Charles Wilkinson

Story of Charles Wilkinson

Born at Girton, Nottinghamshire, England

October 14, 1815

            At the time when the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 
converted Charles Wilkinson, he was living in a comfortable little home of his own.  There 
were his wife, Sarah Hughes Wilkinson, his son Joseph and the two little daughters Sagah 
and Mary.  Of the 8 Wilkinson brothers and their 3 sisters, Charles was the only one to join the 
Church.  The gathering to Zion that naturally followed his conversion cost him all his 
possessions on earth, in the end, except his oldest son and his faith in the gospel.  The two 
little daughters were buried in one grave long before they reached Salt Lake City.  This Wilkinson family joined the handcart company of 185?  When they reached the 
Platte River, it was very cold.  Old people and sick people only could ride.  Strong ones 
were expected to wade across.  Sarah Hughes Wilkinson, to avoid burdening the others, 
although she did not feel able, was one of those who waded.  She never knew a well day 
afterwards.  Six weeks after they arrived in Salt Lake, she died following the birth of a 
stillborn infant son.  Her husband asked her on her deathbed if she regretted having 
emigrated to Utah.  She answered, "I'd do it again for the gospel's sake."

            Our sire, Charles Wilkinson, must have been as great in character as he was small 
in stature.  His son Joseph relates that at one time during those days of grief and deprivation, 
he, a little 10 year old boy, was walking from Provo to Salt Lake City through a blinding snow 
storm.  He held on to his father's hand but found it hard to keep on going.  He began to 
hang back and say he couldn't go any farther.  His father explained that he was too heavy 
to be carried, and that he would freeze if he stayed where he was.  Finally reasoning and 
kindly persuasion were not enough.  The boy began to cry and refused to go on.  In this 
serious situation, the naturally kind father became severe:  "Get up, and keep on going, 
or I'll beat you to death," he said.

            In Salt Lake City, Charles Wilkinson, a farm hand from England, learned to become 
a capable wheelwright.  He married Jane Bentham, and she, also, died after giving birth 
to a stillborn baby boy. 

            A third marriage resulted in the birth of a baby girl, whose mother afterwards 
returned to her former husband.  This man renamed the child Harriet Rebecca, and she grew 
up as a member of the Keyser family.  In later years she came and lived with her own father.

            A patriarchal blessing was given him in which he was told that the Lord was mindful of
 him in his great trials: but that through his faith, he would yet be greatly "blessed in his basket 
and in his store," and many names of his posterity would be recorded in honor on the 
records of the church.  Again he married.  The new wife was Ann Denton.  She became 
the mother of a girl and a boy before she died of a fever at the age of 29.  The daughter, 
Rebecca Ann, survived, a lonely little girl whose father had to leave her with neighbor friends 
while he was at his daily labor.  Her half brother Joseph was 16 years older than she and 
always busy.

            Charles proposed marriage to Anna Maria Blom, a widow and convert from Sweden, 
who accepted him.  Four years later, in order to live the principle of plural marriage, he 
married another widow convert from Sweden, Marie E. Anderson.

            He lived in Salt Lake City, then Salt Creek (Nephi), the Muddy River Country, St. George,
 and finally came to Leeds in 1874.  Here, through their combined industry, a substantial 
two-story brick house was built, planned to suit the personal need of each wife.  Later, a 
separate comfortable and smaller brick house, with an equal-sized acre and a quarter lot 
was obtained for Marie E. Anderson Wilkinson situated across a lane from the larger 
house.  He became the owner of a general store, and during the boom days of the Silver 
Reef mining camp, he was indeed blessed in "his basket and in his store."  He was known 
as an honest man in all his dealings to Gentile as well as Mormon.

            After he became prosperous, in his later years, he made a trip to his old English 
home.  It was his hope to convert other members of his family to the gospel.  One sister 
and two brothers were living.  His nephew, John, was the only one who joined the Church 
and came to Utah through his efforts.

            The habits of Charles Wilkinson were thrifty.  He arose at an early hour, ate his 
meals at regular times, and was orderly in his home, both inside and out.  He cultivated 
choice fruits, and kept a weedless garden.  He was prompt and regular in paying tithes 
and fast offerings and in his Church attandance.  His children say that he was almost "father 
and mother in one" because of his loving thoughtfulness and efficient providing.

            Although he was married 6 times, only 3 children survived.  One daughter was 
childless.  Twelve children of Joseph grew to maturity, and Rebecca Ann reared 10 of 
her 13 children.