James F. Wilson
A long, honorable, and useful career was that of the late Dr. James F. Wilson, of New Holland, Perry Township, Pickaway County, and his name is revered by a wide circle of friends. His face was familiar to almost every inhabitant of the western part of Pickaway and the eastern part of Fayette counties, and there are thousands who can testify to his professional thoroughness and ability, and to his intrinsic worth as a man. His was a character that won universal respect by its simple dignity, earnestness, firmness, and unvarying integrity. Not a member of any church, he was yet strongly imbued with the faith of Christianity, and his daily life put in practice those principles which are its teachings. He was a liberal supporter of the church, too, and noted for the charity he bestowed on other objects in many directions, being a kind friend to the poor and distressed. One of the most noble of his acts of charity, and one of the strongest indications of his largehearted patriotism, was during the war. Many of the men who enlisted in the companies, which were afterward assigned to the Ninetieth and One Hundred and Fourteenth regiments, Ohio volunteers, were indebted to him for professional services. To all such he gave receipted bills; and to all the members of these two companies, and to other soldiers who went into the war from the vicinity of his home, the doctor made promises, which he faithfully fulfilled, to give their families his services free of charge.
James F. Wilson was the son of John and Mary Wilson, who immigrated from Kentucky to Ross County, Ohio, about the year 1802. He was born near Chillicothe, October 5, 1808, and his early years were spent upon the home farm. At the age of twenty-one years, he went to Greenfield, Highland County, and there began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Daniel Robbins. He was finally, after long and careful reading, granted a diploma by the medical society of the district, and upon thus being authorized to practice his profession, immediately removed to New Holland, of which place he was the first resident physician.
Although possessing a fair medical education, he was not satisfied; and so, after four years' practice, during which time he saved from his accumulated means the sum necessary to pay his expenses, he entered the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati. He graduated from this institution with a good record, and returned to New Holland, resuming his practice, and following it all the rest of his life. His ride was a large one, and his practice as successful and lucrative as the. country could bestow. His professional reputation became firmly established early in his career, and he took rank with the best physicians in the county, and was frequently called upon to spare time from his professional duties in the immediate neighborhood, to attend councils of physicians in localities at a considerable distance. Dr. Wilson had an enviable reputation as a surgeon, as well as a physician, being regarded as one of the best in this part of the state. He was for a time, during the war, located at Camp Chase, and in his capacity as surgeon, his services were of great value.
He bought, in 1850, a fine farm, just over the line, in Marion Township, Fayette County, and in the western part of New Holland village, which was cleared and improved under his direction, and transformed from wild wood land into a beautiful agricultural tract. In 1868, he removed to the house he had provided upon this farm—the tasteful home, where his widow yet resides.
Dr. Wilson was, for the last twenty years of his life, afflicted with heart disease, and he died of this malady, January 21, 1875, leaving a wife and one son. Mrs. Wilson's maiden name was Letitia Dunlap, and she was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Dunlap, of Ross County. She was born May 24, 1816, and married August 31, 1837.
The only son of James F. and Letitia Wilson is John M., one of Ohio's men of ability and distinction. He was born September 19, 1838. In his sixteenth year he attended Antioch College, and remained there four years, under the instruction of the famous Horace Mann. After President Mann's death, young Wilson entered Union College, at Schenectady, New York, where he graduated with the class of 1862. He read law at Columbus, with the Hon. Chauncy N. Olds, and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio, in 1864, and commenced the practice of his profession that same year, at Cincinnati, as the senior member of the firm of Wilson & Champion. He represented Hamilton County two years—in 1871 and 1873—in the legislature, and in the latter year, at the expiration of his term, was appointed, by President Grant, as consul to Bremen. He remained there, as the representative of the United States, two and one-half years, and was then appointed to the consulship at Hamburg, where he remained until July 1, 1879. He is at present consul-general to the Colombian States of South America, and is located at Panama. He married, December 25, 1866, Carrie R. Turpin, of Newton, Hamilton County, Ohio.
From R. S. Dills' History of Fayette County