WILKIN, James Whitney

1762–1845

Concise Biography

WILKIN, James Whitney, (father of Samuel Jones Wilkin), A Representative from New York; born in Wallkill, Orange (now Ulster) County, N.Y., in 1762;  was graduated from Princeton College in 1785; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1788 and began practice in Goshen, N.Y.; member of the New York state assembly in 1800; served in the Revolutionary War; entered the New York state militia and rose to the rank of major general; served in the New York state senate, 1801-1804 and 1811-1814; member of the New York state assembly, 1808 and 1809, and served as speaker in the latter year; member of the council of appointment in 1802, 1811, and 1813; elected as a Democratic Republican to the Fourteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Jonathan Fisk; reelected to the Fifteenth Congress (June 7, 1815-March 3, 1819); unsuccessful candidate for United States Senate in 1815; county clerk of Orange County, N.Y., 1819-1821; county treasurer for several years; died on February 23, 1845, in Goshen, N.Y.; interment in Slate Hill Cemetery, Goshen, N.Y.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Goshen Public Library and Historical Society

Goshen, NY
Papers: In the Manuscript Collection, 1690-1956, 56 cubic feet. The papers document James W. Wilkin's tenure as a Goshen attorney and office holder.

Minnesota Historical Society

St. Paul, MN
Papers: ca. 1770-1932, 2 cubic feet. The topically diverse papers largely highlight the career of James W. Wilkin as a member of the New York State Assembly (1808-1809) and Senate (1801-1804, 1811-1814) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1815-1819).

Princeton University
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library

Princeton, NJ
Papers: 1784, 1 volume. A diary kept by James Whitney Wilkin while he was a student at Princeton College, 23 Feb. - July 1784.
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