JOHN WILKERSON AND SARAH ROSS

The first of my Wilkerson ancestors that I can prove lived in this country was John Wilkerson. The Wilkersons lived in the part of Stafford County that became King George County in 1720. From the Stafford>King George County Marriage Records I know that he married Sarah Ross on November 13, 1730. However, I don’t believe John Wilkerson was the first Wilkerson to live in this country. The Wilkersons married into families of status and wealth. Early Virginia was just an extension of England with all it customs and status. The Wilkerson’s were members of the St. Paul’s Parish in Stafford. Their marriages and births were recorded in the church records. Consequently I believe the Wilkerson’s had to have had status and money. So the mystery of who was James H. Wilkerson’s great-great grandfather is still a work in progress. An additional mystery is whether the original name was Wilkison , Wilkerson, or Wilkinson. The early church records list them as Wilkison and Wilkinson. Did the name morph into the Virginia version of Wilkison or Wilkinson which would be Wilkerson or was it Wilkerson which was misspelled in church records?

It is believed by Wilkerson researchers that Sarah Ross’ father was Alexander Ross and her mother was Elizabeth and I believe that to be true based on church records.

John and Sarah had two sons in the records of St. Paul’s Parish: William and John. William was born Oct 14, 1731 and John was born Feb 20, 1734. Sarah died about two weeks after John was born so John was left with a 3 year old and a new born baby. Who took over raising the boys is unknown. If John remained single is unknown. The only clue we have it that the records of St. Paul’s Parish show a John Wilkerson marrying a Katherine Copley August 14, 1743. If that was my John, twelve years was a long time to be single with two small children in 18 century Virginia. Was he married in-between Sarah and Katherine? Did he have more children? This is another mystery yet to be solved. John died in 1745.