Person:Benjamin Wilson (20)

Land Records in Virginia

• 21 Sep 1773 Wm & Eliz Wilson of Hampshire to Benjamin Wilson of Dunmore County, 297 acres in N Mt adj Benj and Eliz Blackburn [Source: Shenandoah County Deed Book A pg. 425].

• 25 March 1777 - Benjamin Wilson, Yeoman and wife Anne, late of Dunmore County but now of East Augusta to Isaac Zane of Frederick County, ironmaster, 425 acre tract. Wit: Jonas Friend & Jno. Wilson of East Augusta. [Source: Shenandoah County Deed Book B, pg. 459].

• Mar 1778 - Benj Wilson entry 400 acres TV adj Jno Pringle and Isaac Wood opposite Westfall claim; 400 acres entry opposite Lambert on W side of riv. [Bushman. Land comm].

Records in Virginia

• 19 & 20 Aug 1777 - Benj Wilson and John Hamilton recommended Captains of Tygart Valley, William Robertson rec for West Fork [Augusta Order Bk XVI Chalkley 1/196]

• 17 Mar 1778 - Benj Wilson qualified as Capt.

Notes

Lt. Col. Benjamin Wilson married 4 Sep 1770 to Ann Ruddle, daughter of Stephen and Mary Ruddle of Hampshire. She was born 29 Sep 1754 and was age 15 at marriage. Lived on South Branch at present-day Ruddle, Pendleton Co in a house he built on land of Seriah Stratton and nearby is "Wilson Spring" and "Wilson Hole" according to letter of 1931 from president of Pendleton Co Historical Society. Claude Wilson Maxwell wrote that Benjamin Wilson explored Tygart Valley 1770-1771. Lt. Col. Benjamin Wilson Wilson - Some Misc. Notes

http://www.gencircles.com/users/statik/4/data/10231

Benjamin Wilson Sr. Birth: 30 Nov 1747 in Shenandoah County, Virginia Death: 2 Dec 1827 in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia Sex: M

Burial: Dec 1827 Old Brick Church Of Bridgeport, Near Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia Military Service:

Spouses & Children

Ann Ruddell (Wife) b. 20 Sep 1754 in Lost River, Hampshire County, West Virginia

Marriage: 4 Sep 1770 in Virginia

Children:

Mary Bird Wilson b. 7 Jul 1771 in Cedar Creek, Shenandoah County, Virginia

William Wilson b. 23 Jan 1773 in Randolph County, West Virginia

Stephen Rudell Wilson b. 21 Oct 1775 in Tygart's Valley, Beverly Township, Randolph County, West Virginia

Benjamin Wilson Jr. b. 13 Jun 1778 in Randolph County, West Virginia

Sarah Wilson b. 11 Sep 1780 in Randolph County, West Virginia

Elizabeth Wilson b. 17 Aug 1782 in Randolph County, West Virginia

Ann Brice Wilson b. 17 Jan 1782 in Randolph County, West Virginia

John Wilson b. 5 Jul 1788 in Harrison County, West Virginia

Archibald Blackburn Wilson b. 25 Jul 1790 in Harrison County, West Virginia

Cornelius Ruddell Wilson b. 7 Apr 1795 in Harrison County, West Virgin

Phoebe Davisson (Wife) b. 29 Dec 1776 in Rockingham County, Virginia

Marriage: 15 Dec 1795

Children:

Josiah Davisson Wilson b. 12 Oct 1796

David Wilson b. 18 Feb 1798

Edith Wilson b. 9 Nov 1799

Elizabeth Wilson b. 18 Oct 1801

Thomas W. Wilson b. 12 May 1803

Margaret Wilson b. 26 Mar 1805

Deborah Spencer Wilson b. 17 Oct 1806 in Harrison County, West Virginia

James Pindall Wilson b. 9 Jun 1808

Daniel Davisson Wilson b. 30 Jan 1810

Phoebe D. Wilson b. 29 Aug 1811

Martha Martin Wilson b. 23 Jan 1813

Phillip Doddridge Wilson b. 29 Jun 1814

Noah Lindley Wilson b. 9 Mar 1816

Julia Ann Wilson b. 28 Sep 1817

Harriett Baldwin Wilson b. 13 Nov 1818

Rachel Wilson b. 20 Jul 1820

Notes:

Individual: In the fall of 1774, young Benjamin made his first appearance in official and military life, serving as lieutenant and later as aide on the staff of Lord Dunmore in the expedition against the Ohio Indians in the Scioto Valley. He commanded the troops guarding the council when the treaty was made at Camp Charlotte. Benjamin described Chief Cornstalk as being majestic in appearance and impressive as a speaker, not being surpassed by the finest orators of Virginia.

