A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for John Wilson
John Wilson was born in Augusta Co., VA, in 1790. I know little about his early life, but I think he was married to Priscilla McCoun in Mercer Co., KY, in 1812, served in the War of 1812, and then married Martha Woods in Augusta County in 1817. Presumably his first wife had passed away. And Martha seems not to have lived very long either. John moved to Howard Co., MO, about 1820, and married his third wife, Ann Pulliam, in 1825. He was a lawyer and was active in the Whig party, which was a distinct minority in Missouri. After Zachary Taylor (Whig) became president in 1849, and with the California gold rush going on, John decided to move there. (By the way, I have seen it suggested that John was related to Zachary Taylor, but do not know if it's true, or what the relationship might have been.) He obtained appointments as Indian agent for Salt Lake and navy agent at San Francisco. The trip to California was quite eventful, and included much difficulty getting through the mountains of northern California in late fall / early winter. He and his family had to abandon most of their belongings there (though they were able to retrieve some of them later). He did not arrive in San Francisco until 8 Dec 1849. He became a prominent lawyer in San Francisco and engaged extensively in land speculation and to some extent in politics. He died in 1877 at the age of 87.
He was known as General John Wilson, though he wasn't really a general. Fred Rogers, in end note 171 of the third reference below, says that there was a John Wilson who had short service as inspector general with a few companies of Missouri militia during the Black Hawk war, and possibly that accounts for his being called "General" -- but he didn't know if this was the same John Wilson. However, John's War of 1812 pension papers from the National Archives contain a page with the following statement: "John Wilson ... was the Divission Inspector General of the 1st Division of Missouri Militia a part of which were called into the service of the United States in the summer of 1832 ... to defend against the expected attacks of the Indians under Black Hawk". This confirms that our John Wilson was an inspector general, though it's still speculation that this is how he came to be known as General John Wilson. (There is also a letter to Abiel Leonard in the Abiel Leonard Papers, dated 20 Apr 1830 -- or possibly 1832 -- that is signed "John Wilson, Division Inspector of 1st Div, Missouri Militia".) The pension papers also contain a physical description: He was 5 ft. 11 in. tall, and had blue eyes. (The Hotchkiss manuscript says he was 6' 3"; it doesn't say where that information is from.) At the time of his enlistment in 1814 he was a merchant. His official dates of service in the War of 1812 were from 29 Aug 1814 to 10 Dec 1814 (104 days). He was in the Virginia Militia in the company of Capt. Samuel Doak and the regiment of Col. James McDowell, and attained the rank of orderly sergeant.
Some sources say he was born in Tennessee, but I don't know why. I don't have any other information indicating that the family spent any time in Tennessee.
There are several Augusta County deeds of trust involving debts of John and his brother David to various people in the years from 1815 to 1820. Their debts also figured in two Augusta County chancery-court cases, Haupe v. Wilson and others (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=015-1821-064) and Little & Telford v. Wilson and others plus Brown v. Little & Telford and others (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=015-1832-026). At least some of the borrowed money was used to buy property, presumably for investment. In particular, in 1819 John and David bought property in and around the town of Waynesborough, including a tavern, from William Brown for $3,250, which they were to pay in installments up through February 1827. However, Brown’s court complaint in 1826 said that shortly after he sold the land to them the Wilsons became insolvent and abandoned the property, and they had not made any of the payments. A deed of trust dated 25 Apr 1820 from John and David to sheriff James McNutt mentions that they had been trading under the firm of John & David Wilson. That deed of trust appears to be them basically declaring bankruptcy and forfeiting loan collateral. There are affidavits along with Brown’s complaint stating that the land Brown sold the Wilsons would probably not sell for more than $2,000 in 1826, if even that much. So John and David (and father William, because he had secured some of their loans) were stuck and couldn’t make the payments even by selling the property. This drop in land value was likely caused by the Panic of 1819; see the notes for William Wilson. The court papers show that the court appointed a commissioner to oversee John’s and David’s property starting in 1821. Presumably, the property finally reverted to Brown in 1827. Note that John probably moved to Missouri in 1820 or 1821, but David remained in Virginia until 1830. There are more details on all of this in the chapter on Augusta County Details in my Wilson book.
John continued with land speculation throughout his life. There is quite a bit of discussion of this in the Hotchkiss manuscript, including how he always seemed to be short of money. He was involved in some very large deals, including the Valliere claim, which is discussed below.
There are transcriptions of a few obituaries in the John Wilson Papers (BANC MSS C-B 420, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA), but none with much additional information. Indeed, a report of an organization called Sons of Revolutionary Sires dated 7 Feb 1877 says (in part):
For several months we have tried to get his record for publication in our first Historic volume, but the principle of putting off till to-morrow what could be done to-day, has deprived us of the valuable incidents of his long and eventful life, unless he has left some written information among his papers. It is to be hoped this will be a warning to those whose duty it is to furnish the material for labors of the council, as we have undertaken to publish the biography of each member, with an approved genealogy of his family and interesting traditional incidents that so generally mark the character of Revolutionary Patriots.
