McDonough ILGenWeb

WILSON, Mark, who is successfully engaged in cultivating a farm of 110 acres which he owns in Sections 32 and 33, Emmet Township, McDonough County, Ill., was born June 2, 1862, in St. Louis County, Mo., a son of John W. and Mary A. (Teasdale) Wilson, natives of England, which was also the native land of the grandfather, Mark Wilson. John W. Wilson, the father, was by trade a molder, and was also engaged in coal-mining until the subject of this sketch was one year old, when he moved to a farm in McDonough County containing coal land, upon which he operated a mine. Mark Wilson, the son, lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, when he went to California and worked in the red woods at Humboldt Bay for a year and a half. He then returned home and bought a farm in Emmet Township, McDonough County, where he lived five years. At the end of this period he sold out and bought another farm in the same township, which he cultivated for six years. This he also sold and removed to Macomb, where he spent one year, and then purchased his present farm, where he has lived since 1899.

Mr. Wilson was married January 24, 1889, to Mary L. Rorer, who was born in McDonough County, where she attended the public school. Three children have blessed their union, namely: Ralph Ernest, Mark Earl and Claude Frederick. Mr. Wilson is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, politically, is a Republican, and has held the office of Town Collector two terms. He was elected Supervisor in the spring of 1904, and has rendered faithful and efficient service in both positions. Fraternally, he is identified with the I. O. O. F.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, page 1047, extracted 26 Oct 2020 by Norma Hass.