WILSON, THOMAS 1808 -

WILSON, MORGAN, MAYDOLE, SHERMAN, POWER, OREN

Posted By: Janice Sowers (email)
Date: 7/31/2006 at 17:10:59

PIONEER DAYS-HESPER TOWNSHIP 1851-1941

Thomas N. Wilson, was born on January 17, 1808, in the state of Vermont. AT Ferrisbsurg, Vermont, he married Delia Morgan, April 29, 1829, with whom he shared nearly 62 years of married life. In 1854 he settled in Jackson County, Iowa, where he remained until 1856, when he and his family came to Hesper, arriving on the third day of July. Immediately after his arrival he began the preparations for erecting a house. By the last day of July the building was so far completed that the family moved in, and on the third day of August he opened the "Hesper House" or the Wilson hotel, for the entertainment of travelers. This house today is comprosed of ten rooms and what is now the living room was called the bar room in the early days; however, no liquor was ever sold there. The neat and quaint old house stands on the southwest corner of Main and Center streets across for the Friends Church. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were the parents of six children, five daughters and a son, namely: Eliza Maydole, Norris, Amy Sherman, Polly Ann Power, Julie M. Power and Emily J. Oren. All the children have passed to their reward except Mrs. Oren, who today at the age of 94 lives in Los Angeles, California. Undoubtedly if Mrs. Oren could come back to Hesper, where she spent her childhood days, she could see that a great many changes have taken place.