At the conclusion of hostilities the Virginia troops return ed in small bands by different trails. Colonel Wilson led his group by way of Tygart's Valley in (new) Randolph County and stopped near the site of (present) Beverly to examine the land. It so pleased him that he bought the "tomahawk rights" of two settlers and later moved to the county with his family and built a fort in 1777 on his farm, as a place of refuge for the settlers during the bloody wars which began that year. He was captain of the militia and later was colonel. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he equipped and maintained his own company of troops. During this time his family had narrow: escapes from the Indians as related in Maxwell's History of Randolph County.

At the close of the Revolutionary War Colonel Wilson took a n active part in formulating representative government. For several years he was delegate to the Virginia Assembly. In 1789 he and his brother John were delegates to the convention ratifying the Constitution of the United States. Upon the formation of Harrison County in 1784 he became justice of the peace and clerk of the county court, continuing to serve for thirty years. By the act of the Virginia Legislature, when Randolph County was formed in 1786, it was ordered that the first court be held in his house. Colonel Wilson then moved with his large family to Simpson Creek, near Clarksburg, in order to retain the position as clerk of Harrison County and his brother John became clerk of Randolph. BENJAMIN WILSON the oldest son of William Wilson and Elizabeth Blackburn, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Nov. 30, 1747. He likely went with his father to Trout Run, Hardy County, where his early life was spent on his father's farm. At twenty-three he married Ann Ruddell, daughter of Stephen and Mary Ruddell. She was born Sept 20, 1754 and was barely sixteen at her marriage. For a few years they lived on Cedar Creek in Shenandoah County but soon went further west.

After the death of his first wife, Benjamin, on Dec. 15, 1795, married Phoebe Davisson, daughter of Daniel and Prudence (Izard) Davisson. His later years were spent in peaceful pursuits connected with the development of his community. He was one of the members named in the charter of Randolph College in Clarksburg. When the War of 1812 started, he was commissioned as Colonel of the third division, twentieth brigade, but owing to his advanced age he was soon given an honorable discharge. During his military visit to the Ohio he learned of the valuable land in Licking County and after the close of the War purchased a large tract near Newark. Several of his children and relatives settled in and around that city where many of their descendants still live.

Citations

http://www.arfhs.org/armstrong/WILSON-notes-Benj.pdf

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Col Benjamin Wilson, in Find A Grave.

   [Includes photos]

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Benjamin Wilson, in Miller, Thomas Condit, and Hu Maxwell. West Virginia and its people. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1913)
   308.

   ... Her [Edith Wilson's] father was a native of Ireland, son of William and Elizabeth (Blackburn) Wilson ; he was born November 30, 1747, and died January 2, 1828. In 1774, in an expedition against the Indians, he held the rank of Lieutenant ; he was appointed a captain in the Virginia forces in the revolution, and in 1781 promoted to the rank of colonel. He was on one occasion a listener to the oratory of the great Indiana chief, Cornstalk, whom he declared to be fully the equal of any speaker ever heard by him, not excepting Patrick Henry. Before the organization in 1784 of Harrison county, he was for several sessions a member of the legislature from Monongalia county, and he became clerk of the county court of the new county at its organization. Later he was county clerk of Randolph county, Virginia. In 1788 Colonel Wilson was a delegate to the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He finally moved to Clarksburg, and there died. He married (first) September 4, 1770, Anne Ruddel, who was born September 20, 1754, and died June 18, 1795 ; (second), December 15, 1795, Phebe Davidson. By the first marriage Benjamin Wilson was the father of twelve children, by the second of eighteen. ...