9 December 1830 A.D. Rev. James Patriot Wilson Passes—Lawyer
& Pastor of 1st Presbyterian, Philadelphia
December 9:
James Patriot Wilson
Our post today is drawn from Richard Webster’s History of the
Presbyterian Church.
The
son of Rev. Dr. Matthew* and Elizabeth Wilson, James Patriot Wilson was
born at Lewes, Sussex County, Delaware, February 21, 1769. His father was
eminent as a physician and clergyman, and his mother was deemed a model in all
her domestic and social relations. He was graduated with high honor at the
University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pa., in August of 1788. So
distinguished was he in the various branches, included in his collegiate
course, that at the time of his graduation it was the expressed opinion of
the Faculty that he was competent to instruct his classmates. He was at
the same time offered a place in the University as Assistant Professor of
Mathematics, but as his health was somewhat impaired and the air of
his native place was more congenial with his constitution, he became an
assistant in the Academy at Lewes, taking measures to regain his health, and
occupying his leisure with reading history. Having devoted himself for
some time to the study of the law he was admitted to the bar in Sussex County,
Delaware, in 1790.
In
June, 1792, he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Hannah
Woods, of Lewes, Delaware, with whom he lived but little more than three
years, as she died in December, 1795. She had two children, but neither of
them survived her.
Though
he had acquired a reputation as a lawyer that was perhaps unsurpassed perhaps
in Delaware at the time, yet it was not long before he gave up this profession
and entered the ministry. The death of his first wife may well have been what
contributed to this change of course.
He was
licensed to preach the gospel in 1804 by the Presbytery of Lewes, and in
the same year was ordained and installed as pastor over the united
congregations of Lewes, Cool Spring, and Indian River—the very
congregations which had for many years enjoyed the ministry of his father.
In May
of 1806, he was called, upon the death of Dr. Benjamin Rush (who had been
his early and constant friend), to the pastoral charge of the
First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He accepted the call, under the
encouragement of his Presbytery, and relocated to Philadelphia that same year.
In May of 1828, he retired to his farm, near Hartsville, in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, about twenty miles from the city, on account of the infirm state
of his health, preaching nevertheless to his congregation as often as his
health permitted. His resignation of his pastoral charge was not accepted
till the spring of 1830. In the course of that season he visited the city
and preached for the last time to his people. He died at his farm in
the utmost peace, on December 9,
1830, and was buried on the 13th, in a spot selected
by himself in the grave-yard of Neshaminy Church. His remains lie near the tomb
of the celebrated William Tennant, the founder of the “Log College.” The
degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University of
Pennsylvania, in 1807.
Dr.
Wilson was in person above the middle height, and had a countenance rather
grave than animated, and expressive at once of strong benevolent feelings and
high intelligence. He was affable and communicative, and generally talked so
sensibly, or so learnedly, or so profoundly, that he was listened to with
earnest attention.
About
three years after the death of his first wife, he was married in May of 1798 to
Mary, daughter of David and Mary M. Hall, and sister of the late Governor
Hall, of Delaware. Mrs. Wilson later survived her husband by nine years,
and died January 5, 1839. They had nine children, only two of
whom survived into adulthood; one of which was the Rev. Dr. James P.
Wilson, of Newark, New Jersey.
[* A
Memoir of Rev. Dr. Matthew Wilson can be found published in The
Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1863, on page 48.]
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