| BORN | DIED | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS | JOHN B. WILKES | 10/08/1793 | 08/30/1871 | ||||||||||
| SP | LYDIA STRONG | 09/18/1799 | 10/21/1876 | ||||||||||
| SL | SARAH WILKES | 1808 | |||||||||||
| SL | SARAH WILKES | 1833 | |||||||||||
| MU | BORN | DIED | WH | BORN | DIED | WH | BORN | DIED | |||||
| J | SARAH WILKES | 1833 | JL | HENRY WILKES | 1845 | JL | EMMA WILKES | 1852 | |||||
JOHN B. WILKES WAS BORN IN WILKES COUNTY GA. ON OCTOBER 8, 1793. I COULD'T FIND JOHN WILKES PARENTS, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S THE MAN FOR WHICH WILKES COUNTY IS NAMED AFTER. ON DECEMBER 26, 1815 JOHN B. WILKES MARRIED LYDIA DOROTHY STRONG IN OGLETHORPE COUNTY GA. WHICH BORDERS WILKES COUNTY. THEY MOVED TO CAPT KENDRICKS DISTRICT, IN PUTNAM COUNTY AND LIVED THERE UNTIL 1839. BY 1840 THEY HAD MOVED TO TROUP COUNTY WHERE THEY LIVED UNTIL 1860. WHILE IN TROUP COUNTY JOHN AND LYDIA ACQUIRED ABOUT 70 TO 80 SLAVES. AT THAT TIME THE PRICE FOR SLAVES WAS ABOUT $100.00 FOR A BABY AND ABOUT $500.00 TO $700.00 FOR A FEMALE. THE MALE SLAVES VARIED IN PRICE ACCORDING TO AGE AND HEALTH UP TO $1500.00. SO JOHN AND LYDIA WILKES WAS NOT POOR. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LAND JOHN AND LYDIA HAD IN GA., BUT IN TEXAS ACCORDING TO A 1866 IRS TAX RECORD THEY OWED TAXES ON 1100 ACRES AROUND WILKES MOUNTAIN. JOHN AND LYDIA HAD TWO KIDS, HENRY WILKES AND EMMA WILKES. IN THE 1850 CENSUS WHILE STILL LIVING IN GA THERE WERE TWO SARAHS IN THE WILKES HOME, IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR SLAVE MASTERS TO CALL ALL SLAVES THE SAME NAME GEORGE OR SARAH ETC. WHEN ONE NAME WERE CALLED THEN THEY ALL SHOW UP. BUT ONLY ONE SARAH MOVED TO TEXAS AND THAT SARAH WILKES WAS THE MOTHER OF MARTHA, ABIGAL AND EMMA. ACCORDING TO CATHERINE JOHNSON, HER MOTHER KATIE B TOLD HER THAT ABIGAL AND EMMA WILKES'S DADDY'S NAME WAS BOB WILKES. COULD BOB BE THE MIDDLE INTIAL THAT’S IN JOHN B WILKES'S NAME. ALSO ACCORDING TO EMMA CURLIN SARAH WILKES WAS A FULL BLOOD INDIAN. SO MAYBE SHE WAS NOT A SLAVE. BEFORE SARAH CAME TO THE WILKES PLANTATION HER NAME WAS SARAH COLEMAN. WHAT I DO KNOW ACCORDING TO CENCUS IS THAT SARAH WILKES REMAINED PART OF THE WILKES HOUSEHOLD UNTIL THEY DIED. BEFORE OR DURING THE CIVIL WAR JOHN AND HIS FAMILY ALONG WITH SARAH AND HER FAMILY MOVED TO TEXAS TO THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF UPSHUR COUNTY. ONE OF JOHN B. WILKES RELATIVES NAMED JOHN W. WILKES HAD MOVED FROM TROUP GA THE YEAR BEFORE WITH HIS SLAVES. THERE IS NO RECORD THAT JOHN B. WILKES HAD ANY SLAVES IN UPSHUR COUNTY OTHER THAN THE FACT HE WAS AWARDED 1100 ACRES OF LAND. AT THE TIME TEXAS WAS AWARDING 80 ACRES OF LAND PER SLAVE, SO IF JOHN WILKES WAS AWARDED 1100 ACRES THEN HE HAD APPROXIMATELY 14 SLAVES. ACCORDING TO THE 1870 CENSUS JOHN AND LYDIA WILKES ALONG WITH THIER HOUSEHOLD LIVED IN PRECINCT 1, UPSHUR COUNTY, WHICH LATER BECAME PRECINCT 4, CAMP COUNTY. LATER IN THE 1870 S JOHN AND LYDIA DIED, AND SARAH CONTINUED TO STAY AT THE WILKES HOME WITH HER CHILDRENS UNTIL SHE DIED. SARAH IS BURIED IN WILKES CEMETARY AND JOHN AND LYDIA WILKES ARE BURIED SIDE BY SIDE IN THE LAFAYETTE CEMETARY, UPSHUR COUNTY, TEXAS. ON THE GRAVE SLAB IS A DEDICATION BY MRS. DR. JAMES H. LOW. I BELIEVE THAT MRS. LOW IS PROBABLY EMMA, THE DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND LYDIA WILKES.
EXPLANATION OF INTINIALS
MS--LETTERS TO THE LEFT OF JOHN STANDS FOR MASTER
SP-- LETTERS TO THE LEFT OF LYDIA STANDS FOR SPOUSE
SL-- LETTERS TO THE LEFT OF SARAH STANDS FOR SLAVE
SU-- STANDS FOR SURNAME
WH-- IS FOR WHITE
MU-- IS FOR MULLATTO
LETTERS TO THE LEFT OF EACH RELATIVE IS THE FRIST LETTERS OF EACH PARENT. IF RELATIVE WAS MARRIED MORE THAN ONCE AND ALL SPOUSES FIRST NAME LETTERS WERE THE SAME, THEN I USED THE LAST NAME LETTERS.