Wilson - John - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

 

Hon. John Wilson, one of the early pioneers  of Indiana, and a prominent citizen of Crawfordsville, Montgomery  county, was born on the twenty-ninth day of November, 1796, at  Lancaster, Lincoln county, Kentucky. His father was the Rev.  James Wilson, D.D., a noted Presbyterian minister in Staunton,  Augusta county, Virginia, prior to his removal to Lancaster,  Kentucky. His mother was Agnes MCKEE, daughter of Col. William  McKee, of the eminent and distinguished family of McKees of  Virginia and Kentucky. The Wilson family came very early to  Virginia and settled at Staunton, Augusta county. They are of  Scotch-Irish descent, men of high ideals and gifted to a high  degree of intellect. They served the church and state well, many  of them sitting in the House of Delegates prior to the  Revolution. One of them, Col. James Wilson, of Staunton, Augusta  county, Virginia, was the colonel of a Virginia regiment at the  surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Another member of the  family served in Congress for a number of years from Virginia.  John Wilson's grandfather, Col. William McKee, was commissioned  an officer in the British army by Lord Dunmore, Governor of  Virginia, and was with Braddock's army at the famous battle known  as Braddock's defeat. Col. McKee also engaged in the Indian wars  of that day. He had command at the battle of Point Pleasant and  defended the fort against the Indians. This was one of the  bloodiest with Indians ever fought on this continent and, in  memory of this battle, McKeesport, near Pittsburg {sic}, received  its name. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Colonel  McKee resigned his commission in the British army and accepted a  commission in the Continental army, and at the close of the  Revolutionary was held the rank of colonel.

 

Colonel McKee was afterwards elected to the Constitutional  Convention of Virginia and voted to ratify the Constitution in  its present form, against the protests of his constituents who  afterward said the vote was right. This angered Colonel McKee,  and being granted for his services in the Colonial and  Revolutionary wars a bounty of four thousand acres of land, he  removed from Virginia to Lancaster, Kentucky, where he passed the  remainder of his days.

 

John Wilson's uncle Samuel McKee, was an eminent lawyer, and  served in Congress from the state of Kentucky, for a period of  fourteen years. A cousin of John Wilson, William B. McKee, was  colonel of the Second Kentucky regiment in the Mexican war and at  the battle of Buena Vista was killed.

 

John Wilson, having the misfortune to lose his father, was  compelled to make his own way. Becoming a Whig in politics, and  on account of his utter hate and detestation of the institution  of slavery, he removed from Kentucky to Illinois in 1821. In 1822  Mr. Wilson came to Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana,  and accepted a position in the United States land office from his  brother-in-law, Judge Williamson Dunn, Judge Dunn being register  of the United States land office at that place.

 

In 1823, John Wilson married Margaret COCHRAN, an early  pioneer of Fountain county, who came from Rockingham county,  Virginia, on March 7, 1823.

 

John Wilson became the first postmaster in Crawfordsville,  having his office in a log cabin. Only a few months prior to this  the Legislature had passed an act defining the boundaries of  Montgomery county. At that time there was {sic} only sixty men of  voting are in the county. In 1823 John Wilson was elected the  first clerk of the circuit court of Montgomery county, a position  he held continuously for a period of fourteen years. At that time  all that wide district of territory lying north of Montgomery  county as far as Lake Michigan was called the Wabash country and  was attached to Montgomery county for judicial purposes.

 

In 1825, or about one year prior to the creation of Tippecanoe  county, one William Digly was induced by John Wilson, Isaac C.  Elston, and Jonathon W. Powers to lay out the town of Lafayette  on his small tract of land on the east bank of the Wabash river,  which they presumed would be near the center of what would be a  reasonably sized county with a view that ultimately it might  become the county seat of the projected county, which was done on  May 27, 1825. Digly was not a man of enterprise or forethought,  and he sold the entire town plot and other land on the same day  the town was layed {sic} out to Samuel Sargent. On the next day  the original town plot was sold to John Wilson, Isaac E. Elston,  and Jonathon W. Powers, all of the town of Crawfordsville. At  that time Lafayette was a mere city on paper, and located in a  dense forest with rival towns both above and below, whose claims  were not to be ignored. Cincinatus two below, Lafayette on the  west side of the Wabash river and Americus above on the east side  of the river had each claims that were thought by the parties  interested sufficient to induce the proper authorities when  appointed to locate the county seat at either place.

 

The joint proprietors of the new city in the woods men liberal  as well as enterprising, offered to give one-half of the town  plot for the location of the county seat of the then projected  county. On January 26, 1826, an act of the Legislature was passed  and approved, entitled an act for the formation of a new county  out of the unorganized territory north of Montgomery county and  for the establishing of the county seat there of the new county  to be known and designated by the name of Tippecanoe county.

 

John Wilson, Isaac C. Elston, and Jonathon W. Powers were  appointed commissioners to locate the county seat of Tippecanoe  county. These commissioners located it at Lafayette. The choice  was a wise one and has given entire satisfaction to the people of  that county, because of its beautiful, central and healthy  location.

 

John Wilson was elected a member of the Indiana Legislature in  1840 and served one term. Mr. Wilson, on retiring from the office  of clerk of the circuit court of Montgomery county, became a  merchant and engaged in the dry goods and hardware business. He  was alone for some years, then he established the firm of Wilson,  Grimes & Burbage, which did a large and profitable business  for many years.

