Stephen N. Wilson

As printed in 1910

STEPHEN N. WILSON.

A well-known and successful member of the Lafayette county bar is Stephen N. Wilson, who has also been an important factor in business and political circles in Lexington for many years. He is regarded as a careful, cautious, painstaking lawyer in his office work, and in his trial of causes in court he devotes his entire energies to his claims in the contention and with all his power and forces in a deliberate, firm, conscientious way seeks to maintain them, thus meeting with a pronounced measure of success. He was born June 16, 1860, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, of a fine old Southern family, and is the son of Upton and Catherine (Neill) Wilson. The father was born April 15, 1828, in Louisville, Kentucky, and he was the son of Matthew and Martha Wilson, an old pioneer family of sterling worth. Upton Wilson grew to maturity in the Blue Grass state and he was educated at Hanover University at Hanover, Indiana. At the age of twenty-one he bought a farm near Shepardsville, Kentucky. In 1866 he emigrated to Missouri and settled near Warrensburg, where he farmer with his usual success until 1876, then moved to a farm south of Lexington, Lafayette county, which he conducted until 1889, since which date he has lived in town. Upon coming to this county he purchased the old Robert Early farm and became well established here. Politically he is a Democrat and in religious matters a Presbyterian. He has led a quiet, uneventful life and has won the admiration and respect of all whom he has met.

Upton Wilson and Catherine D. Neill were married May 25, 1855. She was the daughter of Major Stephen T. and Mary H. (Fulkerson) Neill, and was born May 27, 1832. This union has resulted in the birth of four children, namely: Stephen N., of this review; L. Fry, who lives in New Mexico; Matthew D., of Lexington; and Mary T., wife of Lee Hawkins, of Oklahoma.

Stephen N. Wilson was a small boy when his parents brought him to Missouri, and he grew to manhood on the home farm, assisting with the general work on the same during crop seasons. He attended the common schools during the winter months, later the State Normal at Warrensburg, and Wentworth Military Academy at Lexington. Deciding upon the legal profession while yet young in life, he began reading law with Judge Field, of Lexington, and, making rapid progress, he entered the senior class of the Law School of Washington University at St. Louis in 1884. He opened an office in Lexington in 1886 and has been continuously in practice here to the present time, enjoying a very liberal patronage and building up a large clientage. He has also figured prominently in financial circles, having been elected public administrator by the Democrats for two terms, which responsible position he held to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He was president of the Morrison-Wentworth Bank three years. He was secretary for a period of eight years and chairman for six years of the Democratic county central committee, during which time he looked well to the party's interests and was one of its most important leaders, — in fact, in all the relations of life he has proved true to every trust reposed in him. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Kansas City in 1900. Fraternally he is a Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Wilson was married October 22, 1891, to Lucie Nickerson, a lady of refined tastes and the representative of an excellent family of Warrensburg. This union has been graced by the birth of three children, namely: Katherine N., Elizabeth N. and Theresa V.

As a counselor Mr. Wilson is guarded in his expression of opinions, deliberate, wary, and cautious at arriving at conclusions, seeking to attain a thorough knowledge of the cause before the administration of advice or the commencement of action, and his plea before a jury is earnest and forceful.

As printed in Young's history of Lafayette County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.