Submitted by Gerald & Tammy Westmoreland
Abner James Wilkes married Elizabeth Ann Buckley on 01 Aug 1853 in Lawrence County, Mississippi. He married Martha Odom Buckley on 06 Mar 1864 in Lawrence County, Mississippi. Elizabeth and Martha were sisters.
His boyhood was one of leisure. His fathr had many slaves, a large number being house and personal ones. Each child had his or her attendant and his or her own horse and saddle and bridle. They were not required to work, so that there was plenty of time available for hunting, fishing, and riding. He had a soft life but gave it up when a little over eighteen years of age to marry and settle on a farm of his own on Whitesand Creek in what was then Lawrence County, but now Jefferson Davis County. He was successful as a farmer, and for many years operated a small general store for the convenience of his neighbors and his employees.
He and three of his brothers enlisted as Confederate soldiers at Williamsburg, Covington County, on 22 February 1862. He served in Company B of J. W. Balfour's Battalion. Corporal Wilkes' company was surrendered at Spanish Fort on 12 April 1865.
Corporal Wilkes was an active member of Bethany Baptist Church, formed in 1819, located near his home. He was a Mason for many years before his death and belonged to the lodge at what was then Blountville (now Prentiss).
Information and photograph from Wilkes Family History and Genealogy, Thomas Wilkes (ca. 1735-1809) and His Descendants written and published by Ivan Ernest Bass in 1965