Wasco County OR Archives Biographies.....Wilson, Judge Fred W. September 10, 1872 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 22, 2007, 12:19 am Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company JUDGE FRED W. WILSON. In that department of the Oregon Journal reserved for the impressions and observations of Fred Lockley, a well known jurist of The Dalles was thus characterized in the issue of July 11, 1927. “Said Detective Joe Day to me when I met him recently, ‘They spoiled a mighty good river man when they made Fred Wilson a judge.’ When I interviewed Judge Fred W. Wilson recently I told him what Joe Day had said. He nodded and said: ‘I think Joe is right. I loved the river as a boy and a young man and I have never gotten over my first love. I am a native son of The Dalles, but it happened I was born away from home. I was born at College Hill, near Cincinnati, where my father’s people lived, on September 10, 1872. Judge C. H. Carey was also born at College Hill. “‘My father, Judge Joseph G. Wilson, was born at Acworth, New Hampshire, December 14, 1827. His people were Scotch Presbyterians and came over from Scotland, settling at Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1719. In 1828 he moved with his parents to Cincinnati and when he was fourteen he attended Cary’s Academy. Later he was a student at Marietta College, in which he completed a course in 1846, and after his graduation taught in Farmer’s College near Cincinnati. He graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1852 and was admitted to the bar. In the same year he came to Oregon and soon afterward became clerk of the supreme court, serving from 1852 to 1855. From 1860 to 1862 he was prosecuting attorney and from 1862 to 1870 he was circuit judge. My father was the first circuit judge east of the mountains, with jurisdiction extending from the summit of the Cascades to the eastern boundary of the state. His nephew Samuel I. Wilson is president of Maryville College in Tennessee. “‘My mother, Elizabeth (Millar) Wilson, was born in South Argyle, New York, June 8, 1830. Her father, Rev. James Millar. was a Presbyterian minister and, with Rev. Wilson Blaine, organized the United Presbyterian church at Albany, Oregon. He came to Oregon in 1851. He built what was known as the Octagon House at Albany as a boarding school for girls. He was killed while a passenger aboard the Gazelle when it blew up at its dock at Canemah in April, 1854. My mother taught school here in Oregon prior to her marriage with my father, which occurred in 1854. Her brother, James Franklin Millar, was killed by the Apache Indians in Arizona. Her sister Mary, who married United States Senator J. K. Kelly, lives in Washington, D. C. “‘My uncle, James K. Kelly, went to California in 1849. He practiced law in San Francisco till the spring of 1851, when he came to Oregon City and formed a partnership with A. L. Lovejoy. In 1852 the legislature designated my uncle, J. K. Kelly, Reuben P. Boise and D. R. Bigelow as code commissioners to compile the first code of Oregon. My uncle served as a member of the legislative council from 1853 to 1857 and was president of the council for two terms. During the Indian war of 1855 he served as lieutenant colonel of the regiment of volunteers commanded by Colonel J. W. Nesmith. He was a member of the constitutional convention held in 1857 and was a member of the Oregon state senate from 1860 to 1864. In 1870 he was elected United States senator from Oregon and in 1878 became chief justice of the supreme court of Oregon. My mother’s other sister, Ella, married General Cuvier Grover, a brother of L. F. Grover, who served as governor of Oregon and as United States senator from Oregon. She lives in Rome. “‘In 1870 my father was nominated for congress and was defeated by J. H. Slater. He was nominated again in 1872 and was elected. He died at Marietta, Ohio, on July 2, 1873, when I was nine months old. Mother, with her four children, came back to our home at The Dalles. Shortly thereafter President Grant appointed mother postmaster at The Dalles. Mother was the first woman to be appointed to a post office of presidential class in the United States. She served for twelve years. “‘The old river captains were my heroes. I became purser aboard the Regulator and was later purser of The Dalles City. Mother wanted me to be a lawyer. One day when I came in from the run one of the officials said, “I see you have resigned.” I told him that was news to me, so I went to headquarters to see what the trouble was. They told me mother had come in and said; “Fred has quit.” She resigned for me without even consulting me, for she knew that of my volition I would never leave the river. I studied law with Huntington & Wilson at The Dalles and was admitted to the bar in 1896. In 1908 1 was elected district attorney for Wasco, Hood River and Crook counties and served four years. Upon the death of Judge Bradshaw I was appointed circuit judge. This was on June 27, 1917, ten years ago, and I am still holding that position. “‘I was married in 1914 to Content Elton. My wife was born in Bridgeport, South Dakota, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Elton. We have two children. Our son, Joseph G., named for my father, is nine years old and our daughter, Elizabeth Elton, six years of age, is named for her grandmother. “‘Not long ago I was talking to Captain Arthur Riggs. He is one of the few old-time river men who knows the upper river thoroughly. During his many years on the river he has studied out the various places along the river where Lewis and Clark camped. He and I both think it would be a wonderful thing if Joe Teal and some other well known citizens of Portland organized an excursion to make the trip from Lewiston to the sea, marking with a bronze tablet every one of those old camps made by Lewis and Clark. The Woodland, a government boat here in Portland, could be used for the trip. I believe such an excursion would prove popular and of great historic value. I am hoping to see the day when some company will put on the river an excursion boat to run from Portland to The Dalles. I believe it would be a popular feature with tourists, as much so or even more so than the boat trips on the Hudson. It would add a spice of adventure to the trip, to shoot the rapids. Captain Archie Geer brought one hundred and twenty-five passengers over the rapids in the Bailey Gatzert. Boat lines on the Hudson have proved not only popular but profitable, and the same condition should exist here on the Columbia.’” Judge Wilson is a graduate of Whitman College, 1891, and Johns Hopkins University, 1893. In 1926 Whitman College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws and he is now a member of its Board of Overseers. In 1916 he was chosen exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks and is also connected with the Knights of Pythias. He is an adherent of the republican party and lends the weight of his support to all measures of reform, progress and improvement. In 1924 Judge Wilson was elected president of the State Bar Association of Oregon and in his administrative plans for reorganization and greater strength were begun which have since been perfected. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 395-397 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/wasco/bios/wilson420gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.8 Kb