Randolph County, West Virginia Biography of EDWIN A. WILSON, M. D. This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 560 Randolph EDWIN A. WILSON, M. D., is not only one of the repre- sentative physicians and surgeons of Harrison County but also has the distinction of being the pioneer druggist of his attractive and vital little home city of Salem. Doctor Wilson was born at Berea, Ritchie County, West Virginia, on the 30th of September, 1865, and is a son of Hiram and Mandane Ellen (Lowther) Wilson. Hiram Wilson was a skilled workman as a cabinetmaker, and in this connection did a prosperous business also as an under- taker, when coffins and caskets were manufactured by hand work. He served for some time as deputy sheriff of Rit- chie County, has never wavered in his allegiance to the democratic party, and he is now living retired at Salem, at the venerable age of eighty-four years (1922), his wife having passed away at the age of sixty-nine years. To them were born one son and three daughters, one of the daughters being deceased. Mr. Wilson has long .been a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, his wife having held membership in the Seventh Day Bap- tist Church. After attending school one year at Pullman, Ritchie County, Doctor Wilson accompanied his parents on their removal to Salem, Harrison County, where he continued his studies in the public schools until he had profited by the advantages of the high school. He then entered the Iron City Commercial College at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1886. In furtherance of a definite ambition the Doctor thereafter completed a correspondence course in pharmacy, and in due time he successfully passed the examination that gave him status as a registered pharmacist in his native state. He at once opened the first drug store to be established at Salem, and this he successfully conducted ten years, within which decade he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of Baltimore, Mary- land one year. In advancing his professional studies he thereafter continued his studies two years in the Cincin- nati (Ohio) College of Medicine and Surgery, and in this institution he was graduated in 1898, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the preceding year he had suc- cessfully passed examination before the West Virginia State Board of Medical Examiners and had been licensed to practice. The Doctor has continued a close student and has insistently kept in touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, in which connection it is to be noted that he took a post-graduate course in the Chi- cago Clinical School in 1903, and that in 1907 he com- pleted an effective post-graduate course in the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, New York City, and also in the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. Though his substan- tial and representative practice in his home community is of general order, Doctor Wilson gives special attention to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which field be has authoritative status. He holds membership in the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He hag served as city health officer of Salem, a position which he retained sev- eral years, is a democrat in political allegiance, he and his family attend and support the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with the Scottish Rite bodies and with the Mystic Shrine. He is also a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of his home city. The Doctor is the owner of an appreciable amount of real estate at Salem, including his residence, which is one of the fine homes of the city, and he has real estate holdings at Clarksburg. January 7, 1891, recorded the marriage of Doctor Wil- son and Miss Carrie Gain, daughter of Samuel and Caro- line (Randolph) Gain, of Salem, her father having been for many years one of the most extensive buyers and ship- pers of live stock in this section of the state. Doctor and Mrs. Wilson became the parents of three children: Charles Clifford, who is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, that of optometrist, in the City of Clarks- burg, was born and reared at Salem, where he graduated from the high school and Salem College. Later he gradu- ated from the Duff Business College in the City of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, the New York Institute of Optometry and the Philadelphia School of Horology and Optics. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He married Miss Neva Monroe, of Mannington, Marion County. Edna Blanche, the second child, likewise was graduate from the Salem High School and Salem Col- lege, and later she completed a course in the West Virginia Business College and in King's School of Oratory, Pitta- burgh, Pennsylvania. Thereafter she graduated from the medical department of physics and ophthalmology in Mc- Cormick Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, and she is now successfully engaged in the practice of her profession of optometry, with headquarters in the office of her father. Her husband, Harold E. Ross, is associated with the Salem Bridge & Construction Company. The third child, Willa Louetta, died at the age of eleven years. At the time of her death she was in the fifth grade of the public school, and was a student of music and elocution in the Morning Conservatory in New York City during the year 1907. She had a very promising future before her.