Representative Thomas Stokley Wilson View All Years

JUDGE THOMAS S. WILSON died at his home in Dubuque on the 16th of May, at the age of eighty. Judge Wilson was a native of Ohio, and was descended from a long line of notable ancestors on both sides. His great grandfather came over from England with William Penn and settled where Philadelphia now stands. His grandfather was an officer in the war of the American Revolution and held a commission signed by General George Washington, which is still preserved in the Wilson family. Judge Wilson studied law in Stubenville, Ohio, in the same office with Edwin M. Stanton, who became President Lincoln’s great Secretary of War. He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and his certificate bears the name of Colonel Daniel McCook father of the famous “fighting McCooks” of the war of the Rebellion. The day after his marriage to Miss Anna Hoge, the young couple took passage on a river steamer for Prairie de Chien. He soon after moved to the new town of Dubuque, landing there on the 13th day of October, 1836, two years before Iowa was organized as a Territory. Upon the organization of the new Territory in 1838, young Wilson was appointed by President Van Buren Judge of the Supreme Court when but twenty-five years of age. In November of that year Judge Wilson presided over the first court ever convened in Iowa. The session was at Prairie La Porte, where the village of Gutenburg now stands. He served as judge until the State was admitted into the Union in 1846. Judge Wilson was a prominent candidate for the United States Senate at the first session of the State Legislature, and lacked but one vote of securing the nomination in the Democratic caucus, which would have insured his election. Upon retiring from the bench he resumed the practice of law in partnership with his brother Colonel David S. Wilson and Platt Smith—both of whom were prominent lawyers. In 1852 Judge Wilson was chosen District judge in which position he served with ability for ten years. In 1866, and again in 1868, he was a member of the General Assembly and took a leading part in the legislation of that period. He was a prominent and honored member of the Pioneer Law-Makers Association and made valuable contributions to its historical papers. He was the oldest in service of the living judges of Iowa Courts. He was a fluent public speaker and a writer of more than ordinary ability. He has been a resident of Iowa for fifty-eight years witnessing its entire history and development from the organization of the Territory, and did much as a public officer and private citizen to aid in its wonderful progress for more than half a century.