My Genealogy Hound

Levi J. Wilkinson, To have accomplished so notable work as has Levi J. Wilkinson in connection with the Christian church would prove sufficient to give precedence and reputation to any man, were it to represent the sum total of his efforts; but Mr. Wilkinson is a man of broad mental ken, strong initiative and distinct individuality, who will not only leave a lasting impression in the denomination in which he has been a lifelong member, but has been a potent, though unostentatious factor in the commercial life of Posey county, where for fifty years he conducted a successful retail enterprise, devoted to a general line of merchandise. To him the city of Cynthiana is indebted for one of the most beautiful, from an architectural standpoint, and substantially built church edifices in southern Indiana, together with a substantial endowment, which places it upon a self-sustaining basis. Other institutions also have received generous donations and endowments, his philanthropies to date exceeding those of any citizen who has resided within the county, and other substantial gifts to his church are contemplated. Levi J. Wilkinson was born on his father’s farm in Gibson county, Indiana, February 22, 1825, the son of William and Mary (Miller) Wilkinson. The Wilkinson family is of English origin and dates its founding in America during the early Colonial period when members of the family came from England and settled in the Colony of North Carolina. Numbered among them are men who achieved distinction in the frontier life of those early days, in the commercial era which followed and later in the War of the Revolution. The family was founded in Indiana by Cary Wilkinson, a native of North Carolina, who came to the State from Barren county, Kentucky, in 1808. He made the journey in one of the old style Conestoga wagons and crossed the Ohio at Red Banks, now Henderson, on a ferry. He located on land near what is now Fort Branch, and the old log fort of that name, erected for protection from the Indians, was built with the assistance of him and his sons. The country was a wilderness and the settlers few when he erected his first house. It was constructed of logs, without nails, and without windows, light being admitted through the door and chimney. The floor was of puncheon and the beds were made by boring holes in the logs of the walls about three feet from the floor and driving in poles, making a scaffolding on which the bed clothing was placed. While they were short on luxuries they were long on hospitality—the latchstring was always out to all comers. Added to the hardships incident to the clearing of the wilderness were the Indians, then plentiful, and the wild animals, panthers, bob-cats, bear and wolves being in abundance. Cary Wilkinson did not live to see the territory which he had helped to wrest from the savages become a State. He passed away in 1815. He married Sarah Mangrum, a daughter of William Mangrum. They became the parents of eleven children, four of whom died in childhood. William Wilkinson, the fourth of these children to reach man’s estate, was born in North Carolina, on December 18, 1800, and came to Indiana with his parents in 1808. His education was acquired in the schools of that period. The school house was built of blocks, greased paper was used for window lights, quill pens for writing, and the ink at that time was made by boiling maple bark and adding a little copperas. He was forced to take up a man’s work at the age of fifteen, through the death of his father, and the making of tillable land from the forest fell upon his shoulders. He married Mary Miller, a daughter of the Rev. John Miller, a minister of the Christian church. In 1830 he became a member of this denomination and lived a devout Christian life. He was a successful farmer, an influential citizen and one of the most active factors in the development of his township. He became a resident of Cynthiana on his retirement from active labor and passed away in 1887. His political affiliations were first with the Whigs, but upon the organization of the Republican party he became an active supporter of its principles. He was an ardent admirer of Abraham Lincoln, once journeying to Illinois to hear him speak. William and Mary (Miller) Wilkinson were the parents of eleven children, all of whom, except Levi J., the subject of this review, have passed to their reward. They were in order of birth as follows: Isaiah, John, Deliah, Sarah, Narcissa, Emily, Balaam, Aaron B., Levi J., Silas N. and Amos C.