Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Theophilus WILKINS

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Descendants of Theophilus WILKINS

Generation No. 1

1. THEOPHILUS¹ WILKINS was born about 1820 in Robeson Co NC, and died Aft. 1880 in Johnston Co NC. He married NANCY A. KING 27 May 1839 in Robeson Co NC. She was born in Robeson Co NC, and died Aft. 1880 in Johnston Co NC.

Notes for THEOPHILUS WILKINS:
      Theophilus "Offie" WILKINS, born about 1810 to 1820, probably in eastern North Carolina, but possibly in South Carolina, may have been the eldest son of Alfred and Edith WILKINS of Robeson and Johnston County, N.C., or the eldest son of Ann WILKINS of Robeson and Johnston County. As a young man, he lived in Robeson County where he was married on 27 May 1839 to Nancy KING. Daniel MUSSELWHITE and John MERCER were bondsmen and Sdh. (Shadrack) HOWELL was witness.
      Going by the 1850 census record, it would seem that their two eldest sons, Daniel and Alfred, might have been born before this marriage. Perhaps they were sons of an earlier wife. But it is just as likely that the census-taker was simply estimating the ages, which might have made them appear older than they actually were. Information obtained from census records always needs to be supported by additional records, if possible.
      Tax records in Robeson County, N.C., reveal that Theophilus WILKINS was a land-owner:
1837 - Theophilus WILKINS - 50 acres or more, including improvements, joining Joseph REGAN land.
1838 - Theophilus WILKINS - 50 acres on Thick Branch.
1841 - Theophilus WILKINS.
1843 - Theophilus WILKINS - 50 acres on Thick Branch. Tax $1.05.
1844 - Theophilus WILKINS - 50 acres on Thick Branch. Tax $1.12. Value $50.00.
      To date, we have no record of how Theophilus obtained this land, or when or to whom it was sold. He moved to Johnston County, N.C., between 1844 and 1850, as can be seen from the census and tax records.
      In 1840, Theophilus was head-of-household in the Robeson County census, where he and his family were listed as Free Colored Persons, giving credibility to our family tradition that the WILKINS founding father was married to an Indian. All non-white-persons, including full blooded Indians and people who were part Indian, were referred to in this way in the census. In 1850 and later years, after moving to Johnston County, where he lived next door to Alfred WILKINS, this WILKINS family was listed in the census as White.

1850 Census Johnston Co NC 820 Theophilus Wilkins 31 m farmer b NC
      Nancy 30 F, Daniel 14 M, Alfred 12 M, John 10 M, Sally 8 F, Charlotte 6 F, Anne 4 F, Troy 2 M
1860 Census Johnston Co NC Boon Hill Twp 419 Theophilus Wilkins 48 m day laborer
      Nancy 48 F, Alfred 20 M, John 17 M, Sally 14 F, Charlotty 12 F, Ann 10 F, Henry 7 M, Mary 6 F,
      Aaron 4 M, James 2 M, infant 4/12 F
1870
1880 Census Johnston Co NC Boon Hill Twp 222 Office Wilkins wm 69 laborer
      Nancy wf 68 wife, Sallie wf 39 dau, Mary wf 27 dau, Nancy wf 6 gr dau, Charlotte wf 4 gr dau,
      Sallie wf 5/12 gr dau
1900

