Saul became our first American Wilcots. He ws born near Congo free State of Africa, the son of an Indian Prince and an African Mother. Saul went to England at an early age, where he mastered the violin or fiddle. A white family brought him, his brothers and sister to Tennessee. Saul's brothers remained in Tennessee, but between 1845 and 1850, Saul and his sister moved to Texas. Saul was an entertainer, a fiddler, playing for plantation owners and other wealthy white people.
Saul had at least two children; a daughter, who married into the Cartwright family in Texas, but about whom no further information is available, and a son whom he named Solomon. Solomon Wilcots was born in Georgia in 1842, before the family moved to Texas. He later married Sophia Cartwright, who was born in 1846, in Shelbyville, Texas to Joyce McAlister, who was from Delaware.
Census records indicate that Solomon and Sophia provided us with several third generation Wilcots, all of whom were born in Shelbyville, Texas: William Sherman, born in 1864; Henry, born in 1866; Liza, born in 1869; Marcus "John Mark", born in 1872; Ida, born in 1875; and Ella, born in 1877. The birthdate of another daughter, Mary, has not been found, nor is any further information yet available on Liza, Ida, or Ella. Solomon's four children of whom we do have information on; William Sherman Sr., Marcus "John Mark", and Mary gave us a good many third generation Wilcots. The last and youngest of the 4th generation Wilcots, Markie V. Gates, passed away on June 29, 2015.