History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/James Wilson
JAMES WILSON
JAMES WILSON was born at Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 16th of August, 1835, and received an academic education. He came to America in 1851 and took up his residence on a farm in Tama County, Iowa. Mr. Wilson was elected on the Republican ticket in 1867 to the House of the Eleventh General Assembly and served by successive reëlections until 1873. He was Speaker of the House in 1872 and was chosen one of the regents of the State University. He was elected to Congress in the fall of 1872, from the Fifth District and reëlected at the expiration of his first term. In 1884 he was defeated for Congress by Mr. Frederick the Democratic candidate. Mr. Wilson was for many years a writer on farm topics and was chosen Professor of Agriculture at the State Agricultural College at Ames and Director of the Experimental Station. In 1897, upon the inauguration of President McKinley, Mr. Wilson was invited into his Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture. He was reappointed to the same position upon the second inauguration of McKinley. His services in that Department have been generally commended by the public as of greater value to the country than those of any of his predecessors.