Biography of Constant P wilson, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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page 1379

Constant P. Wilson, farmer of Upper Township, Sebastian Co., Ark., and native
of the county, was born in 1856,  being a son of Thomas E. and Mary A.
(Dillard) Wilson, who were born in Kentucky and Virginia, July 6,  1804, and
April 27, 1822, respectively. The father removed from Kentucky to Fort Gibson,
and in 1832 located  at Fort Smith, Ark., where he was engaged in surveying,
and acted as sutler for the soldiers. He owned a large  farm of 1,200 acres,
and from fifteen to twenty slaves. The following are his children: Neosho L.
(deceased),  Thomas E., Virginia T. (Baxter), John D., Constant P., Sallie P.
(Falconer), and Macha M. He has one step- daughter, Mrs. Marcus Boyd. Mr.
Wilson's death occurred September 11, 1880, his wife dying on the 11th of
January, seven years later. Her parents, John and Sallie P. (Moore) Dillard,
were born in Virginia, and in 1822  removed to Arkansas, where the father
engaged in merchandising, farming and stock dealing. He was one of the
prominent men of his section of the country, and represented his county in the
State Legislature. He died in  1846. His maternal grandparents, Benjamin and
Polly (Price) Moore, came from Virginia to Arkansas in 1821,  and the
descendants of [p.1379] this noble couple are among the leading citizens of
Arkansas. Constant P.  Wilson, whose name heads this sketch, has spent his
entire life in Sebastian County. He was married on the 30th  of May, 1881, to
Miss Nellie Collins, who was born July 4, 1860. From 1877 to 1885 he was in the
saloon  business at Fort Smith, but since that time has been manager of the
Wilson and Collins farms, comprising 1,600  acres of land, and is the most
extensive planter in Northwestern Arkansas. Throughout life Mr. Wilson has been
the architect of his own fortune, and is of a very energetic and determined
disposition. He is a member of the  Episcopal Church, and in his political
views is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Samuel J.  Tilden.
Mrs. Wilson's father, James M. Collins, was born in Virginia in 1830, and died
on the 2d of March,  1887. He was reared and educated in Pennsylvania by his
grandfather, Christopher Riley, and after attaining  man's estate went to Texas
and engaged in the stock business on a large scale. While in the “Lone Star
State” he became acquainted with and married Mary J. Whitsett, a daughter of
Dr. William C. and Elizabeth L.  (Edmunds) Whitsett. Although not in the army,
Mr. Collins gave valuable assistance to the Confederate cause in  furnishing
the army with provisions. In 1866 he came to Fort Smith, and engaged in the
mercantile business,  and also purchased 1,200 acres of land in Sebastian
County, on which he located in 1869. Here he died March  2, 1887. His parents,
John and Elizabeth (Riley) Collins, were natives of Virginia. His wife's
parents were born  in Kentucky August 7, 1812, and December 15, 1815, and died
January 9, 1882, and January 22, 1883,  respectively, and her paternal great-
grandparents, Gen. William and Emily (Haden) Whitsett, were Virginians,  the
former dying in 1841. Her maternal grandparents, William and Mary A. (Penn)
Edmunds, were Virginians,  Mary A. being a descendant of William Penn, of
historical renown.