Born in Licking County, Ohio, on February 19, 1838, and raised there upon a farm, having common school advantages during the winter months while growing up. After arriving at the age of twenty-one years he borrowed money and by means of which obtained an academic education at Haynesville, Ohio. He left the academy just after the battle of Bull Run, in 1861, and enlisted as a private in Co. H, Thirty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which company, through different grades in promotion, became captain, and at the close of the war, returned from the field in command of the regiment, and was complimented for his services as such commander by the rank of brevet-major. On his return from the army he entered the law department of the University of Michigan as a student, and in 1867 graduated therein, having in the meantime between sessions read law in the office of Buckingham & Kibler, of Newark, Ohio. In 1867 he came to Iowa and stopped a few months at Des Moines, where he was admitted to practice in the different courts, and during which time he was acquainting himself with the State statutes and practice. In June 1868, he located in Winterset, an entire stranger, and commenced the practice of his profession. Mr. Wilkin represented Madison County in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Iowa General Assembly, 1884-86.

Born in Licking County, Ohio, on February 19, 1838, and raised there upon a farm, having common school advantages during the winter months while growing up. After arriving at the age of twenty-one years he borrowed money and by means of which obtained an academic education at Haynesville, Ohio. He left the academy just after the battle of Bull Run, in 1861, and enlisted as a private in Co. H, Thirty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which company, through different grades in promotion, became captain, and at the close of the war, returned from the field in command of the regiment, and was complimented for his services as such commander by the rank of brevet-major. On his return from the army he entered the law department of the University of Michigan as a student, and in 1867 graduated therein, having in the meantime between sessions read law in the office of Buckingham & Kibler, of Newark, Ohio. In 1867 he came to Iowa and stopped a few months at Des Moines, where he was admitted to practice in the different courts, and during which time he was acquainting himself with the State statutes and practice. In June 1868, he located in Winterset, an entire stranger, and commenced the practice of his profession. Mr. Wilkin represented Madison County in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Iowa General Assembly, 1884-86.