My Genealogy Hound

John A. Wilson, one of the leading merchants of Bolivar, was born May 27, 1832, in Hardeman County, a son of John and Mary C. (Stuart) Wilson, both of whom were natives of Kentucky where they were raised and married. They came to Hardeman County in 1824 before the days of Bolivar. Their family consisted of two sons and five daughters; three only are living. The father was an extensive planter. He was a strong Whig. He belonged to no church but was a good and noble man. His death occurred in 1837. He was of Irish origin, his father a soldier of the Revolutionary war. The mother was a true Christian woman and member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She departed this life in 1872 after a lengthy widowhood. She was of Scotch descent. The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm and received a common-school education. From the age of sixteen until the outbreak of the war he managed his mother’s farm. In 1859 he was married, in Marshall County, Miss., to Miss Ann E., daughter of Hardin Franklin, and granddaughter of Gov. Franklin of North Carolina, in which State Mrs. Wilson was born in 1838. The fruits of this union have been five children—three sons and two daughters. In 1862 Mr. Wilson entered the Confederate service, Company B, under command of Gen. Forrest. He served ten months, then was discharged. In 1866 he embarked in the mercantile business in which he has been successfully engaged since that time. Previous to the “late unpleasantness” he was a Whig and is now a stanch Democrat. For fifty-four years he has been a resident of Hardeman County; twenty years of that time he has been connected with the business interests of Bolivar. He is a man of ability and honor. He has never been insolvent nor sued. He is an exemplary member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and his wife of the Methodist.