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Memorial and Family History of Erie County, New York
Vol. I, Biographical and Genealogical
The Genealogical Publishing Co., Buffalo; 1906-8

   [12-13]

        SAMUEL WILKESON, son of JOHN and MARY ROBINSON WILKESON, was born
     in 1781, at Carlisle, Pa., and in his infancy he accompanied his
     parents to Washington County, Pa., where his education was obtained in
     a log school-house. After his father's death, SAMUEL WILKESON settled
     in Southeastern Ohio. Later he removed his family to Chautauqua, N.Y.,
     and engaged in  boat building. During the War of 1812 he built a fleet
     of transports for the Government, and took part in the defense of
     Buffalo. At the close of the War of 1812 he removed to Buffalo, where
     social and civic conditions had become unsettled to a degree that
     threatened the total disruption of law and order. It was to SAMUEL
     WILKESON that the people turned to defend the rights of honest citi-
     zenship in this crisis, and in 1815 he was induced to accept the then
     important office of justice of the peace. Up to the time he was
     elected a magistrate he had probably never opened a law-book, yet he
     rose to the situation in a manner which made his record as a justice,
     and later as a judge, memorable in the annals of jurisprudence in
     Buffalo. In February, 1821, he was appointed First Judge of the Court
     of Common Pleas of Erie County. In 1824 Judge WILKESON was elected to
     the State Senate, and in 1836 he was elected Mayor of Buffalo. He was
     among the leading advocates of the Erie Canal, and in 1822 he success-
     fully argued before the Canal Commissioners the claim of Buffalo to be
     chosen as the canal's western terminus in preference to Black Rock.
     Among the many episodes of Judge WILKESON'S eventful life, his con-
     nection with the building of Buffalo Harbor has won for him the most
     accurately defined place in local history. While Judge WILKESON was
     occupied with public services, his business activity was undiminished.
     He was a merchant, warehouseman, vessel owner and lake forwarder. He
     built the first iron foundry ever erected in Buffalo, and a section of
     the Erie Canal. The death of Judge WILKESON occurred in July, 1848, in
     his 67th year.
        Judge WILKESON was married three times. His first wife was JEAN
     ORAM, daughter of JAMES ORAM, who was of Scotch-Irish extraction and
     served through the War of the Revolution. The second wife of Judge
     Wilkeson was SARAH ST. JOHN, of Buffalo. His third wife was MARY
     PETERS, who was famous as an educator of girls. Judge WILKESON was the
     father of six children, all issue of his first marriage. They were
     ELIZABETH, JOHN, ELI, WILLIAM, LOUISE and SAMUEL.

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