Representative women of New England/Matilda J. C. Wilkin
MATILDA JANE CAMPBELL WILKIN, educator, is of English-Scotch parentage, and was born in Harrington, Me., where the early years of her childhood were passed. As a forecast of her scholarly career, she left home at the early age of eleven to obtain better school privileges at East Machias. First she attended the public schools and later the Washington County Academy, located in this charming little New England village. Entering the Normal School at Salem, Mass., in February, 1867, Miss Campbell was graduated on January 21, 1869. The following year she went to Minnesota. She taught three years in the grammar schools of Minneapolis, and then gave up teaching for a while to continue her studies at the University of Minnesota. She was graduated in the class of 77, of which she was valedictorian. In 1890 she took the degree of Master of Literature from her Alma Mater, and more recently she has spent some time at the University of Chicago, with a view to taking the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. She is a member of the honorary society of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1880 Miss Campbell attended the centennial of the Sunday-School in London, as a delegate from Minnesota, which State she very ably represented.
In 1882 she married the Rev. George F. Wilkin, of Warsaw, N.Y., later known as the author of "The Prophesying of Women" and "Control in Evolution."
Mrs. Wilkin has travelled extensively in Europe, having been abroad three times. She studied at the University College in London and at Gottingen, Germany. She was especially interested in linguistic studies, and spent much time in perfecting her knowledge of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and German. For the past twenty-five years she has been connected with the University of Minnesota, first as an instructor and later as assistant professor. She was associate author of an Old-English grammar, which was used as a text-book at the University. More recently she has compiled a book of English-German idioms, which bids fair to be used in the high schools of the State.
Mrs. Wilkin is a member of the American Philological Association and the Association of Collegiate Alumna Her daily life is spent in college work, but she keeps up an active interest in religious and philanthropic matters. She has been a member of Olivet Baptist Church, of Mimieapolis, for more than a quarter of a century, and for fifteen years was teacher of the University Bible Class in this church. She is an active member of the W. C. T. U., a life member of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, and a member of the Young Women's Christian Association. She was president of the State Board of the Minnesota Y. W. C. A. for four years. Her wider experience in this position has enabled her to be an efficient helper of the local Y. W. C. A. at the University, in which she has been greatly interested from the first. A woman of fine character, pure life, and excellent judgment, Mrs. Wilkin is very widely known throughout the State and greatly respected and loved, both by the students who have been under her instruction and by her associates in college and in society.