Homewood Cemetery

Back to The Judge's Land

Family Mausoleum

The distinguishing architectural style of this structure is its design, loosely adapted from the monumental tomb of Mausolus in the ancient city of Halicarnassus on the shore of the Aegean Sea. An admirer of Greek culture, Mausolus chose Greeks to design and execute monument. Although it suffered nearly total destruction, some idea of its
probable appearance has been given us through the descriptions of Pliny the Elder and Vitruvius. A pyramidal roof above columns is the main adaptation here. The quadriga surmounting the original is here replaced by a simpler adornment, and the late 1870's Eastlake incised designs appear on surfaces of the lintels. Other contemporary elements have been applied to replace statuary adorning the original Halicarnassus tomb.

The mausoleum, centered on a large lot, contains the remains of the Honorable William Wilkins and his wife Matilda Dallas, along with five other family members.

The remains of Captain John Wilkins, Sr. (1733 - 1809), father of Judge Wilkins, and of General John Wilkins, Jr. (1761 - 1816) were moved from the Presbyterian Burying Ground in 1882. Their graves are marked by a commemorative stone installed by the Wilkinsburg Historical Society. Captain Wilkins is believed to have the earliest birth date of any burial in the cemetery; six generations of his family are buried in this section. The numerous Guthries buried in the lot are the direct descendents of General John Wilkins, Jr. and his wife Catherine Stevenson.

Trevanian Barlow Dallas (1801 - 1841), brother of Mathilda Wilkins, is also interred in the section. He served as President Judge of the Allegheny County courts from 1835 to 1839. the obelisk is the same one which marked his original grave in the Trinity Burying Ground. A photo of the Wilkins family mausoleum was published in The Homewood Cemetery Rules and Regulations Book. Click here to see the photo.

(From "The Homewood" 1:1 p.4)
Photos: Wilkins Mausoleum, ca. early 1880s, front view; Wilkins Mausoleum, ca. early 1880s, side view. Copyright Marilyn Evert, 1995.