Joseph Harvey Wilson (October 7, 1810September 13, 1884) was Speaker of the North Carolina Senate from 1866 to 1867, and the final presiding officer to hold the title of "Speaker". He is the grandfather of George Edward Wilson Jr., who served as Mayor of Charlotte from 1929 to 1931.
Biography
Wilson was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1810 to parents Mary Erwin Wilson (daughter of Alexander Erwin, a revolutionary soldier and legislator, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania) and Rev. John Makemie Wilson, D.D. a "distinguished Presbyterian minister and a great educator." In fact, Joseph's early education came entirely under his father tutelage until he entered Washington College in Virginia at the age of 13 in the Junior class. Two years later, he graduated with honors at age 15. A few years later, he entered the practice of law in Charlotte and surrounding areas, commencing a highly successful career as a lawyer lasting about fifty years.
He was married twice, first to Julia Adelaide Patton daughter of James Patton Sr., of Buncombe County, on September 25, 1834. They had four children that lived to maturity: James, Harvey, Frank and Anna. In 1846, following Julia's death in 1845, Wilson married his second wife, Mary Louisa Phifer, daughter of George Phifer and Sarah Fulenweilder of
Cabarrus County
Cabarrus County ( ) , from the North Carolina Collection's website at the
Charlotte Mayor, George E. Wilson Jr.) and Mary Ellis Wilson.
Prior to the civil war, it was said that he was "earnestly opposed to secession" from the union, and entered politics for the first time in his life, offering himself as a delegate to the convention to defeat secession. However, once the state officially seceded, he "seceded with it, and earnestly, loyally supported the cause she espoused." At the end of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Wilson was sent to be a delegate at the Peace Convention.
In 1866, near the height of the Post-Civil War
Reconstruction Era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
, Wilson was asked to join and subsequently lead the North Carolina Senate. However, his term was interrupted the following year by the enactment of military rule over the American southern states. Through multiple successive acts between March and July 1867, the U.S. Congress, split the former confederate states into five military districts, under the jurisdiction of military commanders, with
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
placed in the
Second Military District
The Second Military District of the U.S. Army was one of five temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department that existed in the American South. The district was stipulated by the Reconstruction Acts during the Reconstruction period foll ...
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
became the presiding officer of the Senate.
Wilson died in 1884 and is buried in Mecklenburg County. In 1904, a memorial window was dedicated to him at the First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.