 

In 1857 Mr. Wilson retired from business and purchased a large  tract of land in Tippecanoe county known as the Pilot Grove farm  where he lived until 1863, and in that year he removed to  Crawfordsville and died in 1864.

 

John Wilson was a self-educated and in every respect a  self-made man,

 

an honest, conscientious, Christian and an honored citizen.  His widow survived him twenty years and died at Lafayette,  Indiana, in 1884, and is buried in the family lot at  Crawfordsville, beside her husband in Oak Hill Cemetery.

 

Hon. John Wilson was the father of a large and interesting  family. Hon. James Wilson, his oldest son, became a distinguished  lawyer and brilliant orator. He graduated from Wabash College in  1852. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico in 1846, he  enlisted as a private, and at the close of the war returned home  an officer. He was a member of Congress from the ninth  congressional district of Indiana. He became a colonel A.D.C. in  the Civil war and was United States minister to Venezuela, South  America, when he died in 1867, aged forth-two years.

 

Col. William C. Wilson, of Lafayette, Indiana, another son,  graduated from Wabash College in 1847. He afterwards became a  distinguished lawyer and fine advocate, whose reputation extended  throughout the state of Indiana. Colonel Wilson was deeply versed  in the civil and criminal law. He rarely lost a case, such as his  keen perception and acute mind in grasping the material point in  a case. Colonel Wilson was not only a fine lawyer, but also a  soldier. On April 17, 1861, two days after Lincoln's first call  for troops to put down the rebellion, Mr. Wilson hastened to  volunteer as a private soldier in the Union army. Afterwards he  was mustered into the service as captain of Company D, Tenth  Indiana Volunteer Infantry. While in Indianapolis he was  appointed major of the regiment. The regiment was ordered to West  Virginia under General Roscrans. Colonel Wilson participated in  the battle of Rich Mountain and was wounded in that engagement.  He was mustered out with his regiment in August 1861. In the same  month Colonel Wilson recruited the Fortieth Regiment, and in  September became its colonel. The regiment was assigned to the  Army of the Cumberland under General Thomas. In 1862 Colonel  Wilson resigned on account of ill health, after a career that was  very meritorious in every respect. At the time of General  Morgan's raid into Indiana, Colonel Wilson raised the One Hundred  and Eighth Regiment in a period of twenty-four hours, and became  its colonel during the period of its enlistment. It was the  desire of the regiment and other troops to capture this bold  Southern leader. On May 24, 1864, Colonel Wilson was appointed  colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteer  Infantry, and was assigned to the Twenty-third Corps of General  Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign. The regiment afterwards  was among a detachment sent back to Nashville in pursuit of  General Hood. Colonel Wilson was honorably mustered out of the  service at the close of the, receiving a commission from  President Lincoln for his honorable, meritorious, and patriotic  services rendered in defense of the Union cause. Colonel Wilson  died at Lafayette, Indiana, in 1891.

 

Samuel McKee Wilson enlisted as a private in the Tenth Indiana  Volunteer Infantry on Lincoln's first call for troops to put down  the Rebellion. In Indianapolis he was commissioned captain of  Company D, Tenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He participated in  the battle of Rich Mountain, and in that battle captured a sword  which is still in the possession of the family. Captain Wilson  was mustered out of the service with his regiment in August,  1861. He entered the army again as a lieutenant in the Sixteenth  Indiana Battery, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac.  After going through many battles and enduring many hardships, he  finally received, at the battle of Antietam, injuries that caused  his death.

 

John Ward Wilson was first lieutenant in the Fortieth Indiana  Volunteer Infantry. After service with that regiment for a time,  he resigned and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the  Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, and was honorably mustered out at the  close of the Civil war.

 

Miriam Elizabeth Wilson, a daughter of John Wilson, married  Samuel MOORE, of the firm Moore, Morgan and Company, Wholesale  Dry Goods, Lafayette Indiana, in 1866, and she died in 1867.

 

The surviving members of this family are: Margaret Cochran  Wilson, who is a member of the Society of Colonial Dames of  America, also a member of the Society of the Daughters of the  American Revolution. Miss Wilson resides at Lafayette,  Indiana.

 

Austin P. Wilson, a leading merchant of Lafayette for many  years, is now retired from business and resides in that town.

 

George W. Wilson is a graduate of Wabash College with the  class of 1873, who, after his graduation, received a very  pressing invitation to come to Lafayette from his brother, Col.  William C. Wilson, with an offer of aid. This Mr. Wilson  considered a fine chance, and he removed to Lafayette, expecting  to find a friend and well-wisher in his brother, but instead he  found in him a treacherous, hard, bitter enemy. Mr. Wilson was  compelled at once to find another location without any  preparation in his chosen profession. He removed to Nebraska and  engaged in business in that state for a time, and is now a  resident of North Dakota, where he has very large landed  interests, and is engaged in the law and land brokerage business.  George W. Wilson is a member of the Society of the Colonial Wars,  the National Geographical Society of Washington, D.C., also a  member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. His  residence is at Morristown.

 

In the Wilson homestead at Lafayette is a large and well  equipped library of twelve hundred volumes, also many mementoes  (sic) and heirlooms of the Wilson family.