Austin Wiley Wilkinson

BUFFINGTON, DAVIS, NEWLON, PARKER, WILKINSON

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 10/14/2004 at 10:16:38

“The History of Madison County, Iowa”
Union Historical Company, Des Moines, 1879
pages 554, 555

A. W. Wilkinson is a Winterset Attorney, born in Madison county in 1848. His parents came to this county and settled in Scott township, in 1847. Mr. Wilkinson was raised on a farm until his seventeenth year, he then came to Winterset and attended school, and was afterward elected county surveyor. He read law in the office of J. S. McCaughan, and was admitted to the bar before Judge Maxwell in 1873. He then went to California and remained eighteen months, and returned to Madison county in the fall of 1874, and January 1, 1875, opened an office and commenced the practice of his profession. He married Miss Helen Davis, in 1871, she was born in Hamilton county, Ohio. Their family consists of four children: Lena, Maud, Ralph and Phil.
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“History of Madison County Iowa and Its People”
Herman A. Mueller, Supervising Editor
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915

Austin W. Wilkinson, of Winterset, has not only gained a high position at the bar of the county as an able attorney but has also an enviable reputation as a judge, having served on the district bench for sixteen years. He was born in Scott township, this county, on the 22nd of November, 1848, and an account of his parents is given in the sketch of W. S. Wilkinson, which appears on another page of this work.

Our subject was educated in the district schools and at Winterset Academy, taking what would now be termed a high-school course. He became a surveyor and civil engineer and for three years held the office of county surveyor. However, he decided that the law offered the most attractive field for his life's work and he accordingly prepared for the legal profession and was admitted to the bar in 1872. The year following he went to California and was employed as a civil engineer and teacher for about two years.

On the 1st of January, 1875, he returned to Winterset and opened a law office here. He was spared the dreary waiting for clients that is so often the lot of the young attorney and as he handled successfully the cases entrusted to him his practice grew steadily. In 1882 his ability was recognized by election to the office of district attorney for the fifth judicial district of Iowa, which then included Polk county. He served one term of four years and displayed such a thorough knowledge of the law that in the fall of 1886 he was elected district judge and was reelected a number of times, holding the office in all for sixteen years. He was an excellent jurist, maintaining the dignity of the court, expediting the course of the law by wise rulings and, above all, maintaining an absolutely impartial attitude of mind. His decisions possessed the merits of lucidity, simpleness and purity of style and his ability commanded the respect of the profession and the general public alike. Following his service as judge he returned to the general practice of law and won additional laurels in that field.

Mr. Wilkinson married Miss Ellen R. Davis, who was born in Hamilton, Ohio, and whose parents became early settlers of Burlington, Iowa. They both died when she was quite young. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson had six children. Lina, the eldest, is at home. Maud is now the wife of Major Parker, U. S. A., who is stationed in the Philippines. By a former marriage she has two children, Beatrice and Florence. Ralph R. received his elementary and preparatory education in the Winterset schools and his professional training in the Ohio Medical College.

He took first honors in competitive examinations in both the Jewish and German Deaconess Hospitals of Cincinnati and served as an intern, thus gaining much valuable experience. He is now on the staff of the Jewish Hospital of that city. He married Miss Grace Scott and they have one child, Jean. Philip R. entered the law department of the State University of Iowa after completing his course in the Winterset high school and also studied in the law school of Drake University at Des Moines. Since 1902 he has been associated with his father in the practice of law at Winterset and in 1914 was elected prosecuting attorney of Madison county. He married Miss Lida Newlon and they have a daughter, Helen. Ruth became the wife of B. F. Buffington and passed away, leaving a daughter, Betty, who makes her home with her grandparents. Jack is in the employ of the Register and Leader of Des Moines.

Mr. Wilkinson is a Republican and his advice carries weight in the local councils of his party. He has been a Mason for many years, holding membership in Evening Star Lodge, No. 43, A. F. & A. M., of Winterset; Lebanon Chapter, No. 11, R. A. M., also of Winterset; in Temple Commandery, No. 4, K. T., of Des Moines; and in Des Moines Consistory, No. 3, S. P. R. S. He is connected with the financial circles of Winterset as a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of this city. He has been honored with important positions of public trust and has at all times proved worthy of the confidence reposed in him and has so ordered his life that those who know him most intimately entertain for him the highest respect and warmest regard.

Madison Biographies maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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