In 1758, Thomas Wilkinson, an ordained minister in the Church of England, declared his love to Mary Robertson, a wealthy widow who owned a tract of land, a gristmill, and some slaves in Chesterfield County. After their marriage, Wilkinson promised to build "commodious buildings" on a tract of land he had purchased in Amelia County if she would allow him to sell her land. At first she resisted, but she finally relented, knowing "that her repeated denial might subject her to unhappy consequences, which often flow from disappointed expectation." Her assent resulted in Wilkinson being "possessed of her whole fortune." Following his death in 1785, Mary learned that her "husband" was legally married to Henrietta Maria Thomas "in the County of York & Kingdom of Great Britain." Mary confesses that she was "unjustly decoyed & led into a deception of the greatest magnitude and importance, her property as aforesaid under pretence of marriage strip'd from her, & in sum your Oratrix made the unhappy victim of fraud, design & most hor[rid] injustice, as well to your Oratrix's estate, as to her person as a woman." Seeking restitution, she sues the executors of Wilkinson's estate.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
