Joseph Wilkinson
To give the origin of the Wilkinsons we go to Antrim, Ireland. As early as 1750 Joseph Wilkinson came to America. The place of his first location is not known. We first learn of him in Virginia, where he married Polly Hollandsworth. Thomas Wilkinson, Sen., was a son of the above, and born in Virginia in 1763, where he lived and married Jane Anderson, and raised a family of eleven children. About 1805 he removed with his family to Champaign County, Ohio, where he lived until the year 1818, when he moved to what is now Shelby County. Five of his children came with him, viz., Samuel, Rachel, Thomas, Jane, and Isaac A. Thomas Wilkinson, Jr., father of Joseph Wilkinson, was born in Virginia in 1799, consequently was nineteen years of age at the time of their setllement in this county. 'l‘hey located in Perry Township, on section 6, and were the first settlers in the east part of the township. In 1825 he married Anna Kirtland, and located on part of the same farm with his father, where he lived and raised a family of seven children. Joseph Wilkinson, a son of the above, was born on this farm in 1832, and lived with his father until 1856, when he married Louisa Nutt, and located on section 10. By this union he had two children, viz., Anna and Ella. Mrs. Wilkinson died in 1876. In 1878 he married Dorcas Lilly, of Columbus, Ohio. By his second marriage he had one child (Thomas), born in 1880, and died in 1881. Mr. Wilkinson has retired from the farm, and moved to the village of Pemberton. His father died in January, 1875; his mother in 1852.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883