Sure would have been nice to have that material! One of the obituaries says that he was a protege of Thomas Jefferson when he was in Virginia. It would be nice to know if there's anything to that. That obituary is also one of the places where it says that he was a relative of President Taylor. Another obituary just says that he was "an intimate friend of President Taylor" and also that "He was on terms of great intimacy with President Tyler, though on the refusal of the latter to sign the Bank Bill a rupture took place, which was never healed."
A lengthy letter from John to family back in Missouri, written a few months after he arrived in San Francisco, is reproduced in:
"California Letter of John Wilson, 1850" edited by Frederic A. Culmer (Missouri Historical Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 200-213, January 1930). Available from the web site of the State Historical Society of Missouri, http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/ .
The letter is a very interesting portrayal of life in the early days of San Francisco, plus a little bit about his family's difficulties getting through the northern California mountains in late 1849. More about John (and some about his family) is in three articles in the California Historical Society Quarterly:
"'General' John Wilson, Signer of the Deseret Petition: Including Letters from the Leonard Collection" by Frederic A. Culmer (California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 321-348, December 1947).
"Bear Flag Lieutenant: The Life Story of Henry L. Ford (1822-1860), with Some Related and Contemporary Art of Alexander Edouart (Continued)" by Fred B. Rogers (California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 49-66, March 1951).
"Bear Flag Lieutenant: The Life Story of Henry L. Ford (1822-1860), with Some Related and Contemporary Art of Alexander Edouart (Concluded)" by Fred B. Rogers (California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 157-175, June 1951).
There is also quite a bit about John in the Hotchkiss manuscript.
John's will, obtained from the Howard County Genealogical Society (some punctuation added):
In the name of God Amen: I, Genl. John Wilson of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, being weak in body but of sound and disposing [?] mind do make publish and declare this my last will and testament.
I will state first the following fact. My wife Mrs. Ann R. Wilson ownes all my property in common with me, wheresoever the same may be, and out of which I desire that our common debts are first to be paid.
1st. I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Ann R. Wilson during her natural life the use of all the property or proceeds thereof we own in the State of California or Oregon, and at her death what property I have in California I leave one half to my Daughter Mary Eliza Wakeman and one half to my Son Robert Wilson as tenants in common.
2nd. The real Estate or block of Lots in the City of Astoria State of Oregon or the proceeds thereof I specially bequeath to my Daughter Mary Eliza Wakeman after the death of my wife Ann R. Wilson.
3rd. Of the property I own in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisana, Texis, Florada [sic] or Virginia -- especially the Valliare [sic] claim now pending in the United States Courts in Missouri, I give and bequeath one fourth to my Son David Wilson, one fourth to the three children of my son John Wilson, one fourth to my Daughter Mary Eliza Wakeman and one fourth to my Son Robert Wilson as tenants in common.
4th. I leave my wife Ann R. Wilson and Daughter Mary Eliza Wakeman my Executrix is [??] and will add the name of my Son David Wilson as executor -- to assist them as such in administering upon the property belonging to my Estate outside of the states of California and Oregon -- if the law will permit such an appointment. I desire that no bonds be required of my executrixes or executor or either of them, believing they will act fairly. I want my executrixes to call upon Mr. McElrath Atty. at law and get him to sign an agreement which he has in writing, about the property that my Wife Ann R. Wilson ownes in her own right in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties in the state of California. I hereby revoke all former wills, and hope my children will be satisfied with this arrangement as I think it is under the circumstances a fair one.
John Wilson
signed sealed published and declared by the said John Wilson to be his last will and testament in the presence of us who in his presence and at his requests and in the presence of each other have subscribed our names hereto as witnesses this first day of February A.D. 1877
Saml. F. Chapin, Residence Suisun City, Solano Co., Cal.
Co. P. Reeves, Residence Suisun City, Solano Co., Cal.
Filed in the office of the Clerk of the Probate Court in & for the City & County of San Francisco, State of California this second day of March A.D. 1877
Thos. H. Reynolds
Clerk
By Chas. E. Nougnes [?]
Deputy Clerk
[On a separate page, it is identified as a certified copy of the will, signed by S.F. County Clerk Thomas H. Reynolds. The copy was filed in Howard Co. MO:]
State of Missouri
County of Howard
I, Jo. H. Finks, Clerk of the Circuit Court & ex-officio Recorder of Deeds, within & for the County aforesaid, do certify that the within instrument of unity [?] was filed in my office on the 11th Decr. 1878 at 10 o'clock AM & is duly recorded in deed Book No. 21 at Pages 108 & 109. [Another place mentions pages 107, 108, & 109.]
