Although the “Wilson Book” doesn’t have a maiden name for James Sr.’s wife Martha, most trees and websites note her as being a Cowarding (or Cording). But all we can say for sure is that his wife at the time of his death was named Martha — who, incidentally, outlived James by quite a few years, dying in 1795 or 6.
I did find a record of a James Wilson who married a Martha Cowarding in Kent County, MD – John Cowarding’s will of 1752 mentioned his daughter Martha Wilson wife of James Wilson. Birth records for the same county also show a Martha being born to John and Ann Cowarding in 1728 as well as a James Wilson born to John and Elizabeth Wilson in 1726 (the 2nd James born to them, the first in 1724 who must have died as an infant). They would then be about the same age, and thus it is likely that this is the James that married Martha Cowarding. Given that James Sr.’s son Thomas was probably born around 1735, this James and Martha seem to be too young to be our ancestors.
So, who is our Martha? One clue is that James daughter Ann (mentioned in his will) married Philip Brashears. Fortunately, there is quite an extensive and well-documented history for the Brashears clan. Philip’s father, Robert Cager Brashears, lived in the Fairfax county area of Virginia in the mid-1740’s, then moved on to North Carolina (https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=95259140&ref=acom). There is no evidence that the oldest son Philip accompanied the family to N.C., so it is a reasonable assumption he was married or engaged to Ann Wilson at the time his father left and stayed with the Wilson family (he did eventually move to Henry County along with them). So, Fairfax County seems to be a reasonable place to look for our James before he ended up in Halifax County (which then became Pittsylvania County, and then Henry County). I did find a will for Ezekiel Jinkins in Fairfax County in 1749/1750 mentioning a daughter Martha Wilson, and sons Ezekiel, William and John. What’s more, there are several Jinkins/Jenkins later in Henry County, including a William Jinkins who bought a plot of land on Turkey Creek (the same creek where Thomas, grandson of James Sr., owned land), and a John Jinkins that witnessed the deed. It is common to find extended families moving together to the frontier so it is quite possible these could be the same Jinkins clan that Martha came from. This is a very promising possibility but more research is needed, including examining deeds and powers of attorney involving a couple of James Wilsons in Fairfax County.