Yavapai County AZ Archives Biographies.....Wilson, J. F. May 7, 1846 - living in 1896
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 1, 2005, 11:41 pm

Author: McFarland & Poole

p. 462-463

  HON. J. F. WILSON. Special adaptability to any particular calling in life is
the one necessary adjunct to permanent success. No matter the vim and
determination which characterizes a man's start in business, if it is not
congenial to him his success is doubtful and the quicker he enters upon another
calling the better for him. The career of Hon. J. F. Wilson has been a
successful one and he is to-day in the enjoyment of a law practice at Prescott,
Arizona Territory, which is the result of noble energies rightly applied. He is
a native of Pulaski, Giles County, Tenn., where he was born May 7, 1846. While
in and finishing his junior year in Rhehama College, Alabama, the war broke out,
and his books were immediately cast aside, a suit of gray was donned, a musket
shouldered and he became a member of Company B. First Battalion Volunteer
Infantry—after which he was on staff duty under General Hindman until December,
1863. In the summer of 1864 he had charge of a regiment on the northern frontier
of Alabama, and held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After the fall of
Montgomery and after Johnson's surrender the regiment disbanded. Colonel Wilson
was wounded six different times during his service, his first wound being
received on the bloody battlefield of Shiloh, a minie ball striking him in the
chest. He was taken to the hospital at Tupelo, where he remained until his
recovery was assured. His second wound was received at Farmington, in front of
Corinth, and was a flesh wound in the right thigh, the ball grazing the bone,
and his third wound was received at the second battle of Murfreesboro, a piece
of shell striking him. He was next wounded by a ball in the arm at the battle of
Chickamauga, the fifth wound was by a canister shot in the side and loin at
Powder Springs, Ga., and his sixth wound was received at Jonesboro, in the leg.
He was in all the engagements in which his command participated and saw
considerable service in Kentucky. June 15, 1865, after his command was
disbanded, he went West, and after a short time spent in old Mexico he went to
Texas and finally took up his residence at Yellville, Ark., where he was engaged
in teaching in the public schools up to 1872. In the meantime he had begun the
study of law, in which he made such rapid strides and attained such proficiency
that in March, 1872, he was admitted to the bar and at once entered upon the
practice of the profession. Was elected to the Legislature of Arkansas in 1876
and was a member of that body for the years 1877 and 1878 as the Representative
of Monin County, in that state. He remained in Yellville until 1885, having the
previous year been elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of the Fourth
Judicial District of Arkansas, a position he filled with marked ability until
1887. From 1885 to 1887 he resided in Harrison, Arkansas. He then took up his
residence in Prescott, Arizona Territory, and his career as a lawyer has been
that of an upright and honorable gentleman. Some of the questionable practices
by which some members of his profession acquire fortune and high position he has
never stooped to do, and although he has been at the bar many years and has
enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, no charge affecting his integrity or
loyalty to the interests of his clients has ever been made. He was a member of
the Constitutional Convention that drafted the constitution for the admission of
Arizona into the Union as a State in 1891, and filled a vacancy as probate judge
in Prescott from 1893 to 1895, during which time his rulings and decisions
evinced ability of a high order, and an admirable impartiality which commanded
the respect and admiration of all. He is one of the legal representatives of the
Virginia Gold Mining and Milling Company, the attorney of Lawler & Wells of the
Hillside Mine, the Defiance Cattle Company, the New York Life Insurance Company,
and the Henrietta Mining and Milling Company. Colonel Wilson is one of the
leading lawyers of the Territory and has built up a practice of which he has
every reason to be proud. He is a logical and forcible speaker and his remarks
to judge and jury are never without their influence. Colonel Wilson's father,
Richard J. Wilson, was a criminal lawyer for a number of years, but afterward
became a planter and the owner of a large number of slaves. He was a Whig
politically and died in Florida. His wife was Louise Richey, his father of
English and his mother of Irish lineage.


Additional Comments:
From:

A Historical and Biographical Record of the Territory of Arizona
Published by
McFarland & Poole, Chicago, 1896

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