Degree Recipient

Life Experience

James Wilson was born in Indiana. At age seventeen, he graduated from Wabash College and earned his law degree from IU in 1845. A career lawyer and politician, he enlisted and served in the Mexican War in 1846. After the war, he was elected twice to the U.S. Congress. During the Civil War, Wilson served and rose from captain to brevet lieutenant colonel. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson appointed him the U.S. Minister of Venezuela, a position he held until his death in August 1867 in Caracas, Venezuela. His body was brought back to Indiana and buried at Crawfordsville.

Marriage and Family

Wilson married Emma Ingersoll. Their son, John, was born in 1850 followed by son Henry in 1857. Emma died in 1912 and was buried in Crawfordsville.

Wilson’s son, John, practiced law in Crawfordsville, then moved to Spokane, in the Washington Territory. When Washington achieved statehood, John became its representative and later its senator. The publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, John died less than a year after his mother, while in Washington, DC, and was buried near his father in Crawfordsville.

Also a publisher of the Lafayette Journal (Indiana), Wilson’s son, Henry, moved to Spokane, in the Washington Territory, where he invested in real estate and lost his money during the Panic of 1893. Henry was appointed U.S. Minister to Chile and to Belgium, and finally, as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. He then became a consultant to U.S. oil companies doing business in Latin America. Publishing his memoirs in 1927, Henry died in Indianapolis in 1932.

References

1. Wylie
2. Findagrave.com
3. Wikipedia