some Sites of Interest


To view Surnames; Pedigree; and Family Group Sheets. This site is housed on the Rootsweb.com system.

An excellent site for Ratcliff researchers is maintained by Don Ratcliff Here

Dr. Paul Wilson has an excellent site for Dixon and Gregg researchers Here

Danene Vincent has another excellent site for Dixon researchers Here

Although I have yet to find anything pertaining to Our Wilkinson Family an excellent site devoted to the Wilkinson name is Here

The National Genealogical Society maintains a lending library, a book store, and other items of genealogical interest Here

The Mormons have long been involved in the gathering of genealogical information. They are making available "Online" much of their collection Here with more being added all the time.

Perhaps the fastest genealogical site on the Internet is found Here at the Ancestry.com site.

A site devoted to the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting is found Here. Cane Creek MM was the parent meeting of the Napton prepatory meeting.

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