GEORGE W. WILSON, well known throughout Warren Township and vicinity, is the fortunate operator of his father’s old homestead, which comprises 220 acres, and is finely located on sections 22 and 23. Upon this farm our subject was born Oct. 15, 1855, and it is hardly necessary to say that it possesses for him more than a moneyed value. With the old place and its associations he would not part for any light consideration. The friends and neighbors who have known him from his boyhood, are held in scarcely less esteem, and it would seem indeed as if Providence had adjusted his lines in pleasant places.

Mr. Wilson received a practical education in the common schools, and worked with his father on the farm until a young man of twenty years. Then, with the spirit of adventure which usually seizes youth at some period, he left the old roof-tree for the Farther West, going into the mountains of Colorada (sic), occupying himself in various capacities – cooking, mining, and freighting. A sojourn of three and one-half years in that region sufficed, and, coming back, he settled, in 1882, upon the old farm, where he has since lived.

On the 24th of December, 1885, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Frances Dobson, of Apple River, and to them has been born a bright little daughter, Eva Leone, March 31, 1888. Mrs. Frances Wilson was born in Hazel Green, Wis., Jan. 3, 1865, and is the daughter of Francis and Mary E. (Hall) Dobson; the father a native of Yorkshire, England. He came to America at the age of twenty-one years, settling first in Canada, but a short time afterward removed to Platteville, Wis., and was soon afterward married, July 20, 1854, at Hazel Green, to Miss Mary E. Hall. He was then thirty-two years old, having been born in 1822. They became the parents of five children, all of whom are living; and residents mostly of Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. Mr. Dobson for a number of years engaged in freighting, having his headquarters at Hazel Green, Wis. He finally settled on a farm near Darlington, where his death took place in 1865. His widow and her children afterward removed to Apple River, where Mrs. D. lived until 1885. She also was a native of England, and was born June 15, 1836. She came to America when a child of seven years, accompanied by her parents, they settling first in Lake County, Ill., removing thence to Hazel Green, Wis., in 1854. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Wilson were George and Eleanor Hall, the former of whom died at his farm in Lake County, Ill., many years ago.

James Wilson, the father of our subject, was born in Butler County, Pa., and lived there until he was sixteen years old. He then started out from the parental roof-tree, and spent considerable time traveling over the South and West. He came to this county about 1843, and put up a log house on the prairie, turning the first furrow on this land, setting out forest and fruit trees, and effecting all the improvements which go to make up a well-regulated farm. The log house, in 1850, was substituted by a substantial frame dwelling. Two years prior to this, in 1848, he had been married to Miss Martha Hewett. Of this union there were born seven children, six of whom lived to mature years. Mrs. Martha (Hewett) Wilson was born in 1824 in Pennsylvania, being the daughter of Andrew Hewett, who also came to Northern Illinois during the pioneer days. Upon the arrival of the elder Wilson in this county, it is hardly necessary to say there were no indications of a town upon the present site of Warren, and the “Chapman Tavern” was the only stopping place between him and Galena. He was one of the first school officers of`his district, and assisted in the erection of the first building devoted to educational purposes. In this structure his children obtained the first rudiments of an education.

John Wilson, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was, it is supposed, a native of Pennsylvania, and at an early day removed from the eastern to the western part of the entire State on horseback, with all of his family, across the mountains, settling about forty miles north of Pittsburgh, where he spent his last days. To Francis J. and Mary E. Dobson, the parents of Mrs. George W. Wilson, there came the children whose record is as follows: Ann E. was born June 18, 1855, and is now the wife of William Naylor, of Warren City, Ill.; Rachel A. was born Aug. 7, 1857, and is the wife of Joseph Harris, of Plymouth County, Iowa; George H. was born Sept. 9, 1859, and lives in Wichita, Kan.; William R. was born Dec. 10, 1861, and is a resident of Warren Township; Frances E. (Mrs. W.) was born Jan. 3, 1865, and was eleven months old at the time of her father’s death; her mother subsequently remained at the farm only a short time, and then removed to Apple River, where they resided a number of years, and then took up their residence in Warren.

To the parents of our subject there were born the following children: John A., Sept. 30, 1850, and who died Nov. 18, 1882; James T. was born Nov. 11, 1852, married Miss Rhoda Emery, Oct. 28, 1875, and is a resident of Colorado; George W., our subject, was the third child; Lewis M. was born Aug. 18, 1860, married Miss Mary A. Houghtaling, Jan. 26, 1881, and resides in Colorado; Mary E. died in 1883, at the age of twenty years and ten months; an infant younger than our subject, who was born in 1855, died unnamed; Rebecca E. was born Dec. 11, 1864, married William R. Dobson, Feb. 7, 1887, and died May 4, 1888. The mother lives in the old home. James Wilson was a successful farmer and a good citizen, one who contributed his full quota to the building up of his county, and uniformly interested himself in its moral and financial welfare. He first set foot upon the soil of Illinois in 1841, and settled on his land two years later. In the meantime he visited Kentucky, Missouri, and Southern Illinois. He owned at the time of his death, 255 acres of good land, and other valuable property which he had accum-ulated by the exercise of his own industry. James Wilson departed this life May 25, 1888, in Iowa, while on a visit to his daughter, who also died May 4, 1888. Their remains were brought home and buried in the Warren cemetery.

George W. Wilson has inherited many of the traits of his honored father, and the indications are that he will perpetuate the homestead in the same manner as did his honored sire, and steadily increase the value of the property. He is frugal, temperate, industrious, and high-minded; in fact he possesses all the qualities of an honest man and a good citizen. The elder Wilson, politically, was a Republican, and a member in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. George W. votes the Republican ticket. He has no political aspirations, preferring to give his time and attention to his farming interests.

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889), p. 323