The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 128

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Ohio > Madison County > The history of Madison County, Ohio > Part 128

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THE WILSON FAMILY .*

JACOB WILSON. - The first authentic information I have been able to gather of this family is that of Jacob Wilson, an Irishman, who had married a German wife. In the year 1790, he left the South Branch of the Potomac River, in Virginia, not far from Harper's Ferry, and emigrated to Kentucky, to what is now the county of Clark. In the year 1802, after having lived twelve years in Kentucky, he came to Ohio, and settled on the head-waters of Beaver Creek, Bath Township, and county of Greene, near the present site of the village of Fairfield.

Jacob Wilson was the father of thirteen children, or of twelve, as some of the friends believe. Their names were as follows, although probably not in the order of their births: Jacob, William, Michael, John, James, Val- entine, Jeremiah, Isaac, Daniel, Mary, Eleanor, Elizabeth and Rachel. Some of the friends think there was not one of the name of Rachel.

JACOB WILSON, the first born of Jacob, the first known ancestor, re- mained in Kentucky until the time of his death, which was at a ripe old age. He became very wealthy. He became the largest holder of slaves in that portion of the State. He enjoyed the unenviable notoriety, also, of being the heaviest weight in that part of the State, weighing, at one time, over four hundred pounds. He and his wife together weighed seven hun-

*By William Morrow Beach, M. D

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dred pounds. He became the father of eight children, one of whom, I think, remained in Kentucky.

WILLIAM WILSON died during the war of 1812, at Fairfield. Ohio, of " cold plague," or cerebro spinal meningitis. He left three children-Su- sannah, Elizabeth and William.

MICHAEL WILSON died in 1813 at Fairfield, Ohio, leaving three chil- dren-Washington, Josiah and Michael. Josiah is said to have been the brightest and handsomest man ever born into the Wilson family. He died at an early age.

JOHN WILSON emigrated from Kentucky to Putnam County, Ind.

JAMES WILSON emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana, settling in the vicinity of Wolf Lake. He became the father of five children.

JEREMIAH WILSON remained in Kentucky until the time of his death, in 1864.

ISAAC WILSON, who came to Ohio with his father in 1802, remained at Fairfield, Greene County, Ohio, until his death, in the spring of 1859. He was a short, heavy, very fleshy man, who, in walking, stepped out little more than the length of his feet.

MARY WILSON married Daniel Funderburg, of Greene County, Ohio, but died when young.

ELEANOR WILSON married John Bradley, of Greene County, Ohio, but subsequently came to Madison County, and both lived and died one mile north of Somerford, where Uncle Wash Wilson now lives.

ELIZABETH WILSON married Charles Hefley, of Greene County, Ohio, but afterward came to Madison County, and settled near Somerford, where both died advanced in years.

VALENTINE WILSON, son of Jacob, the first known ancestor, came to Ohio with his father in 1802. He was born near Harper's Ferry, Va., Octo- ber 1, 1785. He moved to Kentucky with his father in 1790, when five years of age; and was seventeen when he came to Ohio. In 1806, he was married to Miss Eleanor Judy, of Greene County, Ohio, daughter of John Judy, a Swiss, and Phoebe (Lamaster) Judy, his wife-a woman of French parentage. To them were born six children-William D., born February 27, 1807; James. born December 20, 1808; John, October 19, 1810; Eli, July 12, 1812; Matilda, October 12, 1814; Malinda, January 12, 1817.

On the 5th day of September, 1818, Eleanor (Judy) Wilson died; and in the year 1819 he was married to Miss Susannah Humble, who became the mother of four children-Lucinda, born January 7, 1820; Washington, September 7, 1821; Louisa, January 5, 1823; Jackson, September 3, 1824.

On the 18th day of August. 1825, Susannah (Humble) Wilson died; and on the 18th day of June, 1827. he was married to Miss Nancy Roberts, who became the mother of nine children- Caroline M., born June 28, 1828; Alexander Hamilton, February 7, 1830; Emeline. September 12, 1831; Mary Ann, October 1, 1832; Valentine C., January 19, 1834; Marga- ret, May 5, 1835, and died in infancy. June 3, 1835; Jacob W., April 29, 1836; Daniel Boone, December 4, 1837; Nancy Frances, October 26, 1840. By the three marriages he became the father of nineteen children, seventeen of whom became heads of families. Margaret died in infancy, and Daniel Boone died, unmarried, at the old homestead. April 26, 1860.

