1882 History of Linn
County, Missouri
BIOGRAPHIES
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WILSON
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James
M. WILSON Jefferson
Twp. and town of Laclede
page 631
The subject of this
sketch was born in Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri, on the seventh
of April, 1840. His parents were Robert
and Caroline Wilson, both of whom were natives of Culpepper county,
Virginia. The same year James was born they moved to Linn county and settled on a farm. Mr. Wilson accordingly grew up on the farm
and obtained his education in the schools of the county. When the civil war began
he espoused the cause of the Union, and on
July 2d, 1861, enlisted in Company A, of the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry. He was at the surrender of Island Number Ten,
and participated in the battle of Shiloh, and
was there captured by the Confederates on April 6th,
1862. While held as a prisoner of war
Mr. Wilson was incarcerated in several different rebel
prisons, including Tuscaloosa, Montgomery,
Macon, and Libby prison at Richmond. He was exchanged November
14, 1862, and returned to his command at Corinth. He was wounded at Atlanta,
in June, 1864, and, in June, 1864, and discharged in
November following at Chattanooga,
Tennessee. Returning to Linn county
he soon afterwards engaged in merchandizing in the general merchandise business
at Laclede, in which he is still engaged at this writing.
He was married on
September the 15th, 1867 to Miss Jennie O’Neal,
of Linn county, daughter of Preston O’Neal, a gentleman who served on the first
jury ever impaneled in Linn county.
Mr. Wilson is one of
the leading business men of Laclede. He has made his own way and amassed a good
property by industry, economy, and strict attention to his affairs.
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Simeon WILSON Brookfield City and Twp., page 568
This gentleman
is one of the “old timers” of Brookfield
township. He was born in Essex county, New York,
May 2, 1814, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Turk) Wilson. Mr. Wilson received only a common school
education, and before coming of age he learned the
trade of carpenter, which occupation he has followed more or less for over
forty years. He has been twice married,
first to Miss Catharine Smith of Greene county, New York, July 6, 1836. She died December 5, 1848, leaving a family
of four children, all living. January 2,
1850, he was again married to Miss Ellen Colby.
She is a native of Canada. They came to this county in 1863. They own a farm of one hundred and sixty
acres. Mr. Wilson was elected justice of
the peace two terms.
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William WILSON Jefferson Twp.
and town of Laclede
page 630
Mr. Wilson is a native
of Ireland
and was there born on the first day of February, 1832. Ten years later his
parents emigrated and located in Troy,
New York. In 1847 they removed to Essex county, in the
same State, and William lived there, engaged in farm work, till
he went to Jefferson county, Iowa,
in 1856. There he engaged in farming till 1861, when he went to Huron county and engaged in coal
mining. Returning east in 1862 he
remained a year or two, and then came to Missouri, stopping first in Scotland
county, where he engaged in farming on a place he had purchased two years
before. In 1868
he quit farming and began merchandizing at Arbela,
in the same county. He was in this
business for eight years and accumulated property to the amount of fifteen
thousand dollars. Retiring from
mercantile life he again went on his farm and engaged in buying and shipping live stock. Owing to
the ill luck of a defective title, Mr. Wilson lost his farm; he was also
unfortunate in some stock shipments, and soon found himself financially flat
and forced to begin live anew. Macon City, Missouri,
was his next field of commercial enterprise, and he sold goods there in
1879. In 1880 he came to Laclede, this
county, and began merchandizing and has driven a
profitable business since his coming, and still enjoys a good trade.
Mr. Wilson was married
in 1862, to Miss S. A. McIntire, of Van Buren county, Iowa. They have two children, both girls, named
Jennie and Blanche. He is a member of
the Odd Fellow’s Lodge, and is a highly respected citizen.
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Transcribed, in total, by kkfitch © 2009. All Rights Reserved.