EDWARD D. WILSON

    Parts of the following article were taken from a story on “Yankee Street” written by Edward D. Wilson. Wilson’s father, Robert was one of the early settlers in the Waveland Township area, coming to Iowa from Vermont in 1869.

    Sometime during the winter 1868 there was a meeting in the harness shop of Henry Barnes, in Montpelier, Vermont of some 15 to 20 men from the town and surrounding towns to investigate the reports of an opportunity for settlement of land in western Iowa that the C. B. & Q. Railroad was offering at a very low price.

    The outcome of that meeting was that some 15 men agreed to go out west and look the proposition over in the early spring of 1869.

    The names of the men in that party that came west and bought land here and built homes, and lived here for many years were: Henry Barnes, Robert Wilson, A. Collins, Chas. Bruce, C. P. Moore, Joe Reznor, J. C. Perley, S. A. Collins and J. W. Norris; later other Vermonters came here and located, among them: L. A. Persons, E. J. Scott, Frank Randall, J. D. Harington and C. M. Clark. This advance guard came via Grand Trunk railroad to Chicago then C. B. & Q. to Afton, which was the end of passenger service at that time. From there an Iowa land agent brought them through in two farm wagons.

    Those who bought at the time paid $7.50 per acre; while land two miles west and north could have been bought from $3.00 to $5.00.

    In July of 1869 Robert Wilson returned to Waterbury, Vermont to pack what goods he would ship to Iowa and to sell the rest. Robert Wilson was married to Helen Marr Goodrich February 10, 1857. Robert, his wife Helen, and young son Edward, age 10, arrived with the Alfred Collins family August 4, 1869 back in western Iowa where they had bought land earlier along the Nishnabotna river.

    Robert Wilson died September 23, 1896. His wife Helen remained with her son Edward on the family farm known as the “Lone Tree Farm”, on “Yankee Street”. Helen Wilson passed away on the farm where she lived and died July 2, 1918. Edward had married at Elliott, Iowa, Sally F. Holmes in 1885. She passed away three years later, 1888. On November 24, 1896 Edward married Elizabeth Deere, at Corning, Ia. Elizabeth came to Iowa from Pennsylvania with her family at the age of 4. Edward and Elizabeth Wilson had 4 sons and 1 daughter – Ray, Clement, Bertram, Norbert and Marian. Edward passed away in 1943 and Elizabeth in 1957.

    Clement farmed the family farm with his father and married Ada Jennings in 1923. They lived in the tenant house on the Wilson farm. They had 3 sons and 1 daughter – Robert, Norbert, Thomas and Barbara. Ada passed away in May of 1950 and Clement in 1962. Tom farmed the Wilson family farm until April 1977 when he passed away. The Wilson farm remains in the Wilson family.