      A manuscript entitled "Walking Upright: The Coharie People of Sampson County (North Carolina)," submitted by Dr. David Wilkins ( Karonhiawakon ) in 1980 to the Division of Archives & History, Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, N.C., details his research into the history of the eastern North Carolinian native American peoples. According to this manuscript, the WILKINS name has been asssociated with the Indian people of eastern North Carolina for more than two hundred years. The areas of their final settlement are in the Robeson and Sampson County sections of our state.
      As late as 1900 there were people in the records of Robeson County by the name of Wilkins who were continuing to refer to themselves as Indian, some of them using the word Croatan to describe themselves in their legal records. An examination of the early marriage records and the first death certificates in Robeson County reveals that the Wilkins family intermarried exclusively with other known Indian families up to that time.
      The "Wilson Daily Times" published on November 23, 1982 contained an article entitled "Tuscaroras Want Legal Recognition." This article details efforts on the part of contemporary Robeson County Indians, now called the Lumbee Indians, to gain federal recognition as an Indian tribe. According to this article, "In the late 1960s, a smaller, more rural group of Indians in the area detached themselves from the Lumbees and began calling themselves the Tuscaroras... The Tuscaroras say they are descended from an old North Carolina tribe, remnants of which moved north more than two centuries ago to join the Iroquois in New York. Some of the Lumbees say the Lumbees are descended from Indians and members of The Lost Colony, the English settlement on Roanoke Island that disappeared in the 1580s."
      Viola WILKINS BEAMAN of Mount Olive, N.C., says that she was taught that her great-grandmother Nancy KING WILKINS was "a full-blooded Croatan Indian."
      An 1850 petition to the Legislature of North Carolina is on file at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. The petition reads:
      "The undersigned, memorialists citizens of the County of Johnston Respectfully recommend to your Honorable body, the propriety of refusing for the future, Charters of Incorporation to any religious or moral reform societies whatsoever. To do so, in their humble opinion, is to violate the Constitution of our State, and to encourage the encroachment of ecclesiastical despotism. The attention of your body is especially called to the order of the Sons of Temperance, in our State, who are desirous of law power to carry out their designs and who will likely importune your body for acts of favorite legislation. Your memorialists deprevate any such legislation, as being dangerous to human liberty. Believing the money loaned by the State to the Wake Forest College to have been improperly disposed of, and by reason of which loan, sectarian pride and prejudice have been fostered; the undersigned Suggest the propriety of withdrawing the arm of government from this sectarian Institution by collecting from it, if possible, the amount loaned. If religious Societies, Schools or Colleges cannot stand upon their own merits and sustain themselves without the legislation or money of human governments they should not stand at all, and the sooner they fall the better."
      The petition bore the names of eighty-one (81) men who were residents of Johnston County, including Alford (Alfred) WILKINS, Eli WILKINS, John WILKINS and Offie (Theophilus) WILKINS. It seems our ancestors were very interested in the politics of their day... and very much opposed to the mingling of "church and state." Eli and John WILKINS are known to be sons of Alfred. These names would seem to be those of Alfred and three of his sons ( if Theophilus is his son, but this is still only speculation ).
      We can be sure that Theophilus and Alfred WILKINS were closely related, since Offie and Nancy not only moved to Johnston County after Alfred, but also named one of their eldest sons Alfred W. WILKINS. It is probable that Theophilus was Alfred's eldest son, but it is also possible that they were brothers. More information is needed!
      But the fact that they were related is clear. Aunt Janette WILKINS BUHRMAN told stories of playing with her "cousin," Emmett WILKINS, who was a great-grandson of Theophilus.
      Two of Offie WILKINS' sons were in the Confederate States Army. In 1899-1901, Mr. William R. Rose Jun'r. of Johnston County wrote a book about the Johnston County soldiers, which is in the library in Smithfield. Mr. Rose had this to say:
      "A.W. WILKINS enlisted May 31 / 61 from Johnston County. Alf was a good soldier and was wounded but have forgotten where. After the war he got married. Died some years ago in Wayne County."
      "John WILKINS enlisted May 31 / 61 from Johnston County. John was a tough fellow. He was often in the guard-house and was often turned out to go in the fight. At Fredericksburg he was struck by a spent ball, when he exclaimed 'Oh Lordy, I am killed.' After waiting awhile and seeming not to die as he expected he ventured to look at the wound and finding that it did not enter his body but only cut through his clothes, he said he was going to show us how to kill Yankees, and he went at it. He was finally in the latter part of the war transferred to the Navy where he remained to the close, except that he got a furlough home when he married his brother Alf's sweetheart. I think he is yet living, but am not confident."
      Theophilus and Nancy were both still alive in 1880, when they were enumerated in Boonhill Township. Their daughters Sallie, aged 39, and Mary, aged 27, were living with them. Also in the house were granddaughters Nancy, aged 6, Charlotte, aged 4, and Sallie, aged 5 months. The census does not indicate who was the parents of these three grandchildren, and they are not included in the family chart as yet.