It was not my pleasure to have had a personal acquaintance with Val- entine Wilson; but that he was a man of no ordinary gifts, both mental and physical, seems to be a fact of general acceptance among those who knew him the most intimately. He was a man of great presence of mind

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-which gift stood him in good stead on more than one occasion. Once, when riding after night, he was halted by highwaymen who suspected him of having money in his possession, whom he completely disarmed by an- swering in a calm and unruffled tone of voice: "Well, well, boys, you have got me this time; I have 25 cents in my pocket, and if you will go back to the tavern with me, we will take that out in a treat all round." They then let him pass without a search or further parley, without suspicion of the fact that he had upon his person, in "genuine coin of the realm," more than $7,000, besides his 25 cents! He was also an unconscious psychologist. He could divine a man's errand when approaching him, when a long distance off -- forming an opinion which was seldom founded in an error, as to wheth- er he was coming to buy, to sell. or to borrow money; and he often robbed a refusal of its poignancy, from this latter class, by forestalling them with the question if they knew of any of their neighbors who had $200 or $300 that they would loan for a few days! He died of dropsy, on the 2d day of July, 1855, on the farm where he settled in 1816; but from the small begin- ning of 160 acres-his first purchase-in the thirty-nine years of his after- life, he accumulated about seven thousand acres of land ! besides over $60,- 000 in personal property, and died the wealthiest man who had ever been a citizen of Madison County !

WILLIAM D. WILSON, the Land Baron of Madison County, was the first- born of Valentine and Eleanor (Judy) Wilson. He was born in Bath Town- ship, Greene County, Ohio, February 27, 1807; and died of erysipelas at his homestead on the Darby Plains, on the 25th day of March, 1873. In 1829, he married Miss Nancy Moore, of Madison County. Ohio, who died at the old homestead in September, 1882. Her father was killed by the In- dians in the war of 1812. By this marriage there were born to them eight children-Alexander, Ellen, James Monroe, La Fayette, William M., Sarah, Washington and Taylor. In writing of William D. Wilson, I am writing of no ordinary man. I knew him intimately and well; and in many respects I think he was the most remarkable man I ever knew.

There is no photograph or other likeness of him left, while living. There was a post mortem photograph taken, but it is a monstrosity. He stood six feet in his boots. He was straight, and with well-rounded and of comely proportions, up until late in life, when he inclined to corpulency. His hands and feet were small and sbort; his hair dark brown, thick and oily: his head large-No. 7} hat- well rounded, and well balanced phreno- logically; his complexion clear, and slightly florid; bis lower jaw strongly set; his teeth short, even, pearly white, and without signs of decay up until the time of his death. His face was full, and his cheeks full. round and solid, like Bob Ingersoll's. There was an irresistible charm in his full, round, Saxon eye-the honest inheritance from his Saxon grandmother. If one was, at first sight, when his face was severely'in repose, impressed with the idea that he was somewhat gross and sensual, the varied expression of his wonderful eye, when he became animated, soon set that illusion aside. He was a good and entertaining talker, with an inclination to ask more questions than he was called on to answer. If you were not on your guard, he would cautiously and quietly pump you dry, without giving back an equivalent, unless it was in the pleasure of his company. In conversa- tion, his voice was agreeable and pleasing; but when it was raised to a high pitch, one would be reminded of the fable of the lion and the foxes-"One, but a lion !"

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In the race of life, he commenced as his father before him had done single-handed and alone. He served his father faithfully and well until he was twenty-one years of age. He then hired, as an ordinary farm laborer, for three months "wet and dry," at $7 a month, to Judge John Arbuckle, a near neighbor. Shortly after this term of service, he married, and bought 200 acres of land, ont in the Darby Plains, at 80 cents an acre. This was bought with borrowed money, his uncle Daniel going on his notes. The Darby Plains were mostly under water in those days during the wet season of the year; but they grew a rank, coarse kind of wild grass, which, if cut and properly cured, contained just enough nourishment to keep cattle from starving to death. As it had been with his father before him, when a boy at home, so it became with him now. They were not raisers or breeders of cattle. They bought them when two or three years old, and then kept them until fat enough for market. Sometimes a $7 steer, brought from the timber land in Indiana in the winter or spring, and put on the open grass land of the Darby Plains, would bring $25 or $30 in the fall of that year. These fatted cattle passed into the hands of another class of dealers, of which the Renicks, of Pickaway County, were the originators- the class of dealers who took them on a six weeks' slow journey, over the mountains, to the Baltimore or Philadelphia markets. So that his motto became like that of Emperor Constantine -- "By this sign ye conquer." Money began to grow. Each year his herds grew larger, and soon he began to add new acres to his first purchase. His first cabin stood over across the road from where he died, in a cluster of apple trees that are still standing.

