WILLIAM WILKERSON AND SARAH HALLEY WILKERSON HAYNIE

William Wilkison>Wilkerson was born October 14, 1731 in St. Paul’s Parish Stafford>King George County, Virginia. His lived in Cameron Parish in Loudoun County.

There is little known about William except that he must have had some prominence because he married Sarah Hawley>Halley daughter of James Halley and great granddaughter of Henry Hawley who was one of the original settlers on the property that was to become Mt. Vernon. The Hawley>Halley family was very prominent in Virginia and James Halley was very wealthy. After William died in 1765 Sarah married William Haynie who came from another old Virginia family. Their great grandfathers were two of the early settlers of Virginia in Isle of Wight County in the mid 1600’s.. This further strengthens my belief that the Wilkerson family was also a prominent family in the Northern Neck of Virginia in the 1600-1700’s. These families did not marry outside their social strata. William and Sarah married in Fairfax County about 1754.

William shows up in two early Prince William County Order Books.

Prince William County Order Book Abstracts 1753-1757, P. 59 – p. 218 Order Book 1754-1755 (27 March 1755). Francis Clemans having attended ten days as a witness for William Wilkerson against Henry Peyton gent Ordered the said William do pay him for the same according to law.

and

P. 81 – P. 7 Order Book 1755-1757 (27 October 1755), Deeds of Lease and Release and Receipt Endorsed from John Simpson to James Halley were proved by the oaths of James Halley Junr., William Wilkerson and Richard Simpson.

The second transaction is very interesting because the transaction was between his Father-in-law James Halley and his wife’s maternal grandfather John Simpson. The other witnesses were James Halley Jr. and Richard Simpson his wife’s Father so William Wilkerson must have been highly thought of by his wife’s family to have been a witness for this important document.

Before William died about 1765 at the age of 34 he and Sarah had 6 sons:

John Madison who was born on March 12, 1757. He married Margaret Moon July 39, 1789 and Catherine Fletcher February 12, 1804. John died in Clay County, Missouri on June 15, 1834.

James H. Wilkerson (my 3rd great grandfather) who was born on November 29, 1758 in Fairfax, Louden County, Virginia. James H. married Sarah Moore April 30 1782 and died in Warren County, Ohio on December 4, 1834.

William Wilkerson who was born on March 3, 1761. He married Betsy Striplin December 21, 1797 in Clark County, Kentucky. He died June 27, 1846 in Monroe County, Missouri.

Moses Wilkerson who was born on April 12, 1763. He married Aletha Anderson (her family was also at Fort Boonesborough). Moses died Jun 1806 in Montgomery County, Kentucky.

Presley Wilkerson who was born on May 26, 1767. He married Lydia Calk September 1, 1789 and died March 1819 in Pendleton County, Kentucky.

The first two sons were named for Wilkerson family. James for Sarah’s Father and Moses was for her step brother. I believe Presley was named for an old family friend. Either William died shortly before or after Presley was born. In August 1767 just two months after Presley was born Sarah married William Haynie. I suspect he was an old family friend and she was a 28 year old widow with 6 boys under 10 including a brand new baby. She and William followed her sons to Kentucky where she had nine more children. To learn more about Sarah go to the Simpson Family Pages.

So how did my James H. Wilkerson get from Fairfax/Louden County, Virginia to Warren County, Ohio? Let’s start with Thaddeus’ paper.

“Some time in 1787 James H. Wilkerson with his five brothers and their collective families, emigrated westward. James H. and one of the brothers located near Lexington, Kentucky, where they had relatives. Two of the brothers continued on to western Tennessee and northern Louisiana. The remaining two brothers went on to Missouri and the northwest. St: Louis was only a frontier trading post and the Louisiana Purchase just a nebulous dream.”

The six brothers

No one has been able to document the sixth brother Thaddeus talks about. Was there a sixth brother or did the family stories get confused and there were only five of which one was James H? We know the Wilkersons were at Boonesborough. Boonesborough is very close to Lexington. Also it is doubtful the brothers immediately moved on from Kentucky. Again the family stories may have gotten the time lines confused. They didn’t have the internet to easily look up all these facts. They only had family stories. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s Ohio was known as the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Territory consisted of the land north of the Ohio River, west of Pennsylvania, and east of the Mississippi River. It included all of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and parts of Michigan and Wisconsin. It became part of America when England ceded this territory to its former colonists in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the treaty ending the American Revolution. The Americans named it the Northwest Territory because, at this time, it consisted of the northwestern portion of the newly independent America. Is this the northwest territory the family stories talked about with James H. Wilkerson being the brother who immigrated to Ohio. Living near Seattle today this is considered the Northwest, and, I feel confident than none of the brothers moved out here in 1787. In 1801 the western boundary of the United States was the Mississippi River and at that time two-thirds of the citizens lived within 50 miles of Atlantic Ocean. The Lewis and Clark expedition wasn’t even started until 1803. Ohio officially became the seventeenth state of the United States of America February 19, 1803 and Missouri didn’t become a state until 1821.

Analyzing what I know about the brothers:

John Madison was born March 12, 1757 and married Margaret Moon July 39, 1789 and Catherine Fletcher February 12, 1804. John died in Clay County, Missouri on June 15, 1834. His youngest daughter Lemima Jane by Catherine Fletcher was born in Kentucky about 1819 so he would have moved to Missouri sometime after 1820. Which makes sense because that is about the time settlers really started moving to Missouri.

James H. Wilkerson (my 4th great grandfather) born November 29, 1758 in Fairfax, Louden County, Virginia. James H. married Sarah Moore April 30 1782 and died in Warren County, Ohio on December 4, 1834. Was this the brother who moved to the Northwest Territory?

William was born March 3, 1761 and married Betsy Striplin December 21, 1797 in Clark County, Kentucky. He died June 27, 1846 in Monroe County, Missouri. His youngest son Mason was born in 1814 in Kentucky so William didn’t move to Missouri until around 1815. Did John Madison follow William to Missouri? Were these the two brothers who moved to Missouri?

As far as I know none of the brothers went on to the Northwest. In fact the only Wilkerson I know of that came to the Northwest was my Grandmother Kate Wilkerson Pemberton in 1935.

Moses Wilkerson born April 12, 1763 and married Aletha Anderson (her family was also at Fort Boonesborough). Moses died Jun 1806 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. Was Moses the brother who stayed in Kentucky with James H. Wilkerson and settled around Lexington. Moses’ youngest daughter Sarah was born in Kentucky around 1804.

Presley Wilkerson born May 26, 1767 and married Lydia Calk September 1, 1789 and died March 1819 in Pendleton County, Kentucky. According to the records I have Pressley also stayed in Kentucky although some of his descendants moved to Alabama and the south. Did the family stories get this confused? Is this the line that went to Louisiana? Was there a sixth brother who went on to Tennessee?

Was it two brothers went to Missouri – John and William, two brothers stayed in Kentucky – Pressley and Moses and one brother moved to the Northwest Territory (Ohio) – James H.