Our Wilkinson Family

    My knowledge of the Wilkinson family begins with Thomas Wilkinson (I). He, and his son and daughter-in-law, Thomas (II) and Catherine Wilkinson, emigrated from Ireland to Canada around 1845. Thomas (I) also had a daughter by the name of Jane, but as of this writing, I have no information as to whether she was born in Ireland or in Canada. While they were in Toronto, Ontario, six sons and four daughters were known to be born to Thomas (II) and Catherine.

Prior to 1855, the four adults and nine children immigrated to the United States and settled in Sheldon, Monroe County, Wisconsin. In 1860, Thomas (I) offered the city of Sheldon one acre of his land for a burial ground in exchange for one dollar. Thomas (I) passed away in 1862 and was buried in this cemetery. His daughter Jane died in 1854 and was the first person to be buried in the cemetery.

At least two more sons were born to Thomas (II) and Catherine while they were living in Wisconsin. Later, they moved to Coffeyville, Kansas. At least one or more of the children went with them. Thomas (II) died in 1886. He and Catherine are buried in the old Kalloch Cemetery about two miles north of Coffeyville.

Our line continues through Thomas (II) and Catherine's oldest son, Thomas (III) and his wife, Harriet English. They stayed in Wisconsin and lived in the Kinney Valley area. Harriet live to be 99 ˝ years old. She and Thomas (III) are buried in the old Ontario Cemetery in Vernon County. They were the parents of three children. We are descended from Edward, the only child that survived.

At the age of 25, Edward offered a young 19 year old neighbor girl, Augusta K. Alvine Reetz, a ride home from a local dance. She claimed that he had raped her that evening and she became pregnant. Through his denial of the incident, she was brokenhearted and devastated at the shame she had brought to her family. She lost the will to survive, and died just two days after her illegitimate baby was born.

The baby was Augusta Ottielia Reetz. She was raised by her grandparents August and Ottielia Reetz, as one of their own. Many years later, Edward Wilkinson did acknowledge her as his daughter and admitted to her grandmother that he did have a sexual encounter with the child's mother on the way home from the dance and that it had truly not been consensual.

Edward later married Glendora DeWitt. They lived in Kinney Valley and the Wilton area, and operated a grain and feed elevator there for many years. He and Glendora had two sons and a daughter; John, Carl, and Grace.

Edward's first daughter, Augusta Ottielia Reetz, married at the young age of 17 to Herman Neuendorf. They were the parents of five daughters. The fourth child died in infancy. They farmed in the Oakdale Township at two different farms until about 1931. Having no sons to help with the farming and struggling through the depression years, they soon had to give up farming. They moved to Dubuque, Iowa where Augusta's father, Edward Wilkinson, helped to set her up in the City Coal business. Upon his death in 1938, he gave her the business. Augusta lived to be 89 years old and is buried next to her husband in Oakdale Cemetery, in Monroe County, Wisconsin.

Our line continues through Augusta and Herman's fifth daughter, Janet Grace Neuendorf. She was two years old when the family left the Wisconsin farm. While in high school, Janet met and fell in love with Don Emmet Smith. They married in 1949. It was Don and Janet's passion and calling to be missionaries - bringing the gospel of Christ to Native Americans in the southwestern United States. They served for over 40 years in Christian ministry. Don passed away in 1989 at the age of 61. Eighteen years later, Janet passed away at the age of 78. They had four children, all of whom survived them.

Biographical Sketch:


Other Known Researchers of this Line
  • Tom Wilkinson, Colorado


    If you know of anyone researching this line, please contact me.


 


  • A family history
    leads to the satisfaction in really knowing who you are
    and from when you came.

  • "Nor long shall any name resound
    Beyond the grave, unless't be found
    In some clerk's book; it is the pen
    Gives immortality to men."

  • A good life lasts for several generations.

  • In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep,
    to know our heritage, to know who we are
    and where we come from.

    — Alex Haley
  • To forget one's ancestors
    is to be a brook without a source,
    a tree without a root.

    — Chinese Proverb
  • Family faces are magic mirrors.
    Looking at people who belong to us,
    we see the past, present, and future.
    We make discoveries about ourselves.

    — Gail Lumet Buckley
  • In every conceivable manner,
    the family is a link to our past,
    a bridge to our future.

    — Alex Haley
  • What greater thing is there for human souls
    than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other
    in silent unspeakable memories.

    — George Eliot
  • Some people come and go in our lives.
    Some stay forever.

  • We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
    we borrow it from our children.

    — Native American Proverb
  • The memories we give may a lifetime live in the heart
    of those we hold so close.

    — Unknown
  • Families are like fudge . . .
    mostly sweet with a few nuts.

    — Unknown
  • The family is one of Nature's masterpieces.

    — George Santayana
  • Having a place to go – is a home.
    Having someone to love – is a family.
    Having both – is a blessing.

    — Donna Hedges
  • Every man is his own ancestor,
    and every man is his own heir.
    He devises his own future,
    and he inherits his own past.

    — Fredrick Henry Hedge