Sacramento
County
Biographies
GEORGE
WILSON
George Wilson, rancher, Brighton Township, was born in Breenup County, Kentucky, four miles from the Big Sandy River, the dividing line between Kentucky and Virginia, December 8, 1815.
His father, Thomas Wilson, was born on the James River, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, and died about 1845, at the age of
sixty-three years. He entered the war of
1812 as Orderly Sergeant, and was mustered out as Captain. George’s mother, whose maiden name was Mary
Isabelle Pogue, was a native also of Greenup County, Kentucky, and was one of thirteen sons and daughters. His
grandfather, Stephen Wilson, a native of Virginia, had seven sons and six daughters, the
most of whom passed their lives in their native
State. The eldest of these was Thomas,
who in 1828 emigrated to Illinois, locating in Vermilion County, and in 1836 to Iowa County, Wisconsin, and afterward, in September, 1837, to
Lee County, Iowa, where he died. His
wife died in Illinois in 1829.
In their family were four sons and two daughters, viz.: Robert, who has
resided in Iowa County, Wisconsin, ever since 1832; George, Mary Isabelle, in
Benton County, Oregon; James P., in Lane County, Oregon; Elizabeth, who died in
Iowa County, Wisconsin; and Stephen H., who died on the plains during the Pike’s
Peak excitement. George Wilson, our
subject, at about the age of nineteen years, in company with four other, made
an exploring expedition into Illinois, examining the Rock River region, and
then Iowa. He located Government land in
Cedar County, in the latter State. In 1836 he made a trip into Wisconsin.
Returning to his home in Vermillion County, he voted for General Harrison for
President in 1836, and he has never missed a vote since, not even at minor
elections. He then sold his Iowa claim
and bought a quarter-section in Vermillion County, and the following March sold
it, took teams up into Wisconsin, and engaged in hauling lead and breaking
prairie until the fall when he went to Lee County, Iowa, where he took up land,
improved it and lived until 1850; and during his residence there, February 9,
1838, he married Rhoda C. Kilgore. In
1844, during the agitation that existed between the States of Iowa and Missouri concerning their boundary line, he
responded to the call for troops for ten days, raising the first battalion
company under the call, and was on the frontier. No blood was shed in that affair,
however. At the first election held in
his township he was elected township clerk; shortly afterward he was elected
county assessor for two years, and still subsequently school inspector also for
two years. He was also postmaster of Van
Buren postoffice, in Lee County, for about seven years. In 1847 he raised a company of cavalry for
the Mexican war, but it was never called into service, as the war was soon
closed. In 1850, after selling out
there, he bought three quarter-sections of land in Appanoose County, and made his home there until he came
to California.
It was in that county, one year before starting to this State, that his
wife died, April 28, 1851.
December 31, that year, he married again, that time Leaner Flinn. Leaving his
farm May 5, 1852,
he arrived in this State, October 10, coming overland with eight families and a
hundred head of stock. After passing a
month in San
Joaquin County he came to this county, where he has
since resided excepting one year, from November 1, 1854, to about the 1st
of November, 1855,
in Santa
Clara County.
In the later year he bought a place on the Sacramento River, and about the same time took up 160
acres, where he now lives. The former
place he sold in 1859. For five years he
also owned 1,280 acres on Staten
Island. He has since purchased 240 acres more, of
which a part has since been disposed of.
At present he has 240 acres. By
his first marriage Mr. Wilson had five children: Mary Isabelle, Elizabeth E., Cyrus P., Amanda
M. and Matthew K., all born in Iowa.
The youngest died there; the four others came to this State. By the second marriage were born Sarah Ann,
at Carson Valley; Edwin A., Julia F., Dexter T., Hayden F., Ida May, Georgia
Ivy, Ulysses Grant and Cerita Alice, all of whom are
now living in this State.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 505-506. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.