Benjamin Wilson (congressman)


Benjamin Wilson and as an assistant attorney general during the administration of President Grover Cleveland.

Early and family life

Born in Wilsonburg in Harrison County, Virginia to Mary Martin and her husband, Josiah D. Wilson, Benjamin was named for his paternal grandfather, the patriot Col. Benjamin Wilson Sr., a lieutenant in Lord Dunsmore'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" and later represented what was then Monongelia Countyin the Virginia General Assembly and became first clerk of the Harrison County court. This Benjamin Wilson's maternal grandfather, William Martin, has 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. He then traveled to Staunton, Virginia to attend the law school which Judge Briscoe Baldwin had begun in 1831.
Wilson married Susan Marsh in 1848, and they would have a son, Stonewall Jackson Wilson who survived to adulthood, as did three daughters--Buena Wilson Brown, Mary Drusilla Feeny, and Virginia Lee Wozencraft.

Career

Admitted to the Virginia bar 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 as their delegates to the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861. Unlike Carlile, who voted against secession during both votes, Wilson abstained from the second vote. Later, he and Judge Gideon D. Camden would move 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 voters elected Wilson from West Virginia's 1st District. Re-elected three times, Wilson served in the 44th United States Congress and the next three Congresses. Wilson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872, the same year that he lost a campaign for election to the 43rd United States Congress. Two years later, Wilson won election as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses. During the Cleveland administration, Wilson was Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

Death and legacy

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