Prominent among the early settlers of Sumner County was the WILSON family. Zaccheus WILSON was one of three brothers who removed from Pennsylvania and settled in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, about 1760. At that time of the Mecklenburg Convention, May 20, 1775, he was present and signed the Mecklenburg Declaration, pledging himself and his extensive family connection to its support and maintance. He was a member of the Convention that formed the State Constitution of North Carolina in 1776. He was a man of liberal education, and very popular in the county in which he lived. His family were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. His eldest brother, Robert, removed with him to Tennessee, and to Sumner County soon after the close of the Revolutionary War. Zaccheus lived to an advanced age, and lies buried in an unmarked grave about one half mile south of Gallatin on the old cotton factory grounds. Samuel WILSON married Miss. KNOX, daughter of Captain Patrick KNOX, who was killed at the battle of Ramseurs Mill. Major David WILSON, brother of Zaccheus, a native of Pennsylvania, was an officer of the War of Independence, and for his service received from the State of North Carolina, a track of land in Sumner County, Tennessee, where he settled. He was a member of the Territorial Assembly in 1794, and was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was a magistrate of Sumner County as early as 1787. His residence was about two miles east from Gallatin. He was a valuable member of the new settlement, and took an active part in all public affairs and in the Indian wars. Wilson County was so named in his honor. He married Sallie MCCONNELL, sister of General James WHITE the father of Hugh Lawson WHITE. His remains lie in an unmarked grave near Gallatin.
     Samuel Franklin WILSON was born in Sumner County in the month of April, 1845. In 1861 he left school and entered the Confederate Army as a private in Company I, of Colonel William B. BATES' regiment. He was in the battles of Corinth, Richmond Kentucky, where he was wounded; Perryville, and Murfreesboro, where he was again wounded. In 1863 he took part in the Tullahoma campaign. He lost an arm at Chickamauga, which ended his military career. After the close of the war he attended the University at Penfield, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Georgia with second honors, in 1868. In 1869 he graduated in law at Cumberland University, and commenced practicing in Gallatin. In 1871 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and in 1879 of the State Senate. In 1800 he was nominated for Governor on the "low tax platform," but was defeated. In 1884 he was an elector on the Cleveland ticket, and the next year appointed by President CLEVELAND United States Marshall. In 1895 he was appointed one of the Judges of the Court of Chancery Appeals, and has served the community since.