OHROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > OHROOTS > 2003-12 > 1071287050


From: Marguerite Crist Calvin <>
Subject: [OHROOTS] Fwd: [IOWA] 1903 Bio of Thomas S. Wilson
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 22:44:10 -0500


>X-Real-To:
>Resent-Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:05:45 -0700
>X-Original-Sender: Fri Dec 12 14:05:44 2003
>From:
>Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 16:05:41 EST
>Old-To:
>X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.38
>Subject: [IOWA] 1903 Bio of Thomas S. Wilson
>To:
>Resent-From:
>X-Mailing-List: <> archive/latest/23662
>X-Loop:
>Resent-Sender:
>
>THOMAS S. WILSON was born at Steubenville, Ohio, October 13, 1813. He
>graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and
>immediately entered upon
>the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1834 and located in Dubuque
>in October, 1836. In 1838 he was appointed by President Van Buren one of the
>judges of the Supreme Court of the new Territory of Iowa. He accepted the
>position and entered upon the duties of the office before he was
>twenty-five years
>of age, serving until Iowa became a State. The first Legislature having
>failed to elect Supreme Judges, he was one of the three appointed by
>the Governor
>to fill the vacancy. He lacked but one of being nominated for United States
>Senator at the time General Jones was chosen. In 1852 he was elected judge of
>the District Court, holding the position until 1863. He was employed as
>counsel in one of the most important suits ever tried in Iowa
>involving millions of
>dollars. The Chouteau heirs claimed title through the grant to Julien
>Dubuque of the vast tract of land embracing the lead mines and the
>city of Dubuque.
>Reverdy Johnson, one of the greatest lawyers of the country, was employed by
>the St. Louis heirs to prosecute the claim. The city of Dubuque employed
>Judge Wilson and Platt Smith to defend in the United States Circuit
>and Supreme
>Courts. They were successful in both courts in defeating the claim. While
>judge of the Territorial Court, Mr. Wilson rendered the first
>decision liberating
>a slave brought by his master into Iowa. He died on the 16th of May, 1894,
>after having served as a lawyer and judge for fifty-eight years. He outlived
>nearly all of his pioneer associates of 1836.
>
>
>
>Debbie Clough Gerischer
>Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County
>http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/
>IAGENWEB: Special History Project:
>http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm
>Gerischer Family Web Site:
>http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/
>
>
>==== IOWA Mailing List ====
>The IOWA Lists now have their own website with unsub
>instructions, list rules and other useful information.
>Visit & Bookmark http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist
>
>==============================
>To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy
>records, go to:
>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

This thread: