THE WILSON FAMILY, of whom this biographical sketch treats, are very prominently identified with the early leading citizens of Washington County. They come of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Robert and Thomas were the only ones of the family to come to this country, and they were from County Antrim, Ireland. Thomas married, but left no family. Robert married a Welsh lady, Martha Ewing by name, who was an orphan and came from east of the mountains. When the Wilsons came to this country is not known, as the records are lost, but it was not later than some time in the seventies of last century. They were married in this country, and settled in Cecil township, Washington Co., Penn. In religion they were Seceders (now United Presbyterian). In the early times it was customary for the neighbors to help each other at log-rollings; in harvest time at reaping grain, which was done with sickles, and in mowing grass, which was done with scythes; and it was considered something to be the best reaper or mower in the neighborhood, also the best scutcher of flax, which was a common employment, as the early settlers made their own linen and also their own woolen goods. In those days the young ladies, instead of playing the piano, had to play on the spinning-wheel, and to be a good spinner she must spin her dozen cuts of yarn per day. The ladies also helped scutch flax; also weave linen, tow-cloth and flannel, all their every-day wear being made at home. Robert Wilson while returning from a reaping party at one of his neighbors, it then getting late, had to go through a large tract of woods, when he found he was being followed by a panther. He was carrying two sickles, and he kept jingling them together and facing the animal; as it moved around him, he still kept his eyes on it, and jingled his sickles, when at last it up and moved off, greatly to Mr. Wilson’s relief. Wild animals and wild turkeys were quite common then. Robert and Martha E. Wilson had seven children born to them, viz.: James, Isabell, Jane, William, Annie, Thomas and Mary. James married Jane Gilmore, by whom he had ten children. Robert, the eldest married, had no children. Elizabeth married John Murray, the owner of what is now known as the ”Morganza farm”; died and left no family. Nancy, Bell and Eleanor, all deceased, no family. Martha married the Rev. David Collins, and had one son, now living in Allegheny, a lawyer by profession. William L., a U. P. minister of the Gospel, married and left one child-Mrs. Yourd of Mansfield, Penn. James married three times, and left two daughters and one son by his first wife, and two daughters by his second. Thomas, a U.P. minister, now living (it is believed) in Portland, Oregon, married and has several children. Mary A. is now living with her niece, Mrs. Yourd, of Mansfield. James, Sr., inherited the old homestead in Cecil township, to which he added others. James, Jr., and Robert were both farmers, in politics Republicans, in religion United Presbyterians. Thomas Wilson, youngest son of Robert and Martha Wilson, was educated at Washington and Jefferson College and was a Seceder minister of the Gospel. He was pastor of Carrollton Church, Carrollton, Ohio. In 1841 he married Jane Brown, of Smith township, Washington Co., Penn., and they had four children: James B., Robert D., Martha J. and Thomas E. The sons all responded to the call of their country during the Rebellion, Thomas E. died of measles while in Alabama, and was interred there. Robert married and has two children: William and Nannie; lives in Jefferson county, Ohio. James married and has two children: Carrie and Eva Mary; lives in Harrison county Ohio. Martha J. married and lives in Jefferson county, Ohio; no children Their father, Thomas inherited his uncle’s estate in Cecil Township Washington county, which he sold. William. E. Wilson, second son of Robert and Martha E. Wilson, was reared to farm life and devoted his time to agricultural pursuits. He was married to Margaret, daughter of John Park, a son of Samuel and Margaret Park, natives of the North of Ireland, who came to America in the same vessel and were married in America; they were six months on the ocean, the passage being a very stormy and perilous one. The ancestral records were lost, and we have no knowledge of their ancestry. Samuel Park dealt considerably in horses; he returned three times to Ireland, and imported horses from that country. They settled in Donegal Township, Lancaster Penn., where they resided until the close of the Revolutionary War. There were born to them three sons and two daughters: John, James, Isabell, Mary and Hugh. In the autumn of 1777 Samuel Park came over the mountains into what is now Washington County and bought of Matthew Rogers, of Yohogania county, colony of Virginia, in consideration of £450 in hand paid, a parcel of land on Chartiers Waters, and containing 566 acres, the bill of sale being dated December 7, 1777. He then returned to Lancaster County. His sons, John and James, were sent in advance to clear the land, build a cabin and plant a crop. Their sister Isabell came as housekeeper. The preparations being made, the rest of the family moved out. John Wilson was born December 18,1758, married Sarah McDowell in June, 1787, and from them has sprung the Park family, one of whose history we are endeavoring to sketch. Sarah McDowell was the daughter of Hon. John McDowell and Agnes Bradford, his wife, and was born October 24, 1769. Mr. McDowell was born September 23, 1736, in the North of Ireland, near Belfast. Nothing is known of his ancestry except