Biography of William A. WILSON, Ohio County, West Virginia

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WILLIAM A. WILSON.  The name Wilson has been prominently associated with the
commercial life of Wheeling for just a century.  There have been three
generations of the name represented here, and for more than half a century of
this time the senior member of W. A. Wilson & Sons proved a conspicuous
source of the energy and enterprise not only affecting his particular line,
but the general welfare and progress of the community.

It was in 1822 that William Penn Wilson came to Wheeling.  He was born in
Delaware, January 1, 1800, of an English Quaker family.  In Wheeling he
became a builder and contractor, and in 1852 became associated with John
McLure and Anthony Dunlevy in the firm of McLure, Dunlevy & Company,
steamboat builders and owners.  The firm subsequently was Wilson, Dunlevy &
Wheeler, which built three of the finest Ohio River steamboats, the Thomas
Swan, the Baltimore and the City of Wheeling.  William P. Wilson was also one
of the pioneer manufacturers of nail kegs in Wheeling at a time when
one-third of all the cut nails manufactured in the United States was made
here.  William P. Wilson for a number of years was a member of the Wheeling
City Council, also a member of the board of supervisors, was a whig and later
a democrat in politics, one of his sons was killed while a Confederate
soldier, and he and his wife were among the faithful members of the Methodist
Church.

William P. Wilson married Sarah Pannell, who was born at Wheeling in 1803,
daughter of George and Jane Pannell.  William P. Wilson and wife went through
life together and in death they were not divided, dying on successive days
and they were laid to rest in one grave July 26, 1873.  They had been married
a little over forty years.

The last survivor of their children was William A. Wilson, who was born at
the family homestead on Fifth Street in Wheeling, July 8, 1842, and who died
at his home on Main Street, November 24, 1920, when past seventy-eight.  He
was educated in the public schools, learned business under his father, and in
1866 engaged in the lumber and planning mill business in association with
Clark Hanes, under the firm name of Hanes & Wilson.  He also succeeded to the
business name of Hanes & Wilson.  He also succeeded to the business interests
left by his father, including a manufacturing plant formerly devoted to the
manufacture of nail kegs and subsequently utilized for the making of packing
boxes.  In connection with his lumber yards and planing mills W. A. Wilson
engaged in contracting, the firm handling many extensive contracts involving
large buildings.  As a branch of this business there was opened a retail
paint and oil store in 1875, and that was the nucleus of what is now the main
interest of the firm of W. A. Wilson & Sons, a business that is both
wholesale and retail and with a trade extending over five states.  The
headquarters of the firm for many years have been at 1409-1411 Main Street.
Since 1894 William P. Wilson has been a member of the firm and the younger
son, Arch A. Wilson, entered the partnership in 1900.

The late William A. Wilson was for some years president of the Commercial
Bank, and later this bank was absorbed by the Wheeling Bank & Trust Company.
He acted in hearty accord with the public spirited citizens of Wheeling in
advancing the commercial and general welfare of the community.  Mr. Wilson
was one of the most popular of Wheeling's business men.  In his personal
relations he was characterized by a fine sense of humor.  He liked the open
air and almost to the close of his life he enjoyed his game of golf at the
Wheeling Country Club.  He was a stalwart democrat in politics and a member
of the North Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Late W. A. Wilson practiced and exemplified the high ideals of the
Masonic Order and he was one of the most prominent Masons in the state,
particularly in the Scottish Rite.  In February, 1866, he was raised in Ohio
Lodge No. 1, F. and A. M., and subsequently became a charter member of Nelson
Lodge No. 30.  He was affiliated with Wheeling Union Chapter No. 1, R. A. M.,
Cyrene Commandery No. 7, K. T., Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine.  In
March, 1876 he joined the Scottish Rite organization and became a charter
member of West Virginia Consistory No. 1 upon its organization in 1894, and
was elected the first treasurer of the four bodies of the Scottish Rite at
Wheeling, a position he held until his death.  At the meeting of the Supreme
Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States held in October,
1919, he was elected to receive the thirty-third honorary degree, which was
conferred upon him in the Cathedral at Wheeling, April 12, 1920.

June 10, 1867, Mr. Wilson married Miss Texana Arndt, daughter of a prominent
Wheeling citizen, Jacob Arndt.  Mrs. Wilson survived her honored husband.  Of
her three children the only daughter, Flora C., died January 20, 1910, as the
wife of Charles Lamb.  The two sons, who continue the business organization
of W. A. Wilson & Sons, are William P. and Arch A., both of whom are married
and they and their families are socially prominent in Wheeling.

This article may properly close by quoting an editorial from the Wheeling
Intelligencer:  "The death of W. A. Wilson has removed from the Wheeling
community a man of a type that any city can ill afford to lose.  Virile and
successful in his many business undertakings, he typified in his life the
spirit and the achievements of Wheeling.  Born and reared here, there was
ever a great mutual admiration between him and his native city, and he was
always a stanch supporter of worthy civic movements.  During his
seventy-eight years here Mr. Wilson became intimately and prominently
connected with practically every phase of Wheeling's activities.  As a
manufacturer, merchant and banker he helped to lay the solid foundations of
the city's prosperity and to build the splendid superstructure.  His lodge
and church connections were admirable and consistent, and in the midst of all
his busy life he found time to be a leader in charitable work.  His
associates in all of these activities will miss the unassuming support and
keen judgment on which they were accustomed to rely.  Those most closely
associated with him will miss his unostentatious acts of kindness."