My Genealogy Hound

ALBERT L. WILSON, the popular and efficient cashier of the Merchants’ Exchange Bank of Sparta, was born in this place in 1855, and is the second in order of birth in a family of seven children, whose parents were Andrew and Mary J. (Hill) Wilson. The Wilson family is of Scotch-Irish descent. The grandparents, George and Susanna (Anderson) Wilson, were both natives of South Carolina, and in 1804 emigrated to Illinois, settling near Baldwin. The former served in the Black Hawk War. He was a very prominent man and a prosperous farmer.

Andrew Wilson was born January 17, 1823, in a fort in Randolph County, which was erected for protection against the redmen. He remained on his father’s farm until he had attained his majority, when he began dealing in wood in Rockwood, Ill., supplying steamboats with that fuel. In 1850 he went to California, where he engaged in mining about three years. He then returned to Sparta and carried on merchandising until the breaking out of the late war, when he was elected Captain of Company G, Eightieth Illinois Infantry. He was captured at Rome, Ga., and was an inmate of southern prisons for twenty-two months, being confined in Libby for one year. When the war was over, he returned to Sparta, where he engaged in the clothing business. Later he became Post master, and filled that office until his death, which occurred May 12, 1881. In early life he was a Democrat, but afterward became a stanch Republican. He belonged to Hope Lodge No. 162, A. F. & A. M., and was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Sparta. An honorable, upright life won him high regard and made his death deeply mourned. His wife, who still survives him, is a native of Randolph County, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. Her parents, Samuel and Elizabeth Hill, were natives of South Carolina, and emigrated to Illinois in 1805.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were married in 1848, and to them were born seven children. Elizabeth is the wife of E. J. Murphy, of East St. Louis. The latter was formerly a member of the Illinois Legislature from Randolph County, and also held the offices of Sheriff of the county and Warden of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary. He is now engaged in the coal and feed business in East St. Louis. They have two children, Alice and William. Our subject, S. Dora, of St. Louis, and Molly F., who died at the age of eight years, are next in order of birth. Anna M. is the wife of J. A. Gemmil, who is Superintendent of the Sparta Creamery, and they have become the parents of three children: Ethel, Bessie and Josephine. May is the wife of Judge Henry T. Matthews, an attorney of Santa Anna, Cal., and who is also Major in the State Militia. They have one son, Harry. Ulysses G., an insurance agent, married Florence Stamm, of St. Louis, and they have two children, Grant and Lewis.

Mr. Wilson of this sketch was born in Sparta in 1855, and there continued to make his home until 1875. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the printing business, which he carried on in this place for two years, when he became a clerk in the bank of S. P. Smith, where he remained for the same length of time, after which he was with Sproul & Brother for one year. He then went to Red Bud, where he organized the bank of Ohlwine, Schrieber & Co., with a capital stock of only $10,000, but a responsibility of $200,000. Our subject was then but twenty years of age, but was made Cashier and Manager. The stock was afterward increased to $20,000, and he continued his connection with the bank for seventeen years, when he returned to Sparta, and assumed the position of cashier of the Merchants’ Exchange Bank, which was organized as a state bank at that time.

In 1877, Mr. Wilson married Miss Amy Stevenson, a native of Eden, Ill., and a daughter of Capt. John and Jane C. (Wilson) Stevenson, natives of Scotland and Illinois, respectively. The father was a Captain of a Missouri company during the late war, and now makes his home in Salina, Kan. The mother passed away in 1891. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were born four children: Prentiss S., E. Jerome, Evangeline and Nellie Ruth.

Mr. Wilson was at the age of fifteen thrown upon his own resources, and has made his way in life unaided. His enterprise and industry were his capital on which to found a fortune. His well directed efforts have brought him success, and his real estate in Illinois, together with his bank stock, is worth at a low estimate $15,000. In politics he is a Republican, and socially belongs to the Sons of Veterans. He and his wife hold membership with the Presbyterian Church, in which he is now serving as Elder, and they are numbered among its leading workers.