that they came from Scotland, and that his father was a judge and a man of prominence. But to return to John, the father of Sarah: When a young man be came to this country and lived awhile in or near Elizabethtown, N. J., where he met and married Agnes Bradford, and they afterward lived for some years at Peach Bottom, York Co., Penn. In company with the Bradfords, Scotts and Allisons of that region, they removed to Washington County about the year 1773. Mr. McDowell obtained a tract of land containing 440 acres, and erected a log cabin which has been rendered memorable as being the place where Rev. John McMillan, D. D., preached his first sermon in this western country, as learned from the Doctor’s diary (this was on the fourth Sabbath or 22d day of August, 1775). This log cabin was afterward superseded by a two-story log cabin with a mammoth fireplace, which was long considered the finest dwelling in that vicinity Mr. McDowell was one of the first elders in Chartiers Church; one of the first commissioners of Washington County; one of the Council of Censors for the State, and was appointed one of the Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Washington County, by the Governor, Thomas McKean. We now return to Sarah, his daughter who married John Park in June, 1787; they settled on a farm there owned by him, called “Experiment” where they lived seven years. His father having died, he then bought the homestead called “Deer Park,” where they spent the remainder of their days. John Park, though quite young at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, did not withhold his services from his country. During that struggle he acted as a scout for some time, and rendered valuable service, but was in no severe engagement. He preceded his parents in their removal to Washington County. He is said to have recrossed the mountains over a dozen times, and brought back salt and other necessities, which commodities were carried on pack horses, and journeys were slow and wearisome, and they were occasions of much fatigue, exposure and self-denial. During his early history he had frequent calls from the Indians, but these were generally of a friendly character. He was an active member of the church, and for years served as a trustee. One of them relates that she never knew him to stay at home from church, even on stormy days. Sarah Park, his wife, was of vigorous mind and extraordinary industry; she was in every sense a helpmeet to her husband.This incident will illustrate her nerve: A wolf caught a lamb in the meadow below the house, and she saw it in the act, and seizing a stick started in pursuit of it. By the time the wolf reached the fence, she was close upon it, and in attempting to cross, the lamb was dropped, and she recovered it alive, though severely wounded. Like her husband, she was a devoted Christian. They often walked five miles to church when the roads were bad, or the horses had been worked hard in the busy season. One of the family remembers that she walked more than she wanted to, and says “when mother thought they ought to go, there was no alternative.” The first cabin was built over one hundred years ago. It was constructed of roughly hewn logs, puncheon floor, and had but one room. This sufficed until enough land was cleared to afford sustenance. Then a two-story edifice was built, which was considered superior to the average house of the neighborhood, as it had glass windows and a floor of boards. This was burned down about the 1st of August, l836, with a part of the contents. The furniture in early times was plain, but durable; the chairs were split-bottomed, straight-backed and unpainted; carpets were at first unknown, and afterwards were home-made; the cooking was done at an open fireplace, with its crane and andirons, the baking being done either in the Dutch oven or in an outside oven; the dishes were decorated with colored figures much like some of the present time; pewter dishes, spoons and plates and also wooden ones, were used. The writer of this sketch saw quite a quantity of George Washington’s household goods, and among other things were some plates such as are common at the present day - white, with a blue edge; some were and some were wooden; also a pewter coffee-pot. A secretary, bequeathed by Judge McDowell to John Park, and considered in his day a fine piece of furniture, is now in possession of one of the descendants, and also the family clock, extending from the floor to near the ceiling. The clothing of the early settlers was chiefly of home manufacture, being made of flax or wool. Mrs. Park was considered an expert-she could spin her sixteen cuts per day, and could weave her ten yards of cloth per day - six yards being an ordinary day’s work for women. This home manufacture formed the ordinary wear for both male and female, except on special occasions, when the latter would wear calico, costing at that time about $1 per yard. Bonnets were mostly of straw, and were worn two or three years without change. The men in early times wore knee-breeches to church, and on special occasions; at home they wore linsey pants and woolen wamuses. Shoes for wearing abroad were made of thick cloth with leather soles, and in winter shoes were made of strong leather sewed with flaxen thread well waxed. The school-house was about a mile from home, and was constructed of logs; the room was separated into two parts, the larger being laid with puncheon floor and occupied by the school, while the smaller part was used as a stable to keep the master’s horse in during school hours. The seats