Namesakes

Namesakes

09/06/04 (Revised 02/05/05)

While still in high school, I was surprised one day to see the name 'James Wilson' at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence among all the other signatures. What was my own name doing there? It must be some mistake, but no it definitely was hand-written along with all the other names. Convinced then that it was genuine, I became curious about the man who signed that document all those years ago. Later, when I learned that he had also signed the Constitution of the United States, I was even more intrigued, especially since there was no mention of him in any of my school books. Besides, it was kinda neat having your name on those documents (that's the way we talked back then).

It's been more than a few years since I made that first discovery and I finally got around to researching him on the web. I found few sites that mention he had signed both of those documents, attributing only one or the other to him instead. Only five other men: Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris and George Clymer of Pennsylvania, and George Read of Delaware share the distinction of having signed both documents. I also learned that he was appointed Associate Justice of the first Supreme Court by George Washington, was a law professor at the College of Pennsylvania and died broke. I guess that was before they put in the government pension system. I checked to see if he held the Triple Crown, if he had signed the Articles of Confederation too but no, his name was not there. I guess he was out of favor at that point and wasn't a delegate to the convention.

While searching out information on him I ran across others of the same name and still others who shared the same last name. The result is this web page. Here is a sampling of men who have the same first and last names as myself. They range from Supreme Court Justices to traitors (patriots if you're not a King's man). Few sites tell the whole story so I have included links to different sources where found, hoping to round out the picture of each individual.

More than a few are Scotsmen. The name Wilson figures strongly in Scottish history so I have added a little of the Scottish to this page also. I never did find out how James Wilson felt about having his name at the bottom of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution but I still think it's kinda neat.

Here they are in alphabetical order by first and last name (OK, by middle names then. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention):

James Wilson - Supreme Court Justice, Lawyer, Professor of Law

Born: Scotland, September 14, 1742
Died: Edenton, NC, August 28, 1798

http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_pennsylvania.html

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0852389.html

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/jwilson/wil.htm

http://www.famousamericans.net/jameswilson/ - His is the first of four 'Wilson' biographies on this page.

http://www.constitution.org/afp/jwilson0.htm

http://www.colonialhall.com/wilson/wilson.php

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/wilson.html

http://www.jimwilson.com/jw000USA.html

http://www.educatetheusa.com/wilson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilson

http://www.thecemeteryproject.com/Graves/wilson-james.htm

http://www.concentric.net/~Worgar/james.htm

http://www.american.edu/heintze/wilson.htm - Speech celebrating the signing of the Constitution at Philadelphia, July 9, 1787

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/585133/posts - Speech explaining the proposed Constitution at Philadelphia, Oct. 6, 1787

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch8s18.html - Speeches before the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention, 1--11 Dec. 1787

James Wilson - Newspaper Editor, Member State Legislature, (State?) Senator

Born: Dergalt, Ireland, 18??
Died: Ohio?. 18??

Grandfather of Woodrow Wilson, 28^th President of the United States.

http://www.donegalstrabane.com/american_trail/wilson.asp

James Wilson - Professor of Mathematics

Contemporary

http://orion.math.iastate.edu/wilson/

James Falconer Wilson - U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator (IA)

Born: Ohio, 1828
Died: Iowa, 1895

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000594

James French Wilson - Army Lieutenant, Professor of Animal Husbandry, Authority on the Sheep and Wool Industry

Born: Indiana, 1892
Died: California, 1975

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/memorial/wilson.htm

James Grant Wilson - Colonel - Northern Cavalry, later Major General, Biographer

Born: Scotland, 1832
Died: New York?, 1914

His father, William, was a kinsman of Founding Father James Wilson.

http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/W/Wilson-JG.html - This reference is very skimpy.

http://www.famousamericans.net/jameswilson/ - For more on James Grant Wilson see this link. This page contains biographs on four different 'Wilsons'; James Grant is the last. Apparently written before his death.

James Harrison Wilson - Major General of the Northern Army

Born: Illinois, 1837
Died: 1925

http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/wilson.html

http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngw/wilson.htm

http://www.multied.com/bio/UGENS/USAWilson.html

http://www.aotc.net/selma-rep.htm

http://www.mikescivilwar.com/gen%20wilson.htm

James Harold Wilson - Prime Minister of Great Britain

Born: Huddersfield, England, 1916
Died: London, England, 1995

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/wilson/

James Jefferson Wilson - State Adjutant-General, Army Captain, U.S. Senator (NJ)

Born: New Jersey, 1775
Died: New Jersey, 1824

http://www.famousamericans.net/jamesjeffersonwilson/

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000595

James L. Wilson - Doctor, Medical Researcher

Contemporary

http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/drwilson.php

James "Perley" Wilson - Weaver, Political Radical, Patriot

Born: Scotland, 1760
Executed for treason: Scotland, 1820

http://members.tripod.com/dcwilson/

James Q. Wilson - University Professor, Criminologist, Economist, Political Analyst

Contemporary

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/JamesQWilson.htm

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/James-Q.-Wilson

http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/wilson/paper.html

James R. Wilson - Professor & Head, Department of Industrial Engineering

Contemporary

http://www.ie.ncsu.edu/jwilson/

James S. Wilson - Major, Northern Cavalry

Born: Maryland, 1834
Executed while a POW: Missouri, 1864

http://www.no-quarter.net/images/wilson.htm

James Theodore Dudley Wilson - Banker, Mayor

Born: Missouri, 1820
Died: Texas, 1902

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/WW/fwi54.html

James Walter Wilson - Composer of Classical Music

Born: London, England, 1922

http://www.musicweb.uk.net/wilsonj

http://www.cmc.ie/composers/composer.cfm?composerID=117

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilson_%28composer%29

Compendium of James Wilsons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilson_(disambiguation)

