Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/584

550 WILSON, Henry Parke Custis, physician, b. in Workington, Somerset co., Md., 5 March, 1827. His Scotch-Irish ancestors emigrated to this country in 1700 from Ireland, being driven out by religious persecution, and founded the first Presbyterian church in this country at Rehoboth, Somerset co., Md. Henry was graduated at Princeton in 1848, studied medicine at the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland, and settled in Baltimore. Dr. Wilson has contributed numerous articles on gynecology and obstetrics to the medical journals and the transactions of medical societies, and has invented important and useful gynecological instruments. In 1856-'7 he was physician to the Baltimore county and city almshouse. He is president and one of the founders of the Baltimore gynecological and obstetrical society, has been president of the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland and the Baltimore academy of medicine, vice-president and one of the founders of the American gynecological society, and vice-president of the American medical association. He is a fellow of the British gynecological society and the British medical association, and of numerous other local and national medical societies.

WILSON, James, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. near St. Andrew's, Scotland, 14 Sept., 1742; d. in Edenton, N. C., 28 Aug., 1798. After receiving a university education at St. Andrew's, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, he emigrated to this country about 1763, remained for some time in New York city, and in 1766 went to Philadelphia, Pa., where he was for several months tutor in Latin at the City college, which was afterward merged in the University of Pennsylvania. He left this employment to study law with John Dickinson, was admitted to the bar in 1767, began practice in Reading, but soon removed to Carlisle, and was established in his profession before the Revolution, having made his reputation by an argument in an important land case against the proprietors of Pennsylvania. He espoused the popular cause from the beginning of the difficulties with the British government, contributing many essays to the controversy. He was a member of the Provincial meeting of deputies of 15 July, 1774, and a delegate to the Provincial convention of 23 Jan., 1775. When three representatives were added to the Pennsylvania delegation on 6 May, 1775, he was selected with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Willing, and was present at the opening of congress on 10 May. He was successively re-elected on 3 Nov., 1775, 20 July, 1776, and 10 March, 1777, but was superseded at the election of 14 Sept., 1777, because he had hesitated to declare for independence while there remained a prospect of obtaining justice from parliament. He had resisted separation on 8 June, 1776, after the legislature of Pennsylvania had withdrawn its restrictions on the votes of its representatives; yet on 1 July he and John Morton were the first of the Pennsylvania delegates to vote for independence, and they were the only ones, except Benjamin Franklin, who voted for

the adoption of the declaration on 4 July. He took an important part in the discussion of military and commercial questions, and opposed the views of the southern delegates on questions of slavery and taxation, believing it to be the duty of congress to discourage slave-holding. In July, 1775, when the Indians were divided into three departments, he was appointed by congress commissioner and superintendent of Indian affairs for the middle department. He was a member of committees to consider the state of the colonies and measures for their defence, to supply the treasury, to investigate the condition of the army, to suppress internal enemies, to re-enforce Washington's army, and to strengthen the American cause in Canada; was one of the authors of an appeal to the assembly of Jamaica, a letter to the people of Canada, and an address to the United colonies, and served on the standing committees for Indian affairs and for hearing appeals on libels from the decisions of the state admiralty courts, as well as on the first board of war. When hostilities began, Wilson was chosen colonel of a battalion of militia that was raised in Cumberland county, with which he took part in the New Jersey campaign of 1776, but afterward he took no part in active operations, owing to his civil appointments. When party spirit caused his removal from the Pennsylvania delegation in congress, he went to Annapolis, Md., and practised there for a year, at the end of which he settled permanently in Philadelphia. On 5 June, 1779, he was appointed advocate-general for the French government in the United States, the appointment being confirmed by letters-patent from the king on 18 Feb., 1781. On 31 Dec., 1781, he was appointed by congress a director of the Bank of North America. He made himself obnoxious to the democracy by denying the right of the town council to regulate the price of food, opposing the more liberal provisions of the constitution, and acting as counsel for Tories who were prosecuted for treason, and when he and other citizens of conservative views were threatened, they gathered in his house, where, on 4 Oct., 1779, they were attacked by the mob and militia, and, after many shots were exchanged, were rescued by the city troop. There was loss of life on both sides, and the feeling against Wilson was such that he absented himself from the city for a time. On 23 May, 1782, he was appointed a brigadier-general of militia. He acted as counsel for Pennsylvania before the court of arbitration that in November, 1782, decided against the claims of Connecticut to the lands of the Wyoming settlement. On 12 Nov. of that year he was re-elected to congress, taking his seat on 2 Jan., 1783. He proposed the plan of general taxation which was adopted on 12 Feb., 1783. He was not a member of congress in 1784, but was returned in 1785, and continued by re-election till the adoption of the present constitution. He was a member of the Federal convention, and in its debates supported direct popular suffrage and a single executive. He exercised much influence in determining the character of the constitution, and was appointed on the committee of detail. He explained and defended the constitution, as finally framed, in the Pennsylvania convention for its ratification. Having been the chief of the Republican party in Pennsylvania, which approved a firmer government than the Federation, and was bitterly opposed by the Constitutional party, Mr. Wilson now became a leader of the Federalists. In the convention of 1789-'90 for framing a new state constitution he successfully advocated the plan of the direct election of state senators. He was appointed on the