John Wilkinson

Who is John Wilkinson?

John Wilkinson was born in Rhode Island, United States. He was a direct descendant of Lawrence Wilkinson who fled the oppression of Oliver Cromwell in 1652 and settled in America and the son of Roger Wilkinson, an early colonist, who settled in Rhode Island where Roger Williams offered a startling new concept, freedom of religion.

John Wilkinson was a pioneer and settled in Troy, New York and seventeen years later moved his family to Skaneateles, New York.

Son, John Wilkinson Jr. was the first Postmaster of Syracuse, New York and gave the city its name. Great-grandson, John Wilkinson invented the air-cooled engine and helped found the Franklin Automobile Company.