About a year before he died. he was at my house, and I questioned him as to his mode of accumulating so much property. His answer was that it was "easy enough! easy enough! No mystery about it! Gather in and spread out! Gather in and spread out!" It probably seemed easy enough to him, for he was not a common or ordinary man. But if it was all so easy and simple, how did it happen that he absorbed nearly a half township of improved farms, whose tenantless houses, or solitary chimneys, scattered for miles across his possessions, looked like a vast and limitless harbor, with fleets lying dreamily at anchor!

The free turnpike leading from London to Plain City passes for nine miles through his farm; and within three years he paid $28,000 in taxes for free turnpikes alone. His farm, on the west, adjoined Dun Glen, the farm of John G. Dun, in Deer Creek Township, and stretched continuously to where he was buried, on his own farm, in the old Baptist Burying-Ground, on Big Darby.

He was social and convivial in his habits, fond of good company and plenty of it-upon all of which occasions he was the central figure. He did nothing by halves; it was either all work or all play. He was a natural born wit; and when in a merry mood kept everybody around him in a roar, excepting himself. He was never boisterous; never off his balance in any direction. His wit was keen, original, and generally practical - with a vein of philosophy running through it. He never indulged in any reparteo that was bought second hand. He was original or nothing. He was never profane.

On one occasion, while a fiddler was tuning-up and resting his arm, Uncle Bill reminded him of the prodigal waste of time, by saying: " Mr. Tucker! Mr. Tucker! you must remember that every time a sheep stops to bleat it loses a mouthful!"

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He was never quarrelsome or contentious. Neither he nor bis father before him, I am told, were ever engaged before any court, either as plaintiff or defendant. And I never heard him speak ill of any man.

Like his father, he had great presence of mind; and like, as it was with him, it stood him in good stead on many occasions. His nearest bank, thirty years ago, was at Columbus, twenty miles away. Sometimes it required a large amount of money to carry on his business, and he was often suspected of having money upon his person or about his house. Once, when traveling at night, not many miles from home, he was halted by high- waymen, and with the muzzles of some old-fashioned brass-mounted horse- pistols in unpleasant proximity to his head, was ordered, peremptorily, to hold up his hands. He suspected the identity of the parties, and jocularly called them by name. The question with them then was, either cold- blooded murder or joining in the laugh, as if the whole thing had been intended for a joke. This they did. They wilted, and allowed him to pass on home.

It was generally his custou to not go out after night without company. One of these protectors, not infrequently, was Ira Kilbury, an infant who kicked the beam at 240 pounds, and who could " whip his weight in wild cats." Returning from Plain City after night on one occasion, his car- riage was flanked by highwaymen, who began to close in on either side; but his coolness saved him then. He spoke very loudly, and in a peremp- tory tone-" Ira! Ira, my boy! whip up, whip up, or we won't get home be fore midnight!" Visions of the infant who could whip his weight in wild cats struck terror to the heart of the footpads, and they gave a wide berth and a fair field. when Ira, in reality, was snoring away in the quiet and security of his own cabin home, more than five miles away.

I have spoken of him as a Land Baron. In 1870, the State of Ohio contained fifty-six cultivated farms, of over 1,000 acres each. Of these fifty-six, thirty-six were in Madison County. William D. Wilson, in 1870, owned the largest improved farm in Ohio; he had 1,200 acres in one pas- ture, upon which you could not find a bush large enough for a riding whip. There were giant burr oaks in clusters or groves, but no brush. And in all the fifty or more miles of fencing on his farm, there was no one rod that did not look like it had been put up for corraling mules or wild deer. His farm had a capacity for more than 2,000 head of cattle; but he usually had a variety of stock. Before the war, he was in the habit of " turning off" about $10,000 worth of mules of his own raising annually. Once, since the war, in a time of depression in that line, he sent down among the hills of Southeastern Ohio, and bought about 18,000 head of sheep, at about $1 a head. Times soon changed for this class of stock, and when the boom reached $7 or $8 a head, he sold out and changed over to something else.

He amassed a great fortune. Is this the story of his life? Not at all. He was a remarkable man aside from his fortune; he could as easily and would have as surely attained to great responsibilities and honors, had his great genius been early directed in the channels that led that way. He had natural capacity enough to have been a railroad magnate, like Vander- bilt; a financier like Alexander Hamilton or Chase; or a General of an army-for he was naturally a leader, and never a follower of men.