> PRIMARY RECORD= FEDERAL CENSUS, Johnston Co NC: 1850, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. FEDERAL CENSUS, Robeson Co NC: 1840;
> PRIMARY RECORD= BIRTH CERTIFICATE, Johnston Co NC: Champ Clark Wilkins; William Gardner Wilkins; Percy Elender Wilkins; Agnes Mae Wilkins; Curmie Wilkins; Louise Wilkins; Norman Green Wilkins; Phereby Eleanor Wilkins; William Charles Wilkins; Dorothy Evelyn Wilkins; Zebedee Lewis Wilkins;
> PRIMARY RECORD= MARRIAGE RECORD, Johnston Co NC: Alfred W Wilkins & Keziah Pearce; Mary Wilkins & John Mozingo; Nannie Wilkins & J.E. Edwards; Nancy Ellington & Geo King; Bettie A. Wilkins & James C. McFatter; Patsey Wilkins & Frank Wilkins; Beatrice Wilkins & Sidney Eason; Ophelia Wilkins & S.E. Batten; Mildred Wilkins & Hardy Jones; Agnes Wilkins & Jimmy Eason; William Gardner Wilkins & Pauline Johnson; Curmie Wilkins & Pauline Braswell; Champ C Wilkins & Nola Mae Tart; George Wilkins & Ida Capps; Charlie Wilkins & Sarah Lee; Luther L Wilkins & Ada Barnett; Troy Wilkins & Vena Parrish; Aaron S Wilkins & Ophelia Oliver; John W Wilkins & Christie Overman; Robt W Wilkins & Vanie Radford; Robt Wilkins & Ida Summerlin; George Wilkins & Florence Rose; Henry Wilkins & Patsey Cook;
> PRIMARY RECORD= DEATH CERTIFICATE, Johnston Co NC: Phereby Wilkins; Champ Clark Wilkins; Norman Green Wilkins. DEATH CERTIFICATE, Wilson Co NC: Agnes Wilkins Eason;
> SECONDARY RECORD= NEWSPAPER OBITUARY: Champ C. Wilkins; Ida Barbour Wilkins; Maggie Barbour Wilkins; Bennie Bradley Wilkins; Louise Wilkins; Norman Green Wilkins; George William McFatter;

Children of THEOPHILUS WILKINS and NANCY KING are:

	i.		DANIEL² WILKINS, b. about 1836.
	ii.		ALFRED W. WILKINS, b. about 1838, Johnston Co NC; m. KEZZIAH PEARCE, 30 March 1877, Johnston Co NC; b. Johnston Co NC.

Notes for ALFRED W. WILKINS:
Alfred W. WILKINS, son of Theophilus and Nancy, was born about 1838 probably in Robeson Co, N.C., and probably died in Wayne Co, N.C.
Record of Civil War Veterans from Johnston County, North Carolina, compiled by Mr. William N. Rose, Jr., reports "A.W. WILKINS enlisted May 31 / 61 from Johnston County. Alf was a good soldier and was wounded but have forgotten where. After the war he got married. Died some years ago in Wayne County."
North Carolina Troops 1861-1865 A Roster, compiled by Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., says: "Co E, 24th Regiment, N.C. Troops: Alfred W. WILKINS, Private, resided in Johnston County where he enlisted at age 21, May 31, 1861. Present or accounted for through February, 1865."
Alfred was married on March 30, 1877, to Kizziah PEARCE in Johnston Co, N.C. Their children, if any, are so far undocumented.
In 1879 Zilphia PEARCE dau of Everette PEARCE & Kizziah WHITEHEAD were married at the home of Alfred WILKINS... is this a sister of Kizziah PEARCE WILKINS?

> PRIMARY RECORD= MARRIAGE RECORD, Johnston Co NC: AW Wilkins & Kizziah Pearce

Notes for KEZZIAH PEARCE:
Willow Dale Cemetery in Goldsboro, N.C. -- What does this mean??
No dates. Evidence that all were adults:
Joseph Wilkins, Kizziah Pierce, Lucy C. Wilkins, Charles P. Wilkins.

2.	iii.	JOHN W. WILKINS, b. about 1840, Robeson Co NC; d. about 1920, Robeson? Co NC.
3.	iv.	SARAH J. "SALLY" WILKINS, b. about 1842, Robeson Co NC.
	v.	CHARLOTTE WILKINS, b. about 1844, Robeson Co NC.
	vi.	EMILY ANN WILKINS, b. about 1846, Robeson Co NC.
4.	vii.	HENRY TROY WILKINS, b. about 1849, Johnston Co NC; d. 9 November 1926, Duplin Co NC.
5.	viii.	NANCY A. 'ANNIE' WILKINS, b. about 1851, Johnston Co NC; d. Aft. 1900, Johnston Co NC.
	ix.	MARY WILKINS, b. about 1854, Johnston Co NC; m. JOHN MOZINGO, 21 August 1885, Johnston Co NC.

Notes for MARY WILKINS:
Mary WILKINS, daughter of Theophilus and Nancy, was born about 1854 in Johnston Co, N.C. She was married "at the courthouse" on August 21, 1885, to John MOZINGO, son of Gody [Grady] and Polly MOZINGO, in Johnston Co, N.C.
No further information.

IS THIS MOZINGO, Mary -- b. 27 Oct 1855 d. 11 Oct 1928 "Mother" -- buried in James Batten Cemetery, near Glendale School in O'Neals Twp? She is the only person named Mozingo in this cemetery, with one Godwin and 7 Batten burials.

6.	x.		AARON S. WILKINS, b. 1856, Johnston Co NC.
	xi.		JAMES WILKINS, b. 1858, Johnston Co NC.

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