Compendium of Jim Wilsons

http://www.jimwilson.com/

Ronald Wilson Reagan - Actor, Governor, 40^th President of the United States of America

Born: Illinois, Feb. 6, 1911
Died: California, June 5, 2004

I had to include this one exception, as he was an exceptional man.

http://www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com/

History of the Name Wilson -

http://www.btinternet.com/~phia.c/phia.c/page5.html

Some inaccuracies on this site such as the three identical "different" spellings of the name and the curious mention of George Taylor of Pennsylvania but not James Wilson as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The connection of Taylor to the Wilson Clan is not given nor have I any information that suggests James Wilson (signer of the Declaration Of Independence and U.S. Constitution) was related to the Wilson Clan. The clan crest and motto shown is that of Clan Gunn; other sources assign the Wilsons their own crest and motto. The Coat-of-Arms shown is English, not Scottish and is just one of more than a dozen different 'Wilson' Coats-of-Arms that can be found on the internet.

http://home.houston.rr.com/heartofdixie/Wilson.html

Here's a completely different explanation for the derivation of the name 'Wilson'. No references are given. Is this theory based on the commonly recurring wolf theme used in the English and Irish Wilson Coats-of-Arms? I haven't tracked down a source to explain why that particular symbol was used… yet.

Tartan -

Tartans, as attributed to specific highland clans, are an invention of the 18^th century. Prior to that, individual tartans were the personal choice of pattern and color of the wearer and were often hand woven by a family member. There was no such thing as a uniform pattern or color for any highland clan. When the highland uprising in support of Bonny Prince Charlie was put down in the mid-18^th century, the wearing of tartan was forbidden to the people of the Scottish highlands (1746). Some time after the restriction was revoked (1782), there began what can only be described as a fad - people wanting to wear unique and distinct patterns of tartan. Even English royalty was caught up in this fad (1820's) which helped boost its popularity.

Out of this grew the myth that certain patterns and colors were identified with specific highland clans. People were anxious to get the "authentic" tartan of their clan or to have one made up if no "official" pattern was known. The weavers at this time obliged their customers and produced the requested patterns.

Chief among the weaver firms of the time was Wilson of Bannockburn, a family business founded by one William Wilson about 1750. This firm was in the tartan business, selling checks and tartan wherever it was not forbidden, even to other countries. You could say this was an early beginning to a global economy.

William collected old patterns and invented new ones. He recorded all of his patterns and preserved them. The pattern books were handed down to successive generations of Wilson weavers and are still preserved in Scotland. William Wilson even created a tartan for his wife Janet (some say Janet was the wife of his son, also named William). That pattern is today considered the 'official' tartan of the Wilson Clan although several similar patterns seem to vie for that title. The irony of the whole affair is that William Wilson was himself a lowlander who never lived in the highlands.

Wilson Of Bannockburn - Weavers, 1750 - 1906

http://www.likesbooks.com/clothes.html

http://www.tartansauthority.com/Web/Site/Tartan/History/WilsonsBannockburn.asp

http://www.house-of-tartan.scotland.net/house/nf_w.htm
A sampling of tartan patterns from Wilson of Bannockburn. You will find several similar but not identical patterns in this list identified as the Wilson Clan Tartan!

http://www.tartangift.com/tartans/wilson.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/browne.htm

http://www.pharlin.com/tartans.html

Clan Wilson History -

http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/stoz/wilson2.html

Coat-of-Arms -

It is a common misconception that a Coat-of-Arms is assigned to a family name. In England and Scotland, a Coat-of-Arms was awarded to an individual male person in recognition of his personal achievements. The owner of the Coat-of-Arms passed the arms down to an heir. Arms so inherited were required to be registered to the new individual. The heir was not required to have or take the same surname as the owner of the Arms. The Arms were therefore associated with the family but not with the family name. Later, arms were assigned to organizations. I found these on the internet, all attributed to a person bearing the last name of Wilson. Still more are described but not pictured in the links. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of any of them.

These I believe are English, with a rampant or salient wolf and 3 estoiles (6-pointed stars).

These are Scottish, all with some variation of the chevron and 3 mullets (5-pointed stars).

The center one is Irish, perhaps all are, again with some variation of the wolf theme.

This last is possibly English, again with the wolf and 3 stars.

http://www.blazons.com/mfaq.htm

http://www.family-crests.com/cgi-bin/searchdb.pl?Wilson

http://www.allfamilycrests.com/w/wilson-family-crest-coat-of-arms.shtml

http://www.alexandergallery.net/family_crest.html

According to one source, Ronald Reagan had arms registered in Switzerland around 1984.

The arms are: Or, a bear rampant sable, armed and langued gules holding between its forepaws a mullet argent; on a chief of the second, standing on a ducal coronet of the first a falcon argent, armed and langued of the third, wings displayed and inverted.
Crest: On a gentleman's helmet proper a demi-horse sable, unguled or, charged on the shoulder with an actor's mask of the last.
Motto: "Facta non verba".

The arms are: On a golden shield, a rampant (standing with both right legs raised) black bear with red teeth, claws and tongue, holding between its forepaws a silver star; on a black field at the top of the shield, standing on a golden duke's crown a silver falcon with red talons, beak and tongue, wings displayed and lowered.
Crest: On a steel helmet in profile with visor closed, the forequarters of a black horse with golden hooves and a golden actor's mask on the shoulder.
Motto: Deeds not Words.

Clan Wilson Crest -

I found these two variations: