admin COL. SAMUEL H. WILKESON, second son of John Wilkeson, was born in 1836. With the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 21st New York Volunteer Infantry, as First Lieutenant of Company H. On February 22, 1862, Col. Wilkeson was mustered into the 11th N. Y. Cavalry (Scott’s 900) as Captain of Company C. He was promoted to Major June 24, 1862, Lieut. Colonel December 24, 1862, and Colonel March 15, 1865, and was discharged March 27, 1865, at Memphis, Tenn. In the Davidson raid in the far South, he was Inspector General in the field, and was the commanding Lieutenant-Colonel in the Ripley raid. In addition to his services in Maryland and Virginia, he served in Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Tennessee. His official stay in the Gulf Department lasted eighteen months. In August, 1864, he participated in the Mobile expeditiouj as an officer on the staff of Gen. Gordon Granger. His total time of active service lasted about four years.
In 1868, Col. Wilkeson married Matilda Gertrude Franks. Mrs. Wilkeson was born on Mackinac Island, November 4, 1849, and died in Buffalo, February 24, 1903. She was prominent in the affairs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, for many years was a member of the managing board of the Church Charities Foundation, and was actively interested in the charities of her own church, St. Mary’s on the Hill. Mrs. Wilkeson is survived by her husband and six children, John, born Sept. 11, 1869; Edward Samuel, born in August, 1871; Mary Juana. Elizabeth Wilkes, now the wife of John K. Freeman; William, born in 1885, and Margaret Livingston.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I