The Unconventional Wilkins Siblings: Three Brothers, Three Tragedies, and One Lone Sister
Richard R. Wilkins: 1831-1852 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x
Removed)
Samuel M. Wilkins: 1839-1915 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x
Removed)
Edward Wilkins: 1840-1901 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x
Removed)
Eliza Wilkins: 1842-1913 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
I was intrigued when I ran across the Wilkins family while studying
the descendants of the Weir family. Richard, Samuel, Edward and Eliza Wilkins
were the children of James Weir Wilkins and Elizabeth Poag. The four siblings
seem to have had all the advantages. Their father was a farmer, merchant and school
commissioner and seems to have provided the family with a comfortable living. The
family seems to have been well-liked; James Wilkins was known locally as Uncle
Jim according to one news item I found. Yet all three brothers never married or
fathered children, and all met tragic ends. The lone daughter, Eliza, also
never married, devoting all her energy to her local church and charitable
works. What caused these siblings to choose their unconventional paths?
Richard Wilkins is perhaps the most mysterious of the four
siblings due to the lack of information about him. He was the eldest of the
Wilkins children, born around 1831. He appears on the 1850 census along with
his parents and siblings. He is listed as being 19 years of age, and the
occupation entry lists him as “at
school”. This seems odd; he was too old to still be in high school. Perhaps he
was attending college, although I have found no records to confirm this
hypothesis.
Just two years later, his death appears in the Kentucky state death records. It is an interesting entry. It states that Richard was a single male, age 21, and was born in Madisonville, Kenturcky to James and Eliza Wilkins. This is all routine and expected. However, while all the other deaths reported on the page took place in Kentucky, Richard’s entry states that he died June 1, 1852 “near Fort Kearney Nebraska”. Cause of death is listed as “cholera” and a further notation states that Richard was “en route to California”.
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| Richard Wilkins death record |
So Richard had left home, perhaps to seek his fortune in the
goldfields of California as the 49ers gold rush had begun just three years
earlier. Curiously, the local newspaper did not run an obituary or death notice
for him, or any articles announcing his decision to move west, despite the
family’s prominence in the community. Richard was not buried with the family
either; he must have been buried in Nebraska. Why was his death ignored by his
family and community?
Second son Samuel Wilkins was born in 1839, and appears on
census records in 1860, 1870 and 1880 living with his parents and siblings. As
for occupation, Samuel is listed as a “laborer” in 1870 and a scribble that
might read “wagoner” in 1860. However, by 1880, at age 41, the census shows he
was unemployed, as were his aged father and his remaining siblings. Perhaps Samuel’s
loss of employment marked the beginning of mental illness. Samuel died at age
76 on September 25, 1915 from a cerebral hemorrhage while he was a resident at
Western State Hospital in Hopkinsville, an institution for the mentally ill.
The newspaper notice stated that he had been a patient for twenty years,
meaning he was institutionalized around 1895, about a decade after his father’s
death.
The final son, Edward, was born in March of 1840. He seems to have never held a job or did any kind of work, but lived off his father’s earnings. Even his Civil War draft record lists “nothing” as his occupation.
 |
| Edward's Civil War draft record |
The
only census where he lists an occupation was the 1900 census, taken when he was
already sixty years old. He claimed he was a “capitalist”, which sounds a
little smart-alecky to me. He died at age 61 in Madisonville, Kentucky. The
obituary was very interesting, calling him “the most unique character in
Hopkins County”. I suspect this was not a compliment. He was described as being
“known as one of the handsomest men in the county, and was prominent in social
circles, being wealthy and of a good family.”
The article went on to describe how he fell in love and
became engaged to a local girl, but she jilted him. “He began to drink heavily.
For some time past he had not been in his right mind. He left real estate to
the value of $20,000.” Perhaps, like his brother Samuel, Edward suffered from
mental illness.
As for the final child, daughter Eliza Wilkins, she never
married and never worked, living with her father until his death in 1885, and
then living at a home on Sugg and Seminary Streets in Madisonville. The
obituary in the local paper described her as a Presbyterian who was “a worker
in the church much of the time. When the end came she was ready as indicated by
her conversation with friends during her last illness. She did many acts of
charity unpretentiously, and had great love for animals, especially those
crippled or mistreated.” Another newspaper said she lived “a long and useful
life”.
From the description, I surmise that she was very religious
and may have been a cat lady or the canine equivalent—at the very least, she
was a little eccentric.
So all four of James Weir Wilkins and Elizabeth Poag’s
children seem to have struggled to fit into their community. James supported
his children for his entire life. Once he died, they seem to have floundered, having failed to launch careers and families of their own. Despite the Wilkins family’s
prominence in the town of Madisonville, Kentucky, it appears the Wilkins
children were troubled. James Weir Wilkins and his wife Elizabeth Poag were
first cousins—their mothers were sisters. Could this close genetic relationship
have been part of the problem? Did mental illness run in the family? The
Wilkins siblings leave me with many unanswerable questions.
Sources:
1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 United States Census.
Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7667/records/39425881?tid=81812584&pid=262650250655&ssrc=pt
Kentucky, U.S., Death Records, 1852-1965. Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1222/records/307132?tid=81812584&pid=262650328964&ssrc=pt
“Four Deaths at Hospital”. Hopkinsville Kentuckian.
Hopkinsville, KY. September 28, 1915. Newspapers.com.
U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865.
Kentucky. Snd. Class 1. Ancestry.com
“Unique Character of Madisonville Dead.” Courier-Journal.
Louisville, KY. May 2, 1901. Newspapers.com.
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