Jane Grey Swisshelm, born December 6, 1815, writes in Half A Century, published in 1880,
Before the completion of that momentous third year of life, I had learned to read the New Testament readily, and was deeply grieved that our pastor played “patty cake” with my hands, instead of hearing me recite my catechism, and talking of original sin. During that winter I went regularly to school, where I was kept at the head of a spelling-class, in which were young men and women. One of these, Wilkins McNair, used to carry me home, much amused, no doubt, by my supremacy. His father, Col. Dunning McNair, was proprietor of the village, and had been ridiculed for predicting that, in the course of human events, there would be a graded, McAdamized road, all the way from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and that if he did not live to see it his children would. He was a neighbor and friend of Wm. Wilkins, afterwards Judge, Secretary of War, and Minister to Russia, and had named his son for him. When his prediction was fulfilled and the road made, it ran through his land, and on it he laid out the village and called it Wilkinsburg.
The Pittsburgh Pike, an early toll road, was completed in 1818. It made travel more readily available between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and greatly reduced freight rates. Wilkinsburg had a toll gate, initially at what became Penn Ave. and Swissvale Ave.
The Pittsburgh Pike began as the Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike, chartered in 1805, with the state providing 38 percent of the capital and the business community providing 62 percent. The turnpike company in 1814 divided into five turnpike companies including the Greensburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company. Sewell E. Slick writes, “William Wilkins served as president of that company for a number of years.” [1]
Rev. Andrew Arnold Lambing, noted historian, expert on early Pittsburgh history, a president of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society, a friendly man, served at St. James in Wilkinsburg from 1885 to 1918. He died December 24, 1918, in Wilkinsburg. Rev. Lambing writes in Brief Sketch of St. James' Roman Catholic Church,
At length the town got its present designation from the Hon. William Wilkins, but just at what time it would be difficult to say. The first mention of the name is found in the abstract of the title, where, under date of August 28, 1833, we learn . . that Mark W. Collett and Susan B., his wife, deeded to James Kelly a large tract of land, “reserving, however, sundry lots in the plan of Wilkinsburg.” The following item from The Pittsburgh Gazette of May 29, 1840, will be interesting in this connection: “We are requested to state that a postoffice has been established at Wilkinsburg, Pa., bearing the same name, of which Abraham Stoner has been appointed postmaster.”
Hon. William Wilkins was a well known and highly respected citizen of Pittsburg of the old school, a brief sketch of whose life will doubtless prove interesting to some of our good people. He was born in Carlisle, Pa., December 20, 1779, and, on the completion of his college course, read law in his native town, and later came to Pittsburg where he was admitted to the bar in 1801, his father having come to that city in 1783.
Mr. Wilkins practiced law in Pittsburg in all more than fifty years. But he was seldom out of some public station, among which may be mentioned that of President of Common Council, chairman of Judiciary Committee, and President Judge of the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. He was elected to Congress, but declined to serve, and in 1831 was chosen United State Senator, and resigned his judgeship. He was a candidate for the office of Vice-President in 1833, and the next years was appointed minister to Russia; was elected to the House of Representatives in 1842, was appointed Secretary of War in January, 1844, and ten years later was elected State Senator.
During his whole career he was an active and public-spirited citizen, manifesting a deep interest in whatever tended to promote the best interests of the community in which he lived.
He was twice married, his second wife being Matilda Dallas, daughter of Alexander Dallas, Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison, and sister of George M. Dallas, Vice-President with James K. Polk.
The Pittsburgh Post of April 39, 1861, pays him the following fitting compliment: “The snows of 80 winters have silvered the head of this distinguished gentleman, but they have not dimmed his eye, nor taken from his great heart one particle of its patriotism. In the midst of the present excitement, he is daily in the city, and, at the head of the Committee of Public Safety, is drawing from his experience of other days such calm, wise counsels, such apt and prompt action as the necessities of the case require. The evening of his life, like its manhood’s vigor, is being devoted to his country’s welfare. All honor to the brave old man.”
He died at his residence, Homewood, Pittsburgh, the present city residence of Mr. George Westinghouse, June 23, 1863, in the 86th year of his age.
Rev. Lambing writes in A History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny in 1880,
The village of Wilkinsburg is situated on the Pennsylvania Railroad, seven miles east of Pittsburg by that thoroughfare, although near the boundary of the city. It was founded some time prior to the year 1840, and was successively known as McNairsville, Rippeysville, and Wilkinsburg, the last of which was bestowed upon it in honor of Hon. W. Wilkins, at one time U. S. ambassador to Russia.
The description of the Wilkinsburg railroad stop in the August 1863 Thurston’s Route Book states,
The vicinity of this station is also thickly dotted with the suburban houses of the merchants and manufacturers of Pittsburgh. The town derives its name from Hon. William Wilkins, a venerable statesman, and a distinguished son of Allegheny county, whose beautiful county seat is in the vicinity.
The Pittsburg Press of 1907 tells,
Whether he be a sedate member of the Pennwood Club, or a restful attache of the Elks eyrie, or a staid official, a progressive merchant, or a grave and reverend minister, let him only be a citizen of Wilkinsburg, and he is ever ready with a paen of praise for the delights, the comforts, the progressiveness and the general importance of the town named after that sterling Pennsylvanian, legislator and popular neighbor, William Wilkins.
Samuel H. Sewall, expert on William Wilkins, states in 1939, “William Wilkins Pittsburger Extrordinary” for the Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, “The places named in honor of William Wilkins are not scarce around Pittsburgh. Wilkins Township, Wilkins Avenue, and Wilkinsburg all derive their names from him.” [2]
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Jane Grey Swisshelm, Half A Century, 1880, second edition, printed by The Chicago Legal News Company, pp. 9–10. The third edition is at:
https://archive.org/details/halfcentury00swis
“Pittsburgh Pike,” Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Pike
Samuel H. Sewall, “William Wilkins Pittsburger Extrordinary,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, December 1939, pp. 217–236, [1] p. 223, [2] footnote 41, p. 236. This article is a carefully researched and comprehensive look at William Wilkins.
https://journals.psu.edu/wph/issue/view/236
Rev. A. A. Lambing, A History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny from its Establishment to the Present Time, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis: Benziger Brothers, 1880, pp. 188–189.
https://archive.org/details/historyofcatholi00lamb
https://documenting.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00aga8651m/viewer#page/195/mode/1up
Rev. A. A. Lambing, LL. D. “Brief Sketch of St. James’ Roman Catholic Church, Wilkinsburg, Pa.” circa 1912, pp. 5–6.
Wilkinsburg Pubic Library Digital Archive
Thurston's Route Book from Philadelphia to Chicago. Via Pennsylvania Central Railroad and Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, August 1863, Pittsburgh: G. H. Thurston, 1863, p. 36.
https://www.loc.gov/item/02018845/
“Old Town of Aspect All Modern. Splendid Growth of Wilkinsburg Since It Was First a Straggling Little Village Along the Ancient Turnpike. Fine Buildings Are Being Put Up” The Pittsburg Press, July 14, 1907, p. 36.