Death of An Aged And Popular Citizen.
Judge Jesse R. Wikle
[A nice photograph accompanies this obituary]

Judge Jesse R. Wikle died at his home in his city Saturday morning at 3 o’clock.

Judge Wikle had not been in good health for nearly a month, although up to that time he had shown most remarkable vitality.

Judge Wikle was one of the most prominent and popular citizens of Cartersville and Bartow county.

Jesse Richardson Wikle was born in Haywood county, North Carolina, in 1823, and was therefore, eighty five years of age at his last birthday.

With his father’s family he moved to Gilmer county, Georgia, in December, 1836.  Here he lived, working on the farm and attended the country schools until 1843, when he went to Dahlonega and entered a newspaper office, remaining there until 1848.

Judge Wikle developed such talent that it could not escape recognition and he was made editor of the Dahlonega Watchman in 1850.  He sustained himself admirably in the position assigned to him, but he seemed to prefer another section of Georgia.

In 1845 he was married to Miss Mary Hooper, of Franklin county, a descendant of the Hoopers who were conspicuous during the days of the revolution.

In 1848 he moved to Cherokee county, where he lived until 1851.  During the session of the Georgia legislature of 1849-50 Judge Wikle was chosen a member of a convention on the admission of California with a free seat or anti-slavery constitution, representing the Union ticket, there being two tickets, the other being the Southern Rights ticket.

After Judge Wikle’s first political triumph in Cherokee county, he was slated for the legislature, but in April, 1851, he moved to Cartersville, where he went into the mercantile business, but was soon appointed postmaster, which office he resigned in 1860.

About this time Judge Wikle was admitted to the bar but he never practiced regularly.

Judge Wikle was recording clerk of the house of representatives of the Georgia legislature for the years 1853-4.

He secured the position of agent for the Western and Atlantic railroad at Cartersville in 1854 and held the place until 1860.

In 1860, when the stress of the situation incident to the breaking out of the civil war called for the best minds to contribute thought and advice to the people Judge Wikle assumed charge of the Cassville Standard, a paper which he edited with credit to himself and the community until the following year when he entered the confederate army.

He was a supporter of Douglas and Joenson (sic) for the presidency during the warn contest that resulted in the election of Lincoln as president.  He opposed secession believing, as many did, that it was a move fraught with much danger and ugly possibilities for the south, but when the tocsin of war was sounded in his native state he entered the Eighteenth Georgia regiment in June, 1861, and was appointed commissary for the regiment for which position he proved well fitted.

In March 1862-3 Judge Wikle was stricken with typhoid fever and returned to his home, where he lingered between life and death for a number of weeks.

After his recovery he was appointed agent for making of salt for the government at the Salt works at Saltville, Va., which place he filled until Stoneman destroyed the works in January, 1865.

Returning to his home after the war, like all those who had been in any way engaged in that memorable struggle, Judge Wikle went to work to repair his fortunes in the best way possible and chose farming as the method of getting back that which he had lost by his four years adherence to the cause of the south.

In 1865 Judge Wikle was elected one of the delegates, three being the number, from this county, to the state convention to revise the state constitution.  He was made chairman of one of the important committees of the convention. The constitution providing for a county judge in each county, Judge Wikle was elected to that position in Bartow county.

After the office was abolished by a later constitution, but Judge Wikle held the office up to the time it was abolished.

In 1870 Judge Wikle was appointed postmaster at Cartersville and held that position until 1885, when he resigned.

In 1886 he purchased the Curry Drug store and ran that for a time and when the First National Bank of Cartersville was established he was elected its president which position he held for twelve years.

In March 1904, Judge Wikle’s wife preceded him in death. They had lived together nearly fifty years.

Surviving Judge Wikle are six sons and one daughter. The sons are Jessie R. Wikle, Anniston, Ala., I. F. Wikle, J. H. Wikle, W. H. Wikle; Col. Douglas Wikle, of Nashville, Tenn., and Mr. Charles A. Wikle, of Atlanta.

The funeral took place from the home on Erwin street, at two o’clock Sunday afternoon, a large number of friends being present and attending the remains to their last resting place at Oak Hill.

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Page 4.

“Cherokee Club and Library Notes.”

The sympathy of the club goes out to Miss Mary Wikle in the death of her father, Judge J. R. Wikle, who for so many years has been one of our county’s most honored citizens.