My Genealogy Hound

JOHN WILSON, sheriff of Buffalo county, is one of the best known gentlemen as well as most popular and efficient public officials in central Nebraska. He comes of Scotch-Irish parentage, and retains in his make-up many of the most signal qualities of the race from which he springs. His parents, Samuel and Mary (Owens) Wilson, were brought to the United States by their parents when young, the former at the age of nine and the latter at the age of sixteen. They grew up in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., where they met and were married, and from which place they emigrated West in 1865, and settled in Henry county, Ill., where they now live, being engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. They are the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being Mary A., Jane L., Samuel, William A., James, Archie, Richard B. and Ella — the last named now deceased.

The subject of this notice was born in Allegheny county, Pa., on the twenty-first day of February, 1849. He was reared mainly in his native county, going to Henry county, Ill., with his parents in the spring of 1865. He was brought up on his father’s farm, received a good common-school training, and began his career as a farmer in Henry county, Ill., but remained on the farm only a short time, when he was appointed deputy sheriff of Henry county by W. J. Vannice and served as such for three years. Vannice’s term of office having expired and B. H. Goodell having been elected as sheriff, Mr. Wilson received the appointment of deputy under that gentleman and held this position for four years. In the fall of 1883 he moved to Nebraska and settled in Kearney, and began to speculate in real estate, following this for about a year. In 1884, in company with his brother Samuel, he engaged in the livery business in Kearney, continuing at it till the fall of 1887, when he was elected sheriff of Buffalo county. He was re-elected to the same position in the fall of 1889, and is now holding under that election. As evidence of the popularity he has achieved, he was re-elected by a majority of 1,300 votes, the largest majority ever given any public official in Buffalo county. He is a faithful and efficient officer and discharges his duties without fear or favor. He has won the popularity he has attained in the only way such things can be done — that is, by treating his office as a public trust and bringing to the discharge of his official duties the same zeal, energy and discriminating judgment that he exercises in the prosecution of his own affairs. That he should have some enemies is naturally to be expected, yet, as was said of another, his warmest friends “love him most for the enemies he has made.” His name is a terror to evil-doers, as his presence is the best guarantee of peace, order and the faithful execution of the laws. Besides being a capable public official, he is a successful man of business and a wideawake progressive, public-spirited citizen. He has been identified with the best interests of his community since locating in Kearney and has worked with a will for the promotion of all the enterprises which have sought favor there, giving liberally also in proportion to his means. He is now and has been for years chief of the Kearney fire department, is also president of the State Fireman’s Association, and at the State convention held January, 1890, at Wahoo, he was elected delegate to represent the state at the National Convention of Engineers to be held at Detroit, Michigan. He is president of the Sheriffs’ State Association and is now serving his second term as such.

Mr. Wilson married. May 18, 1880, Miss Rosa M. Beecher, daughter of Benjamin J. Beecher, of Henry county, Ill. To this union have been born four children, two living — John Howard and Ella Mary. Pearl W. and Archie E. died in infancy. Mr. Wilson is a republican in politics and is a stanch supporter of the principles of his party. He is a member of a number of the beneficial orders, among them the masonic, in which he has taken all the degrees up to and including the Knight Templar; the other societies of which he is a member comprise the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In private life he is polite, companionable and accommodating. No man would go further to assist a friend or a stranger than he, and this is the secret of much of his popularity. He counts his friends by the hundreds, and no man in Buffalo county has warmer ones than he has. Mrs. Wilson is a member of the First Baptist church.