But was this fortune accumulated without fraud, misrepresentation, treachery or the oppression of the poor? I think every dollar of it was. William D. Wilson was an honorable and an honest man.

JAMES WILSON, second born child of Valentine, and grandson of Jacob the first known ancestor. was born in Bath Township, Greene Co., Ohio, De-

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cember 28, 1808, and came to Madison County with his father in 1816, when eight years of age; he, like his brother, William D. Wilson, remained in service with his father until he was twenty-one years old.

In 1832, when he was twenty-five years old, he went to Kentucky and bought, at $2 an acre, of a man named Morgan, 400 acres of land out on the Darby Plains, this county, and which is now a part of the Taylor Wil- son estate. Of this he kept 160 acres, sold fifty acres to his brother John, and the remainder to his brother William D.

In June, 1833, he married Miss Lucy Ballou, of Milford Centre, Ohio. a daughter of Martin Ballou, a native of Providence, R. I., and grandniece to Hosea Ballou, the Boston publisher. In September, 1833. three months after marriage. his wife died of inilk sickness, just as he had a cabin on his farm on the plains nearly ready to commence housekeeping. The associations connected with his tenantless cabin were unpleasant to him; and in 1835 he sold his Plains farm and bought the John Scott farm, in Somerford Town- ship, where Uncle Sammy Prugh now lives. He boarded with the Scott family, and raised a large crop of corn, which he fed to hogs, but this class of stock ran so low that year that he lost all his summer's work.

On the 2d day of October, 1836, he married Miss Elenor Smith, born June 20, 1818, near Granville, Ohio, daughter of John and Sophia (Bond) Smith; her father then lived two miles east of La Fayette, on the farm now owned by Jonathan Booth. At the time of his marriage, she was teaching the district school in Valentine Wilson's district. They went to house- keeping on the John Scott farm, and there John, the first child, was born. In 1837, he bought two small parcels of land, one of which was where his brother Eli died. In 1838, he sold out in Somerford Township: he had lost faith in raising hogs to make a fortune out of; he preferred risking in cattle and grass, and he went back to the Darby Plains and bought the Charley Arthur farm-400 acres-which is now a portion of the John Price farm. He moved there and lived on it for five years. Two of his children. Valentine Henry and Thomas Bond were born there. In 1838, he bought fifty acres of the MacCumber farm; and in the fall of 1841, he bought 300 acres of the Russel Bidwell farm, at administrator's sale.

In the fall of 1842, he left the Darby Plains, and moved over to the Christman farm, one mile south of Somerford, and entered into a partner- ship with his father, as a general trader and business manager. On this farm, on March 28, 1844, his only daughter, Lucy Elenor, was born.

In 1846, his half-brother, Jackson, being old enough to take his place as a partner with his father, he moved back to the Darby Plains, and settled on the Russel Bidwell farm: but in that same year he bought the Paul Alder farm, of 310 acres-where his son John now lives-and he then moved to it. In this same year, also. he bought fifty-seven acres of Nathaniel Saw- yier. In the year 1847, he bought the Paul Smith farm, 175 acres.

In the year 1854, he sold the Arthur farm to his brother, William D., and bought the Stanley Watson farm, 400 acres, adjoining the village of La Fayette, where he moved, and where he now lives. He paid $16,000 for this farm, and, it is believed that it was the first $40 farm sold in the county. In 1855, he fell heir, by the death of his father, to 381 acres ad- joining the Watson farm; and in 1856 he bought the Carter farm, 400 acres, where his son-in-law, Dr. W. M. Beach, now lives. In 1860, he bought his half-brother Hamilton's share of his father's estate-463 acres -- adjoining his home farm; whilst Hamilton bought his brother William D. Wilson's

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share, adjoining the village of La Fayette, on which stands the old Ander- son Tavern.

For more than thirty years James Wilson has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church I am writing this on the 20th day of Decem- ber, 1882, the seventy-fourth anniversary of his birthday, and it finds him a hale and vigorous old man, in full possession of all his faculties, and the owner of about 2,350 acres of well-improved land, with accompaniments, a part of which he has passed over to the control of his children. He is now the patriarch of the Wilson family, having attained a greater ago, it is believed, than any other one who has ever been born into the family. Knowing his modesty and retiring disposition, a eulogy upon his life and character as a cit- izen, and as a man, it is believed, would be distasteful to him, and I forbear.