were small logs split and shaved, and were without backs; the windows were made by cutting out a portion of a log and covering the aperture with greased paper to admit the light. The term only lasted three or four months. The Park family attended the Chartiers Church, the pastor being Rev. John McMillan, D. D. He usually gave them two long sermons, with a half hour between as intermission. He paid little regard to dress, and often appeared in the pulpit in knee-breeches made of buckskin (the fronts of them so japanned with grease that they glistened), and without either coat, vest or suspenders; but his heart was in his work, and he gave them the Gospel truth in an impressive manner. The writer of this heard the Rev. John Lee say that when Doctor McMillan and another minister (whose name the writer forgets) were on their way from east of the mountains to Washington county, their provisions ran out with the exception of a little parched corn and bear’s grease; that after they had eaten this a few times, and their stomachs turned against it, they prayed that as they were engaged in the Lord’s work He would provide them with what they needed. They were asked if the Lord gave them anything else to eat. “No,” said they, “but He gave us stomachs to eat what we had.” They traveled for days without coming to any habitation, and at night lay down without anything over them except the blue sky and stars. Carriages were unknown then, and the traveling was by horseback principally, with a pair of saddle-bags to carry what they wanted to take with them. The produce was hauled in wagons to Pittsburgh, and there sold. Wheat varied in price from 50 cents to $1 per bushel; corn and oats from 12 cents to 50. The river was crossed sometimes in skiffs, but chiefly in flat-boats propelled by poles. Teams were afterward taken across in horse-boats. When in market butter was sold sometimes as low as 5 cents per pound, and at other times as high as 50; eggs as low as 6-1/4 cents per dozen, and as high as 30. The social gatherings were chiefly weddings singings, huskings, quiltings and log-rollings. The weddings generally occupied two days; on the first the groom was attended by a company of his friends to the home of the bride, their way being often obstructed by trees felled across the way by mischievous neighbors, or other obstructions placed in the way. What part the Park family took in these amusements the writer does not know. But to return to the family: John and Sarah Park had ten children born to them, viz.: Agnes, John, Samuel, William, Margaret, James, Isabell, Sarah, McDowell and Rebecca of these, Margaret married, May 30, 1832, William E. Wilson, son of Robert and Martha E. Wilson, and for seven years they lived on the old homestead farm of the Wilsons. On April l0, 1829, they settled on a farm called “Plenty”, near Burgettstown, Washington Co., Penn., which they had purchased a short time before. He was a successful farmer and wool grower. In 1837 he was elected elder in the Seceder Church of Burgettstown, a position he held until the union with the Associate Reformed Church in 1858. He stood aloof from this union, and remained a Seceder. He died October 2, 1870, when almost eighty years of age, being followed in l884 by his widow in her eighty-fifth year. They had eight children: Sarah A., Samuel P., Martha E., Nancy (deceased), Isabell V., John P., Rebecca (wife of Thomas Malone) and William L. (deceased). Samuel. P. Wilson spent his early years at home on the farm, and then engaged in the mercantile business, continuing until 1871. He was postmaster at Burgettstown from 1865; until 1871 and for several years he was treasurer of the Union Agricultural Association. In the fall of 1871 he purchased a farm near Gordonsville, Va., and in March following he moved his family thither. He was married to Margaret Campbell, of Smith Township, Penn. Mrs. Wilson died July 21, 1887. In November, 1887, he sold out at Gordonsville and moved his family to Chinook, Mont., and stayed there until 1890, when he returned to Burgettstown, where he at present resides. They had four children, viz.: Robert C., Maggie A., William E. and Jennie E. Martha E. Wilson is the widow of Alexander Russell ( deceased), formally of Burgettstown. John P. Wilson’s biographical record will be found at page 284, (of the original text). William L. Wilson, son of William E: and Margaret P. Wilson, was born on the home place in Smith Township, where his youth was passed. He attended the public schools, receiving a thorough training in the common branches. Though he selected agriculture as his life work, yet he believed education to be essential to any department of life. In 1888 or 1889 he bought the residence of the Rev. J. T. Frederick, in Burgettstown, and the following spring moved to town. He was unmarried, his two sisters, Sarah and Isabell, living with him. On the evening of the 25th of October, 1892, while returning from the farm to his home in town, he had to cross the railroad track. A freight train was just moving off the crossing, and at that moment he stepped on to cross over, when he was struck by the limited express and instantly killed. He could not see the express for the freight train. In religious matters he was a United Presbyterian. In politics he was a Republican, cast his first vote for the Republicans, and so continued.

Text taken from page 1141 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Judy & Lee Schaeffer of Pittsburgh, PA as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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