Capt. John Wilson, farmer and stock dealer, was born in Anderson County, October 28, 1813, the son of Augustus and Barbara (May) Wilson, the former a soldier in the Revolution, a farmer, and a noted hunter, who is said to have killed deer on the site of Knoxville. He went to Knox County, a young man, and afterward to Anderson County. He was born in the Potomac Valley, Md., May 4, 1759, and died February 28, 1851, while the mother was born in Virginia, and died in the same county. They had two children, our subject and a sister. The former was fairly educated, and remained on the homestead, caring for his parents, until about 1855; then bought a farm in Anderson, (now Union) County, but in 1884 moved to his present farm. He was a recruiting officer, and in September, 1863, was made captain of Company M, but afterward Company L, Eleventh Tennessee Federal Cavalry, serving until June, 1865. April 27, 1837, he married Lydia, a daughter of Isaac Wilson, and born in Campbell County, in May, 1816. They have five sons and two daughters. For seven years our subject was postmaster at Hurricane Branch, and for twelve years was magistrate. He is a Republican, and a member of the G. A. R.
Source: History of Tennessee Containing Historical and Biographical Sketches of Thirty East Tennessee Counties. Illustrated, pp. 1146-1152. Published: Chicago and Nashville: The Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1887.
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