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Biography of Cyrus Wilson
Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana
Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887, p 868-871
Cyrus Wilson, farmer, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, a son of Gibson and Nancy A. (Harris) Wilson. The father was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was a son of James and Alice Wilson. He married his wife in Ohio, and for several years they resided upon his father's farm. In 1851 Mr. amd Mrs. Gibson Wilson, with their children, Elizabeth, Cyrus, James and Nancy, made a location in Jefferson Township. The father purchased 240 acres on section 16, town 28, range 12, upon which he erected the first cabin the same year. The whole tract was covered with timber and Cyrus, our subject, although seven years of age, helped to burn the brush, and saw the logs placed in position that were to shelter the family in the new country. The nearest neighbors, William Craig, Sr., William Shaphel, Moses Louthen and William Chapman, were residents of Ossian, and the latter kept a small stock of general merchandise. Gibson Wilson was a quiet, inoffensive man who took the greatest comfort in his home and with his family. Both himself and wife were of Irish ancestry, the grandparents of both having been born in Ireland. He was on of the first road supervisors in the township, and was the overseer when the first raods leading from Ossian were cleared of underbrush. He and his wife were members of the first Presbyterian church erected in the township, and the children were reared strictly in that faith. John L., Margaret and Emma were born in this county. The death of the father occurred in 1862. His wife still survives, and is now in her sixty-eighth year. All the children but one are living, and all are married. Elizabeth became the wife of Robert Rodgers, a farmer residing on a part of the original Wilson homestead; James married Lydia Fleming, and resides in Harrison Township; Nancy A. is the wife of Isaac Allen, a son of one of the oldest residents of the county; Margaret A. married Lorenzo Anthony, a resident of Union Township; John is the husband of Mary Housel, and resides on the homestead farm. The mother lives with them and has had the pleasure of holding twenty-one grandchildren in her arms, all of whom were born in this county. She has one grea-grandchild, Clarence Smith, son of William and Mary J. (Rodgers) Smith, youngest daughter of Elizabeth and Robert Rodgers. In August, 1862, our subject enlisted in Company K, Seventy-fifth Indiana Infantry, as a private. He was soon after made Corporal, serving three years in that capacity. He was Color-Guard at the famous battles of Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Atlanta, and in the march to the sea he was either Color-Guard or Standard Bearer. In one of the engagements a bullet passed through his clothes without touching his body. He carried the colors of his regiment when the great military review was held at Washington, the grandest military spectacle ever seen on the American continent. He laid his colors down only when peace was declared and the preservation of the Union was acknowledged by all to be due to the noble sons of the States who had fought valiantly for three long years. After his return from the army he went to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where he remained ten years engaged in farming. In that State he was married in 1875, to Miss Mary Frazier, of Lawrence County, and the same year the young couple returned to Indiana, where Mr. Wilson purchased his present farm. He erected his elegant house, and they are now comfortably settled within sight of Ossian. They have five children - Raymond F., John H., Nettie B., Otto O. and Chester C. Mr. Wilson built his fine barn, 36 x 56 feet, in 1887.
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Bassett Family Association Database
