List of Taxables by Township
pg 155 - Peter Wilson, grist-miller & William Wilson, Sandy Lake Township, 1801
pg 156 - Peter Wilson, William Wilson, Coolspring Township, 1802


Early Inns & Innkeepers
pg 179
List of those permitted to keep a tavern & disperse drinks in Mercer County: 1806, William Wilson, Mercer


pg 297
List of some Revolutionary War Soldiers
Peter Wilson settled in Jackson Township in 1797 and built one of the first mills of the county the same year. He was of Irish extraction.


List of War of 1812 Soldiers, Jackson Township
pg 302
George Wilson, James Wilson


pg 517 - Coolspring Township
There have occurred two remarkable natural phenomena since the township's settlement, and curiously enough, both taking place within a year. The first was a severe frost, happening on the night of August 19, 1800, which killed every vestige of corn and left the potato crop a complete wreck. The severity of this was so great that it has been claimed to have been by far worse than any similar occurrence before or since. Although it took place in the summer, no winter frost ever equalled it. The second event, also occurring in the night, was a terrible tornado, whose devastating advent took place June 4, 1801. The force of this storm was so great that fences and barns were literally shivered into kindling. A cow, belonging to Benjamin Stokely, was rolled thirty yards and hurled with considerable force on a rail pile, where she was found the next day. Houses were unroofed, trees felled, and a trail of ruin and desolation left behind.


Jackson Township
pg 541 The Township whose name heads this sketch was erected from a part of what was originally old Cool Spring Township, September 21, 1850. It was the southeastern portion of the old division, and adjoins what is at present called Cool Spring Township.
Jackson Township is one of the best agrricultural districts in the County. Its surface is level, and its soil fertile. There are rich deposits of coaland minerals in the ground. Grains and fruits are grown with much success. Peaches, pears, plums and apples flourish in rich profusion, while in the cereal line no township in the County surpasses it in the quality of the wheat and corn that it produces.


Jackson Township
pg 542
William Wilson settled in what is now Jackson township in 1797, a portion of the farm being now occupied by a grandson, also named William Wilson. The original William Wilson had a number of children, of whom the following were the elder ones: John, Samuel, William, Betsy and Rebecca. His wife was Ellen Dawson, by whom he had 9 children, some of whom are still living.

Peter Wilson, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, arrived in what is now Jackson township as early as 1797. He secured a homestead, or settler's "right", as it was popularly called, from a man named Spencer, and settled on the farm owned many years later by James Dougherty. Wilson was a native of Ireland, who had emigrated from the country that gave him birth as early as 1775, taking up his residence in what is now Allegheny County. He quickly espoused the cause of freedom, and after serving with credit in the hard campaigns of the closing years of that great struggle, returned to his Allegheny home. Becoming impressed with the desire to secure a better home in the Northwest, he, in company with his wife and two children, George and James, removed to Mercer County. The tract which he secured from Spencer comprised 200 acres of fine land, beautifully located and well adapted to the purpose of agriculture. But somehow it was not in all respects satisfactory to its owner, for we find that in 1799 he traded it to a man by the name of Littleford, and removed to Worth Township, where he died about 1835. Some of his descendants are still living in Worth & Jackson Townships. His brother William came at the same time and lived until 1825. His direct descendants are gone. Littleford occupied it until 1812, when he too abandoned it and left the County.


Early Mills
pg 543
The first mill established in the township was one erected on his own farm, in 1799, by Peter Wilson. It was an undershot grist-mill, and its apparatus was simplicity itself, consisting merely of two flinty boulders, smoothed down by being rubbed together, and a cheap sieve for a bolter. There was much trouble had with this imperfect machinery, as small pieces of stone were constantly scaling off and mixing with the meal. This mill passed into the possession of Littleford, upon his securing the Wilson farm. He conducted it for a series of 12 years and finally abandoned it.


Worth Township
pg 621 In the following year (1798) Peter Wilson, who had entered what is now Jackson township from Allegheny county in 1797, removed with his family to Worth, locating on the farm afterward occupied by his son, James. In 1799, a daughter was born to Peter, and this is said to have been the first birth in the township among the white residents.
pg 622 More important even than the Coleman saw-mill, which supplied a want long felt by the early residents, was the grist-mill erected in 1815 by Peter Wilson. This was, according to all accounts, a very small concern, and the method of operating it was very unsatisfactory. But its successor, built by John Wilson, did much better, while the successor to this, built by Calvin Matthews, was superior to any near, and did a good business from the outset.


Biographies of Jackson Township
pg 1017 & 1018
William Wilson, the ancestor of the Wilson Family, of Jackson Township, came to Mercer County in 1796, and settled on the farm where his grandson, William Wilson now resides. His family consisted of wife and five children; William, Samuel, Betsey, Peggy and Rebecca. William married Ellen Downs; Samuel Married Rachel Meel; Peggy married Henry Guess; Rebecca married Joseph Turney; Betsey never married. When William Wilson located in Jackson Township the red men were their nearest neighbors, and passed their cabin every day on their way to Sandusky to trade. Mr. Wilson was a Revolutionary soldier, and witnessed the execution of Maj. Andre.
His son William was born in 1792 and came with the family to this county when four years of age. He underwent the various hardships that made up the life of the pioneers, not the least irksome of which was a large amount of clearing which fell upon him because of the inclination of his brothers to hunt the numerous deer and other wild animals that abounded in the forests.
He was married in 1833 to Ellen Downs by whom he had the following children: William, John, Samuel, Mary, Margaret. Seven others died in childhood.
William married Amanda M. Wingard. John married Elizabeth Mowry; Samuel married Margaret Kerr; Margaret married John W. Maxwell and Mary married Simon Wingard.
William Wilson cast his first vote with the Democratic Party, and continued to do so until 1860, when he joined the Republican Party and gave it his hearty support till the time of his death, which occurred September 18, 1878.
He was a soldier of the War of 1812. His son William, who resides on the old homestead, was born December 25, 1836 on the farm now owned and occupied by him and was married September 7, 1871 to Amanda M. Wingard, by whom he has four children Henry E., William R., Myrtle M. & Nelson F. He went to California in 1864. He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has since been identified with the Republican Party.


