Susanna Wilkerson

Susanna Wilkerson

• Susanna Wilkerson was born circa 1814 in Tennessee.
• She married Almeron Dickinson on 24 May 1829.
• She married John Williams circa 1837 in Houston, Harris County, Texas.
• She and John Williams were divorced on 24 March 1838.
• She married Francis P. Herring on 20 December 1838.
• Susanna Wilkerson became a widow at death of her husband Francis P. Herring.
• She married Peter Bellows on 15 December 1847, and divorced in 1857.
• Susanna Wilkerson and Peter Bellows appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Houston, Harris County, Texas. Other members of the household included Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson.
• She married Joseph W. Hannig on 7 December 1857 in Caldwell County, Texas, with the Rev. J. H. Wells, Baptist minister, officiating.
• Joseph W. Hannig and Susanna Wilkerson appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Austin, Travis County, Texas. Also in the household was Carpenter S. Charles, age 40.
• Joseph W. Hannig and Susanna Wilkerson appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Austin, Travis County, Texas. Other members of the household included Susanna Arabella Griffith, Joseph Griffith and Sarah Ann Holmes. Susanna's three grandchildren were identified with the surname "Hanning."
• Joseph W. Hannig and Susanna Wilkerson appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Travis County, Texas. Other members of the household included Susan Griffith and Sarah Ann Holmes. Granddaughter Sarah was identified as Sally Hannig. Also in the household were a cook and a farmhand.
  
• Susanna Wilkerson died on 7 October 1883.
• Her husband Joseph W. Hannig became a widower at her death.
• She was interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis County, Texas.
• The following appeared on 11 September 1947 in the Lockhart Post-Register: An interesting bit of data concerning the Makers and Making of Caldwell County is that Mrs. Dickinson of Alamo fame lived here for several years in the early days of the county. Considering the time it is probable that Angelina, "the babe of the Alamo" also resided here, however there are no records available to confirm this supposition.
       Along about the middle 1850s Frank and Joseph Hannig, brothers, came here from Germany. Frank was a gunsmith and Joseph was a cabinet maker. Joseph's shop was located under the huge liveoak tree near the present site of Charles Kelley's service station and Frank's shop a half block up the street.
       Joseph boarded in the home of Mrs. Dickinson. Her culinary arts evidently won young Joseph's heart for not long afterward they were united in marriage. Prior to this marriage Mrs. Dickinson had married a man named Bellis. Local marriage records reveal that Joseph W. Hannig and Susannah A. Bellis were united in marriage here on Dec. 7, 1857, by Rev. J. H. Wells, Baptist Minister.
       Subsequently they moved to Austin where she died in 1883.
       "I knew the mother of the 'Babe of the Alamo' who had been the wife of Lt. Dickinson who lost his life in the Alamo massacre, the last ten years of her life, from 1873 to 1883," states Mr. E. A. Masur.
       "She was a dignified old lady and all who knew her respected her, and she was always ready to talk about her past experiences but I was too young, to my regret in later life, to take much interest in what she had to say then. She died in October 1883 and carried a leg wound, received in the battle of the Alamo, almost 50 years before that, to her grave.
       "Also, I remember she was very fond of cabbage, bacon, cornbread and buttermilk.
       "And, too, I remember of dreading, on our visits, to being kissed by an old lady with hair on her upper lip."
       Mr. Masur further stated that Angelina, "the babe of the Alamo" was married twice. First to a Griffith and second to a Mr. Holmes. She is reported to have died in New Orleans, however the date and the place of her burial is not known, he said.
• For additional biographical information, see The Handbook of Texas Online.

• Last Edited: 7 Oct 2013