James Wilson and Martha Mercer

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Husband James Wilson ¹

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           Born: 25 Mar 1796 or 1797 - Wilmington Twp, Lawrence Co, PA 2
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           Died: 8 Jun 1866 3
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         Father: Adam Wilson (      -1834) 1 4 5
         Mother: Sarah Mercer (Abt 1766-1848) 1

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Martha Mercer ³

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           Born: 11 Jul 1803 - Mercer Co, PA 3
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           Died: 20 May 1875 3
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         Father: William Mercer (      -      ) 1
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 F Maria Wilson ³

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2 M Hiram Wilson ³

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3 M William Wilson ³

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4 M Adam Q. Wilson ³

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            AKA: Adam I. Wilson 3
           Born: 25 Apr 1836 - Wilmington Twp, Lawrence Co, PA 3
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         Spouse: Elizabeth Carlon (1839-      ) 3
           Marr: 12 Dec 1864 3

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5 F Martha Wilson ³

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6 F Sarah Wilson ³

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General Notes: Husband - James Wilson

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He was born on the old family homestead and his boyhood and early manhood were passed on the farm. He then learned the milling business, and in company with his brothers Thomas and John, erected on Neshannock Creek, the first grist mill of any importance in that section of the country. While building this mill, James and his brother John kept bachelor's hall in a small shanty which, about the year 1822, they had put up on the north side of the mill property. One noon they returned from their work to find their shanty in ashes. The mill was built about the year 1823. On March 26, 1829, the three brothers received from their father a deed for the mill site and surroundings.
This mill proved a very important institution. Men came to it from a distance of forty miles around to have their grinding done, and frequently would have to tarry over night waiting for work to be done for other customers ahead of them. The mill had a very extensive patronage, and was run day and night, and so great was the pressure upon it, that, to supply the imperative demand of families destitute of flour and meal, it was sometimes run on Sunday. The first mill-dam was constructed of round logs; the second of hewn timbers secured by stone abutments. Both dams were successively swept away by high floods, and in the second, which occurred early in the spring of 1832, a saw mill which stood on the north bank, having its foundation washed out, keeled over on its roof into the flood and was swept some distance down stream.
The dam was at once reconstructed, the men working like heroes in the water, during the months of March and April, the weather being very cold. While running this mill, Mr. Wilson was also engaged with his brothers in a woolen mill.
In 1844, the three brothers erected another grist mill, and in the following year James Wilson retired from the milling business and repaired to his farm where he passed the remainder of his life.
He possessed great physical strength and weighed upwards of two hundred pounds. He was a teamster during the War of 1812, and was engaged in hauling army supplies to Erie. While there upon one occasion, and being only eighteen years of age, he lifted from the ground an anchor of eight hundred pounds weight, a feat of strength which only one other man in the army could perform.
For about forty years he was connected with the Presbyterian denomination, first at Neshannock and then at Rich Hill, and also held the office of ruling elder, which position he honored till his death.

1 —, History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 174.

2 —, History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 174, 176.

3 —, History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 176.

4 —, Book of Biographies, Lawrence County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1897), Pg 90.

5 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 65.