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biography
Read
bio from the Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909 |
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James M. Willson,
furniture dealer, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, August 7, 1820. his
father, James V., was a native of Ligioner Valley, Westmoreland Co. Penn.,
and removed in boyhood with his father, Col. Samuel Willson, and officer
of the Pennsylvania Line in the Revolutionary War, to Washington County,
Penn., where he grew to maturity. He went to Beaver Co. Penn., and learned
the wheelwright trade, with Thomas Kennedy, of Brady's Run. He was there
married to James (?) Kennedy, a sister of his employer, and in 1806
removed to Brookfield Township, Trumbull Co., Ohio, where he was afterward
joined by his parents, Col. Samuel and Jane (Vance) Willson, both of whom
resided with him the balance of their lives. He served under Harrison in
the War of 1812. He reared a family of nine children, four of whom are
living, and three are residents of Sharon. In 1834 the family removed to
Green County, Ohio, where the mother died in the Presbyterian faith in
1842. After her death he spent his days among his children, and died at
the home of his son, James M. in January 1865, aged eighty-one years. Our
subject grew to manhood in Ohio, and in the fall of 1842 came to Hartstown,
Penn., where he learned the furniture business with his brother Samuel. In
February 1845, he located in Sharon, and in partnership with Joseph
Partridge and William Logan, under the firm name of Wilson, Logan &
Partridge, engaged in manufacturing furniture. For the part forty-three
years, Mr. Wilson has carried on that business in Sharon, and is today the
oldest business man in active business in the borough. He was married
December 4, 1849, to Miss Mary, daughter of Samuel Quinby, whose father
was a pioneer of Sharon, of which union nine children have been born, six
of whom survive: Anna, wife of Edwin D. Echols, of Sharon; John R., of
Youngstown, Ohio; Clarence A., of Willson & Son, Sharon; Ollie M.,
Herbert M. and Mary T. Mr. Willson was an original anti-slavery man, was
afterward a Republican, and is now a Prohibitionist. He has served in the
council and as school director, and both he and wife are members of the
Presbyterian Church.
History
of Mercer Co. PA 1888 p.788
Submitted
by Theresa Davids |
