John Wilkinson was born 2 March 1690, the eldest child of John Wilkinson and Deborah Whipple in Providence, Rhode Island.
Rebecca Scott, his wife, was born c1699, the second daughter and fourth child of Sylvanus Scott and Joanna Jenckes.
John and Rebecca married on 20 March 1718, Providence, Rhode Island.
John died on 25 September 1756. Rebecca’s death date is unknown.
The Wilkinson family had long lived in the Providence area, but John and Rebecca moved a short distance away, still in Providence County, to the small town of Smithfield, where they raised a family and lived out their lives.
Children (All births are found in the Smithfield, Rhode Island vital records):
- Amey, born 23 January 1719. Amey reportedly married a Bucklin and may be the Amey Bucklin who then married Elijah Wing, 22 February 1770 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, but that is a BIG maybe!
- Anne, born 19 May 1721; died 7 September 1722
- John, born 20 March 1721; he may be the man who married Ruth Angell, 12 November 1743, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island
Sarah, born 27 June 1727; she may be the woman who married Amos Arnold, 23 February 1745/46, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island - Susannah, born 20 September 1729; she may be the woman who married Daniel Marsh, 29 December 1754, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island
- Ruth, born 5 March 1731; no further record
- Joanna, born 12 September 1732; married Israel Thornton and removed to New Brunswick, Canada c1761.
- Ahab, born 16 December 1734; married Abigail Scott, 1 June 1755, Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island
My ancestress, Joanna, married Israel Thornton. They became part of a large group of Rhode Islanders who were enticed to Canada in the 1760s by offers of land.
They were NOT Loyalists – they made the move during the French and Indian War – and sometimes are referred to as pre-Loyalists who had lived in (then) Nova Scotia for twenty years by the time of the 1783 arrival of thousands of Loyalists relocating to what then became New Brunswick, Canada.
I find it quite ironic that this branch of my family – who settled early in Rhode Island, but then left for Canada – is the only one of my many colonial New England lines that has given me a Mayflower line – through George Soule.