Personal Life
James Wilkinson was born about three miles (5 km) northeast of Benedict, Maryland, on a farm south of Hunting Creek. His grandfather had been sufficiently wealthy to buy Stoakley Manor in Calvert County. The family felt that even though their property was smaller, they still fell in with a higher social class. James grew up with the idea that "the image of respectability excused the reality of betrayal." His father, Joseph Wilkinson, inherited the property but, by that time, the family was in debt. In 1764, Stoakley Manor was broken up and sold. His older brother, Joseph, inherited the property after his father died and, as the second son, James was left with nothing. However, his father left with the last words of “My son, if you ever put up with an insult, I will disinherit you.” Andro Linklater argues that this upbringing led to James’ aggressive reaction towards insults of his behavior.
James Wilkinson received his early education from a private tutor, funded by his grandmother; his study of medicine in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania was interrupted by the American Revolution.
Wilkinson married Ann Biddle of the Biddle family on November 12, 1778 in Philadelphia. Wilkinson's marriage to the dynamic Biddle only helped his career as a politician and general. They had four children, including John (1780–1796), James Biddle (c. 1783 – September 17, 1813) and Joseph Biddle (1785-1865).
After Ann's death on February 23, 1807, he married Celeste Laveau Trudeau on March 5, 1810, with whom he had three children: twin girls Stephanie and Theofannie, born January 1816, and a son Theodore, born 1819. Theofannie, his favorite, died in early 1822.
Dying on December 28, 1825 at the age of 68, he was buried in Mexico City, Mexico.
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“A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)