Born: Tennessee, 1816.
Died: near Harristown Illinois, March 2, 1881.
In 1816, Mr. Wilson's parents came to Illinois and resided in White, Bond and Montgomery Counties, respectively. In 1839 he moved to Mechanicsburg, where he was married in 1843. By the church there he was ordained to the ministry in 1852. He served that congregation one-half time as its pastor for two years. Thereafter, to the close of his life, his energies were devoted to the work of evangelizing.
Physically, Mr. Wilson was a large man, standing more than six feet tall, and was well proportioned. He was a timid man, but his faith in Jesus and his love of the gospel made him a very useful and powerful preacher.
On one of his evangelizing tours in central Illinois he came to an assembly of worshipers. The M. E. preacher, according to the custom of his class in that time, was earnestly aiming to show his hearers that the forgiveness of sins, on the human side, is conditioned upon faith only, and is in no way connected in the New Testament with baptism. In his sermon he several times quoted our Lord's commission, as recorded by Mark, as follows: "He that believeth, and so forth, shall be saved." This was too much for Mr. Wilson, so, just before the meeting closed, he publicly announced that he would preach in the schoolhouse at a named date, and that the subject of his sermon would be "And So Forth." Many audiences in central Illinois heard that discourse with pleasure and profit.
In his residence near Harristown he retired to rest March 1, 1881, in his usual apparent excellent health. On the morrow he was not, for God had taken him.