Witness my hand & official seal this 30th Decr. 1878
Jo. H. Finks, Clerk
By L. Wright, D.C.
The Valliere claim, referred to in the third item above, was a huge Spanish land grant covering millions of acres in Missouri and Arkansas. The story of John’s involvement is very interesting. Following is an excerpt from a long newspaper article about the Valliere land grant in The Southern Guardian (Little Rock, AR), 22 Apr 1911, p. 2 (obtained from http://arc.stparchive.com/Archive/ARC/ARC04221911p02.php):
One account of this great land claim says that the records of this grant were accidentally discovered by a gentleman in the surveyor-general’s office, nearly forty years after the death of the grantee. This gentleman informed the Valliere heirs of the records of their deed in June, 1841. The surviving heirs gave a deed to John Wilson of Missouri for an undivided half interest in these lands. Wilson was an enterprising lawyer, who moved to Missouri when there were no land titles there except Spanish land titles. He became involved in the elucidation of such grants and spent his whole life in pursuing clues to Spanish and Mexican land grants, and it was supposed that he would be able to straighten this grant, as he had so many others. But, as before stated, the land records of Louisiana had been taken to Cuba and were not obtainable. Wilson purchased in New Orleans, for $7,000, from a Mrs. Pintard, copies of the grants, some in full and some insubstance. These formed evidence of the grants made. Then, he found, in the secretary of state’s office, the governor-general’s order book, containing the first official act of the Valliere grant, in the handwriting of Baron de Carondelet. This, with the archives purchased from Mrs. Pintard, gave him the first and second official acts, and he went to Havana with a letter of introduction from Daniel Webster to try to get the third from the hidden archives. He was put off for a long time, but finally the keeper of the archives took him secretly to the old tobacco warehouse, where they were secreted. In a gloomy inner apartment, dumped on the floor, lay cart loads of records. After great labor, Wilson extracted the Valliere grant, in due form and properly signed. Of this he was permitted to take a copy. This was all done before the deed to him of half the claim was made. After this deed was made he went to New York, where he organized a company to secure confirmation of the grant. Wilson sold his claim to the undivided half of this grant to James Currie in 1842. [Not sure how to reconcile this with the fact that John’s will in 1877 indicates that he still had an interest in the claim. Maybe he sold part of his claim to Currie.] In 1843 Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate wrote a joint opinion saying that Valliere had obtained a good title to the land….
In 1860 an act was passed for the final adjustment of private land claims in Florida, Louisiana and Missouri. … Duryea, by information from Havana, was convinced of the genuineness of the claim, and filed a new petition for the land, just eighty-two years after the date of the original grant [this would be 1875]. The United States, through the attorney of the United States Court of the Western District of Missouri, interposed a demurrer, which, after the case had dragged along till February, 1878, the court sustained, declaring the grant invalid, and dismissed the bill of the claimants. The petitioners appealed to the United States Supreme Court, to which the case was submitted on printed argument. The Supreme Court confirmed the decree of the District Court, dismissing the suit from the courts, holding that for want of an adequate description by which it can now be surveyed or identified, the claim did not come within the provisions of the section of the act of 1860, which brought the claims to the notice of the courts. [This wasn’t quite the end of the claims, but no more is needed here.]
1820 census
Image 4 on Ancestry.com (Waynesboro, Augusta Co., VA)
Listed as John Wilson. Household consisted of 1 male age 26–44 (John), 2 males age under 10 (could be David and John T.), 1 female age 16–25 (could be John’s second wife, Martha/Patsy), and 1 female age under 10 (possibly a daughter who died young?). Can't be sure this is the right John Wilson, but he seems to fit well. This is the only John Wilson listed for Augusta Co., VA. There is a John Wilson, age 26-44, living by himself in Mercer Co., KY, which doesn't seem likely. There are no John Wilsons listed in Howard Co., MO.
1830 census
Images 57 and 58 on Ancestry.com (Howard Co., MO)
Listed as John Wilson. Household consisted of three males (one aged 30-39, two aged 20-29) and two females (ages 20-29 and under 5). The male aged 30-39 could have been John, though he probably was 40 at the time of the census (but maybe the age was supposed to be as of January 1?). One of the males aged 20-29 could have been his brother, William Adair. Could one or both of sons David and John T. have been listed as age 20-29? They were younger than that. The female aged 20-29 could have been wife Ann, and the under-5-year-old could have been daughter Susan Anne. Also, two slaves are listed, females aged 24-35 and under 10. This doesn’t seem right because son William Henry is missing, but the other John Wilsons in Howard County fit even less well.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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