WASHINGTON WILSON, son of Valentine, married Miss Linney West, daughter of Edmund and Margaret (Shaw) West, born near Catawba. Clark County, Ohio. November 16, 1824. Mr. Wilson has been a Deacon in the Christian Church, and a Trustee of the township of Somerford for more than twenty years. He is a large land-holder, residing one mile north of Somer- ford: is a good neighbor, and a citizen of so pure and stainless a character, as to be above reproach or suspicion.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON WILSON, son of Valentine, married Isabella Par- sons Koogler, of Greene County. Ohio. He is a Justice of the Peace, and influential citizen of La Fayette. Ohio.

VALENTINE C. WILSON, son of Valentine, graduated at the Ohio Wesley- an University, Delaware, Ohio, in the class of 1860-the first classical grad- uate in his father's family. He died August 23, 1861. of epidemic dysentery.

JACOB W. WILSON, son of Valentine, resides at Somerford, Ohio. He is a man of great inventive genius, his latest invention being a twine grain- binder, which promises a success.

Of the daughters of Valentine Wilson, I have given only the names; but they must have inherited something of the sagacity and psychological char- acteristics of their father. They all married poor boys. But the names of such men as Robert Boyd, Hiram W. Richmond and Thomas John Stutson, who all married into the family, offer a sufficient evidence of the soundness of their judgment.

VALENTINE WILSON, deceased, son of Jacob Wilson, a native of Virginia, was born in Pennsylvania in 1786. and died in Madison County, July 2, 1855. He emigrated to Ohio with his parents in 1802. and settled on the head-waters of Beaver Creek, Bath Township. Greene County, where he remained until 1816. when he removed to Madison County, and settled on the head-waters of Deer Creek, where he bought 160 acres of land. He added to that until he had at the time of his death, which occurred July 2. 1855. nearly 10,000 acres of land, and 1.000 head of cattle and sheep. He died the wealthiest man who had ever been a citizen of the county. He was married three times and was the father of nineteen children. He married for his first wife Elenor Judy. in 1806, and she lived until 1819, at which time she passed away from earth; the next wife that blessed his home was Susan Umble, who died August 18, 1825; for his third wife he married Nancy Roberts, June 18. 1827, with whom he lived until his death. She resides in Somerford, and has at this time about 2.500 acres of land which are under a high state of cultivation. She is a member of the Christian Church.

WASHINGTON WILSON. farmer, P. O. Somerford, was born in Madison County. Ohio. September 7, 1821, and was a son of Valentine and

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Susan (Umble) Wilson; Valentine was born in Pennsylvania in 1786, and Susan in Ohio in 1799. They were married in Madison County in 1818. He was married three times, Susan being his second wife. She died August 18, 1825, and he died July 2, 1855. Our subject, when twenty-one years old, began working by the month, and thus continued for three months, as he wanted to get money enough to get married; at the expiration of that time he had $27. He was then united in marriage with Linnie West, November 17, 1812. She was born in Clark County November 16, 1824. After their marriage he began farming as a renter, and continued for four years, when he bought sixty acres of land, to which he has since added until he now owns 800 acres. He is a member of the I O. O. F. order, and served as Township Trustee of Somerford Township for fourteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are the parents of eight children, of whom six survive -- Jackson, Alexander. Valentine, Belle, Griffin and Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Christian Church.

JOHN F. WILLIAMSON, deceased. The subject of this sketch was the son of James Williamson, was born in Madison County, Ohio, in 1834, and was united in marriage in October, 1856, to Frances Wilson, a daughter of Valentine Wilson, whose sketch appears in this work. She was born October 26, 1840. After their marriage he engaged in farming, and trading in stock, principally horses: a business he followed until his death, which occurred January 11, 1862. He and his wife were the parents of one child, viz .: Winfield Scott, born July 21, 1857; he is engaged in trading in stock and farming, and was united in marriage, October 14, 1878, to Amanda Odell, by whom he has one child, Lillie May, born May 21, 1881.

T. L. WOOSLEY, farmer, P. O. London, was born in Madison County, Ohio, November 17, 1852, and is a son of David and Nancy (Moss) Woosley, natives of Clark County, Ohio, the former born January 12, 1812, and the latter in 1822. They were married in Clark County in 1851. Our subject engaged in farming when twenty-one years of age as a renter, and thus con- tinued for six years, when he bought 160 acres of land where he now resides. He was nnited in marriage with Emina M. Prugh, February 17, 1880. She was born in Madison County, May 1, 1852, and is a daughter of Samuel Prugh, whose sketch appears in this work. Mr. Woosley acquired a common school education, and is a member of the Methodist Church.

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The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 128

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180