My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS J. WILKINSON, Superintendent of the road department of the St. Louis Division of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, has been connected with this company since the building of the line in 1870. He was born in Baltimore, Md., December 8, 1844. His grandfather, Thomas C. Wilkinson, was a native of England, and after emigrating to the New World followed farming in Baltimore County. He served in the War of 1812. The father of our subject, William J. Wilkinson, was born, reared and followed agricultural pursuits in Baltimore County. After a time, however, he embarked in merchandising in the city of Baltimore, where he carried on business until his death. He married Eliza Bond, a native of Maryland, and her death occurred in Murphysboro in 1856. In the family were three children, of whom two are yet living: Thomas J., and Will J., who is foreman in the cross-cut saw department of the Diston Saw Works, of Philadelphia, Pa.

In Baltimore Mr. Wilkinson of this sketch was reared, and in its public schools acquired an excellent education. When a young man he learned bridge building, and for four years was employed in the capacity of bridge builder on the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad. Believing that the west furnished better opportunities for young men, in 1868 he emigrated to Quincy, Ill., and worked on the iron railroad bridge which was being built across the Mississippi at that point. He afterward worked on the Government bridge at Rock Island, and subsequently spent one year in Minnesota as foreman of the bridge building department of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad. When the Cairo & St. Louis Road was begun, he formed a connection with the company and was foreman during its entire construction, working in Alexander and Jackson Counties. The track was completed to Murphysboro in the fall of 1873, and to Cairo in 1874. From the spring of that year until 1877 he was employed on railroad bridge work in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but in June of the latter year returned to Illinois and became foreman of the pile driving and bridge building of the St. Louis & Cairo Road, which position he filled until 1880.

In that year Mr. Wilkinson was appointed Superintendent of bridges and buildings under Charles Hamilton, then general manager, and discharged the duties of that position until 1886, having charge of the road between St. Louis and Cairo. The road was then sold to the Mobile & Ohio Company, and he had charge of the work of changing the road bed from a narrow gauge to the standard width from St. Louis to Corinth, Miss. He continued as Superintendent of the bridge work between those points until 1888, when the division was shortened. It now covers the distance between St. Louis and Cairo. In 1890 he was appointed roadmaster by Division Superintendent Hamilton, and has been continued in that office since H. W. Clarke has been Division Superintendent. Mr. Wilkinson is also Superintendent of the road-way department.

In Minneapolis, Minn., in 1875, was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Eva H. Shaw, a native of Jackson, Mich. Their home has been in Murphysboro since 1886. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Methodist Episcopal Church North. In his political views he is an advocate of Democracy. He holds membership with the building and loan association of Sparta, Ill. His work is of a responsible character, but the various positions he has filled have found in him a faithful incumbent, one worthy of all trust.