Background
Ross Wilkins was born on Feburary 19, 1799 in Pittsburgh, Pa. , the son of John and Catherine (Stevenson) Wilkins. His father had been a soldier in the Revolution; William Wilkins was his uncle.
Ross Wilkins was born on Feburary 19, 1799 in Pittsburgh, Pa. , the son of John and Catherine (Stevenson) Wilkins. His father had been a soldier in the Revolution; William Wilkins was his uncle.
Ross Wilkins was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. Following his graduation in 1816, he studied law in Pittsburgh.
He had been admitted to the bar and elected prosecuting attorney by the time he was twenty-one. He practised law in Pittsburgh from 1823 to 1832. In 1832 he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson, a personal friend, territorial judge of Michigan, an office he held until 1837. In 1835 he served as delegate to the Michigan constitutional convention. In 1836, when the admission of Michigan as a state was being considered, he represented Lenawee County in the "First Convention of Assent" and Wayne County in the "Second Convention of Assent. " He was an influential member of both conventions. He was for five years (1837 - 42) a member of the board of regents of the University of Michigan. He served as recorder of the city of Detroit in 1837 and in the same year was appointed United States district judge of Michigan. When the state was divided into two judicial districts, he became judge of the eastern district, an office which he held continuously from 1837 to 1870, when he resigned. In politics he was a Democrat.
Although he had been a Methodist for many years, he became a Catholic towards the end of his life.
He was an ultra-temperance man, a leader in the Washingtonian teetotal movement of the forties. During his late years he was much interested in theology and doctrinal controversy. It is said that he kept his Greek testament constantly at his side. He was said to resemble Lord Byron and is described by a contemporary as one of the handsomest men of his day. In his later years he was calm and judicial in manner.
On May 13, 1823, he married Maria Duncan, by whom he had seven children.