Benjamin Wilson (April 30, 1825 – April 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and Democratic

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Retrieved September 10, 2007. who served as a

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from

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

) (1875–1883) and as an assistant attorney general during the administration of President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

(1885 to 1893).

Early and family life

Born in Wilsonburg in Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia) to Mary Martin (1804-1831) and her husband, Josiah D. Wilson (1796–1868), Benjamin was named for his paternal grandfather, the patriot Col. Benjamin Wilson Sr. (1747-1827), a lieutenant in Lord Dunmore's Army. After fighting Native Americans, in 1774 Col. Wilson moved across the Allegheny Mountains, settled in the Tygart valley and founded "Wilson's Fort" (which he defended during the American Revolutionary War) and later represented what was then Monongelia County in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

and became first clerk of the Harrison County court. This Benjamin Wilson's maternal grandfather, William Martin (1763–1851), had been a patriot as well, serving as commissary for New Jersey troops before settling in Harrison County. Although Benjamin Wilson did not own slaves, his father Josiah Wilson owned seven or eight slaves in 1850, and ten slaves in 1860. This Benjamin Wilson attended the Northwestern Virginia Academy in Clarksburg, Virginia (now

). He then traveled to

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

to attend the law school which Judge

Briscoe Baldwin Briscoe Gerard Baldwin (January 18, 1789 – May 18, 1852) was a Virginia attorney, politician, and jurist, who served four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, and a decade in the ...

had begun in 1831. Wilson married Susan Marsh in 1848, and they had a son, Stonewall Jackson Wilson (1862–1887), who survived to adulthood, as did three daughters: Buena Wilson Brown (1849–1930), Mary Drusilla Feeny (1851–1876), and Virginia Lee Wozencraft (1865–1893).

Career

Admitted to the Virginia

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in 1848, Wilson began his legal practice in Clarksburg. He was elected as commonwealth attorney for Harrison County following adoption of a new Virginia state constitution in 1851, and served from 1852 to 1860.

Prelude and American Civil War

Voters elected Wilson along with Unionist

John S. Carlile John Snyder Carlile (December 16, 1817October 24, 1878) was an Americans, American merchant, lawyer, slaveowner and politician, including a United States senator. A strong supporter of the Union (American Civil War), Union cause during the Ameri ...

as their delegates to the

Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 was called in Richmond to determine whether Virginia would secede from the United States, to govern the state during a state of emergency, and to write a new Constitution for Virginia, which was subsequent ...

. Unlike Carlile, who voted against secession during both votes, Wilson abstained from the second vote, though he did sign the ordinance of secession. Later, he and Judge Gideon D. Camden (who owned slaves in both censuses) moved southward into Virginia after Union forces captured much of Harrison County.

Postwar politician

Wilson was a member of West Virginia's State constitutional convention in 1871. After the adoption of West Virginia's second Constitution in 1872 (which re-enfranchised Confederates, among other changes) voters elected Wilson from West Virginia's 1st District. Re-elected three times, Wilson served in the

44th United States Congress The 44th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. ) , image_sk ...

and the next three Congresses (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883). Wilson was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in 1872, the same year that he lost a campaign for election to the

43rd United States Congress The 43rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1873, ...

. Two years later, Wilson won election as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883). During the Cleveland administration, Wilson was Assistant Attorney General of the United States (from 1885 to 1893).

Death and legacy

Congressman Wilson died on April 26, 1901 in Clarksburg and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Benjamin 1825 births 1901 deaths People from Harrison County, West Virginia Virginia lawyers Virginia Secession Delegates of 1861 West Virginia lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia 19th-century American politicians People of Virginia in the American Civil War