Worth Township
pg 1082-1083 - Wilson Family
The first of the Wilson family to locate in this County were Peter Wilson & Margaret Robinson-Wilson, natives of Ireland, who immigrated to America in 1777 and first located in Allegheny County Penn. He was a Revolutionary soldier and owned 160 acres of land on which the city of Allegheny now stands. In 1796 he and his family, which consisted of two sons, George and James, and one daughter, Mary, came to this County and located in what is now Jackson Township. He engaged in farming and built the first grist-mill on the Neshannock Creek just below where Jackson Station now stands. At this place two more children were born to them, John and Jane. He sold this farm and grist-mill and located 600 acres in what is now Worth Township, where he lived until his death, January 20, 1843, at the age of seventy-nine years. His widow died April 6, 1846, aged seventy-seven years.

George Wilson was the oldest son and was born in Allegheny County, 1792. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married Mary McFatrick, daughter of George McFatrick, of Salem Township, and located on a portion of his father's homestead. He purchased the grist-mill, now known as the Montgomery Mills, which he operated about twenty years. He was a member of the Old Whig party, and afterward joined the Republican party, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church which held their meetings in the log house of his father, and is now known as the Fairview Church. He died Jan 8, 1877, and his wife died March 10, 1871. Their family consisted of seven children: John, living in Rock Island, ILL; Margaret, Mrs David Linn, of New Vernon Township, who is dead; George H. on the homestead; Clara, died when young; Milo A., Jackson Township; Catherine, deceased, wife of J.D. Kirkpatrick of North Liberty; Peter Wesley, who died in Clarksville.

George H. Wilson is the third son of George and Mary Wilson and was born on the homestead, on a part of which he now lives, November 23, 1823. He received his education at the schools of that period and was reared a farmer and helped his father in the grist-mill which he afterward owned and conducted for some time. In 1849 he married Catherine B., a daughter of William Stevenson, of Mercer. She died in 1850, leaving one child, Joseph B., of Grove city, who married Urilla, daughter of Robert Stewart, of Worth Township, and has four children: Pearl, Essie, Sarah and Wesley. Mr Wilson was again married in 1851 to Miss Rosanna M. Moreland, daughter of Mordecai and Eliza Morehead, of Ohio. By this union they have ten children: Mary, Eliza, married Joel Venable of Columbiana County, Ohio; she is dead; Ambrose Lenhart, lives in Dillin, Colo; Clara married Orlando Thompson and lives in Venango County, Penn, and has two children, Homer and Edna; Alice May, married James Alexander and has three children, Clyde, Mary and Lenora; Albert M. lives in Ohio, married to Miss Mary Cormer, and has one child, Edith; Clara A., Edward D., John W., Lenora M. Our subject was a member of the Republican party for many years but is now a supporter of the Prohibition party. He and family are members of Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church. He has held office of trustee and class leader, and has been a bible teacher for over 10 years.
Milo A. Wilson, farmer, Hazzard Post Office, is the fourth child of George Wilson and Mary McFatrick-Wilson, and was born on the homestead Dec 11, 1825, received his education at the township schools and has since been engaged in farming. He was married in 1868 to Miss Mary McCurdy, daughter of John & Jennie McCurdy, of Wolf Creek Township, and has five children:
pg 1083 Maggie L., Jennie A., Clara J., Eva L. and Lillie May. Our subject has held the office of school director of the township. He is a member of the County Agricultural Society and a member of the Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Jackson Centre. James, the second son, was born in Allegheny County in 1794, and came to this County with his parents, and married Nancy McFatrick, of Leech's Corners; she died Jan 15, 1826, aged 24 years, leaving 3 children; one died in infancy. Elizabeth first married George McConnell and located near Harrisville, and after his death she married the Rev Isaac Scofield, of this county. She died about 1865, leaving one daughter by her first husband, who is now Mrs John Daugherty of Mercer. Peter R. always remained on the homestead. In 1846 he married Louisa Hazen, daughter of Nathanial Hazen and Elizabeth Egbert-Hazen, of Sharon. By her he had three children: Nancy L., Mrs Wilson Phillips, of Worth Township; Celestia E., Mrs Ellsworth (McKee), of Hazzard, and Wilbur James, living at home. He votes the Republican ticket, and was class teacher in the Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church for many years. He died July 29, 1887, and his widow and son W.J. remain on the homestead. The second wife of James Wilson was Mary Holmes, who died Jan 24, 1830. His third wife was Sarah Carmichael, who is still living on the homestead with the widow of his son, Peter. He was in the War of 1812, and died in 1876. The third child of Peter Wilson was Mary, who married Homer McFatrick, and first located in Jackson Township, and finally moved to Indiana, where she died. The fourth child was John, who married Clara Turner, and lived on the homestead for many years. He afterward purchased a farm and grist-mill at Millbrook, and died at that place. The fifth child was Jane, who married Hugh Todd and located in Springfield Township, and afterward moved to Rush County, Indiana and again moved to California, and died there, leaving three children.