Jefferson County IA Archives Biographies.....Wilson, Rollin J. 1853 - 1895
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 3:05 am

Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

ROLLIN J. WILSON.—The subject of this review is the senior member of the
representative law firm of Wilson & Hinkle, at Fairfield, Jefferson county, and
aside from his individual worth and personal accomplishment there is peculiar
propriety in giving place to a record of his life in this connection, on the
score that he is a native son of Fairfield and one whose father stood as a
pioneer of the county and village, as one of the foremost statesmen of Iowa, as
one of the highest intellectual and professional attainments and as a man of
exalted nobility of character—an honored citizen whose death was mourned not
alone by a community but by an entire commonwealth.

   Our subject was born in the village of Fairfield, Iowa, on the 18th of
October, 1853, being the son of the late Hon. James F. Wilson, United States
Senator from Iowa. The ancestral and parental history is traced in more complete
detail in the memoir dedicated to our subject's honored father and appearing on
other pages of this volume. Hon. James F. Wilson died at his home in Fairfield,
on the 22d of April, 1895, and his widow, nee Mary A. K. Jewett, still maintains
her home in the old family residence, which is hallowed by the tender
associations of many years.

   Rollin J. Wilson received his fundamental educational discipline in the
public schools of his native town, completing the high-school course in 1870. He
then became a student in the literary department of the State University,, at
Iowa City, and there graduated in 1875, after which he returned to his home and
began reading law under the preceptorage of his talented father, subsequently
continuing his work of technical preparation in the office of Slagle & Achison,
prominent attorneys of this place. He secured admission to the bar of the State
upon examination before the Circuit Court, at its regular session in the fall of
1877, and he entered upon the active practice of his profession in Fairfield,
entering into partnership with George A. Rutherford. This association continued
one year, when the partnership was dissolved and our subject then formed his
present professional alliance with J. M. Hinkle, the practice of the firm
extending into all the courts of the State and into the Federal Courts. They
retain a representative clientele and are recognized as among the most able
attorneys at the bar of the State. For the past decade they have acted as
attorneys for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago & Rock Island
Railroads, as well as of the First National Bank of Fairfield,-—a circumstance
which alone determines their relative precedence.

   In his political proclivities Mr. Wilson renders a stalwart allegiance to the
Republican party, and he has been called upon to serve in offices of public
trust and responsibility. For seven and one-half years he held the preferment as
County Attorney, his incumbency having been under the old law and having
extended for some time after the enactment of the new law covering this branch
of the public service. In a more purely local sense he served for the period of
eight years as a member of the Board of Directors of the independent school
district of Fairfield, during two years of which time he was the president of
the board. Mr. Wilson maintains an active interest in national and State
politics, and has rendered valuable aid to his party in various campaigns, being
a forceful and convincing speaker and having stumped the State for his party on
several different occasions, his service being in much demand in this field. Mr.
Wilson is thoroughly identified with the material interests of Fairfield and
takes a public-spirited interest in all projects and enterprises tending to
further its normal advancement. He is a stockholder and a member of the
directorate of the First National Bank of Fairfield, and has been for years past
secretary of the Jefferson County Literary Association.

   On the 13th of October, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of our subject to
Miss Mell A. McKinney, a daughter of Joseph A. and Cynthia A. McKinney, of
Fairfield, and the offspring of this union is two children: Mary Louise and
Helen Cynthia.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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