Rev. Isaac Washington Wilkes was a pioneer Baptist minister of Alabama. He was born in Marlboro District, South Carolina, on March 26, 1822, son of Elias and Hannah Usher Wilkes. Elias Wilkes was born in North Carolina, son of John and Margaret Wilkes. John Wilkes was in the War of 1812.
Hanna(Usher) Wilkes was a daughter of Thomas Usher, and a relative of James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh.
When Washington Wilkes was about eleven years old, the family moved to Dale County, Alabama, and later to Barbour County. He attended Howard College, 1848-9. He began his ministerial career in 1846. In 1873 Washington Wilkes served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Prattville, Alabama. for a brief time when the church also began to hold regular weekly prayer meetings every Tuesday night. In 1889, he was pastor of Cropwell Baptist Church. Rev. Washington Wilkes was a minister for forty-five years.
In 1854, he married Mary E. Lamar, daughter of John and Mary E. (Dubose) Lamar. John Lamar was a native of Georgia, who came to Dallas County, Alabama in 1832.
Mary E. Dubose was a daughter of Peter Dubose of Georgia.
Rev. Washington Wilkes died November 23, 1894, and was buried in Sylacauga, Alabama in Fort Williams Cemetery. His wife, Mary, (b. July 30, 1835) died May 22, 1890, and is also buried at Fort Williams cemetery.
SOURCES
Alabama Notes Vol. I, by Flora England
Biography of Rev. Washington Wilkes, from Memorial Record of Alabama Vol. 2, p. 992)
