1679 - 1723
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Birth |
Abt 1679 |
, , , England |
Gender |
Male |
Died |
Abt 1723 |
Person ID |
I3312 |
Herring Family of Callaway County, Missouri |
Last Modified |
31 Mar 2009 |
|
Father |
Francis Wilkes, b. Abt 1640, Harewood Or Leeds, , , England , d. Yes, date unknown |
Family ID |
F1353 |
Group Sheet |
|
Family 1 |
Susannah Foster, d. Yes, date unknown |
Married |
2 Mar 1694 |
St. James, Duke's Place, London, England |
Children |
> | 1. Francis Wilkes, b. 14 Jan 1699, St. Mary, Whitechapel, London, England , d. 1784, , Loudoun, Virginia, USA |
| 2. Mary Wilkes, d. Yes, date unknown |
| 3. Robert Wilkes, d. Yes, date unknown |
|
Last Modified |
14 Nov 2008 |
Family ID |
F1337 |
Group Sheet |
|
Family 2 |
Catherine Williams, d. Yes, date unknown |
Married |
26 Jul 1718 |
London, , Greater London, England |
Last Modified |
21 Aug 2005 |
Family ID |
F1338 |
Group Sheet |
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Notes |
- The following notes were written by Pat Sherman McAllister,
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Early bearers of the name Wilkes [Wylkys]:
John [1st] de Wylkys of Pouleshale in Wylkyshire, tem. Hen. III. A. D. 1216-1272.
John [2nd] de Wylkys, Kn., [Knight] born at Pouleshall, A.D. 1258. Removed to Hertshire before 1312.
John [3rd] de Wylkys of Walton Surrey, and of Moorhouse in Yerdelaye Herts., fl. 1312.
John [4th] de Wylkys, Kn. Fought in all the King's battles in the first half of the 14th century in Gascony and in France. His arms [these arms undifferenced from their original "plain" form] were carried at Crecy-en-Ponthieu 1346. Slain the same year under the walls of Calais.
1272 was the year that the English monarchy changed from Henry III to Edward . The Hundred Years War started in 1337.
Probably the first of the Wilkes line in America was Robert Thomas Wilkes, known as thomas, who along with his brother Wiliam was sentenced to transportation to the colonies by Cromwell following the execution of thier father, John Wilkes, Mayor of Shrewsbury, Shopshire, England, for leading the defense of the city during Cromwerll's siege and capture of that city in 1650. This was reported in recent years by a Mr. Charles Wilkes, professor of History at London University. This John Wilkes was a descendant of the early Wilkes bearing these arms.
Origins of the Wilkes' family:
Prior to the year 1,000 A.D, people other than the nobility did not use surnames as we know them today. The Welsh people and others did recite their genealogy, but it was a long list of ancestors, inappropriate for use as a surname. Around the time of the Norman conquest in 1066, surnames did come into wider use, but was often applied to individuals who came from someplace else. Thus the Normal [Norman?] names "de Wylkys" as it was then written, meant "he who comes from a family in Wiltshire".
The name "Wilkes", in Norman times spelled "Wylkys" originated with those of the name living in "Wylkyshire" now "Wiltshire". The Gaelic name "Wylk" meant "Wolf". Thus the name Wylkyshire" meant the province of the Wolves.
About the time of the Protestant Reformation, the name was spelled both as "Wilkes" and as "Wilks" - the latter spelling being the phonetic equivalent of the true single syllable pronunciation of the name. The same name spelled "Wilkes" is also found in the Netherlands and in Germany, but there it is pronounced "Vil-kes" in two syllables.
In England, some of the name became Protestants, while others remained Catholic. Such divisions always caused much trouble among family members, and this was no exception. The Catholic members kept the spelling of "Wilkes" - followers of tradition are loath to change things for the sake of changing. this group lived primarily near the city of Yorkshire in East-Central England. Others who became Protestant, spelled their name "Wilks" to differentiate themselves from their despised kinsmen who did not follow King Henry VIII's wishes. Eventually this distinction was forgotten, but both spellings persisted.
In what is not the United States, most families farmed for a living, and were not of high education. When these family members bought or sold real estate, recorded births, marriages and deaths, they often verbally told the county recorders their names, who then recorded it as it sounded to them. if the recorders did not know better or were not told differently, they would write the name as "Wilks", spelling the name as it sounded. If they did know better, or if the family member thought to spell it for them, it was written as "Wilkes". At times the same name appears under both spellings in the same document. Thus families spelling their name either way were in fact the same family, and not two distinct families.
[In our family, Rufus Wilks' brother, John's children went to school and the teacher told them there was supposed to be and "e" in the name, so they put it there]
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