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Joshua L. Wilson, Frontier Controversialist
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Extract
Among the frontier ministers who contended “earnestly for the faith once delivered,” Joshua L. Wilson stands well to the front. He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, Sept. 22, 1774; and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 14, 1846. His father was Henry Wright Wilson, a grandson of Major Josiah Wilson of Maryland. His mother was an elder sister of Drury Lacy, a well-known Presbyterian minister of Virginia. Wilson's father married Agnes Lacy in Chesterfield County, Virginia, on April 7, 1765. Joshua was the third child and second son. At the time of his birth the family had moved to Bedford County, where Henry Wright Wilson practiced his profession of physician. His career was cut off by death when Joshua was about four years old, and the family was left in needy circumstances. Wilson tells us in his Memoirs that his mother soon married again “with a hope of obtaining a better home.” Her second husband was John Templin, an elderly Presbyterian farmer of the neighborhood. He was living with his only son by a former marriage, Terah. The latter was probably the first Presbyterian to preach the Gospel in Kentucky. After he lost his fiancée by an early death, his father and David Rice, his minister in Bedford County, persuaded him to study for the ministry. At the time of Wilson's birth David Rice was preaching near his home, and Terah Templin was preparing to become a minister. Although his mother was a Baptist, the religious atmosphere thrown about Wilson was Presbyterian.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © American Society of Church History 1934
References
1 The Joshua L. Wilson Papers constitute a part of the Durrett Collection deposited in the libraries of the University of Chicago. They contain about two thousand manuscripts relating to the life of Wilson. Nearly half are letters written by Wilson or to Wilson. Parts of Wilson's diary, journal, memoranda, sermon notes, expense accounts, memoirs, etc., make up the remainder of the material.
2 MS. of Wilson's Memoirs. Joshua L. Wilson Papers.
3 Bishop, R. H., An Outline of the History of the Church in the State of Kentucky, During a Period of Forty Years: Containing the Memoirs of Rev. David Rice, Lexington, Ky., 1824, p. 61.Google Scholar Also MS. of Wilson's Memoirs.
4 MS. of Wilson's Memoirs.
5 In 1795 David Rice and James Blythe raised funds for the school. George Washington and John Adams eanh contributed one hundred dollars, and Aaron Burr fifty dollars, for its maintenance. See Davidson, R., Higtory of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Kentucky, New York, 1847, pp. 123–25.Google Scholar
6 MS. among the Joshua L. Wilson' Papers.
7 Mahon was finally deposed from the ministry on account of intoxication. MS. Minutes of Transylvania Presbytery, October 2, 1804, at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.
8 MS. in possession of Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Columbia was settled by Benjamin Stites at the mouth of the Little Miami in November, 1788. It was the first settlement in the Symmes Purchase.
9 MS. Minutes of the Presbytery of Transylvania, April 27, 1791.
10 MS. of Wilson's Memoirs.
11 Mansfield, E. D., Memoirs of the Life and Services of Da'niel Drake, M. D., Cincinnati, 1855, pp. 236–37.Google Scholar
12 Archibald Cameron to J. L. W., March 6, 1815. Unless otherwise stated, letters cited are among the Joshua L. Wilson Papers.
13 A plan of instruction devised by Joseph Lancaster. See Weigle, L. C., American Idealism, p. 274.Google ScholarPageant of America Series, vol. X. New Haven, 1928.Google Scholar
14 Certificate of appointment as county treasurer contained among the Joshua L. Wilson Papers. See also H. A., , and Ford, Kate B., History of Cinoinnati, Cincinnati, 1881, p. 73.Google Scholar
15 Episcopal Methoism; or Dagonism Exhibited, Cincinnati, 1811, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
16 The Parndeot. Cincinnati, 02 10, 1829.Google Scholar
17 Cincinnati, 1832.
18 The Evangelical Record and Western Review was edited by James Blytbe and John P. Campbell, and published in Lexington, Ky., in 1812–1813.Google Scholar
19 J. L. W. to J. P. Campbell, April 3, 1812.
20 J. L. W. to S. D. Hoge, June 22, 1822.
21 MS of Wilson's Memoirs.
22 J. L. W. to the “Moderator and members of the West Lexington Presbytery,” 03 29, 1815.Google Scholar
23 Cincinnati, 1821.
24 MS. of the “Ecclesiastical History of Cincinnati Presbytery,” 1826. Joshua L. Wilson Papers.
25 Thursday, November 24, 1825.
26 Ford, op. cit., p. 396.
27 Archibald Cameron to J. L. W., August 3, 1817.
28 Adopted in 1801 by the General Assembly and the Connecticut General Association, and later by other General Associations. By its terms both Presbyterian and Congregational missionaries could minister to churches of either denomination. See Walker, W., A History of the Congregational Churches in the United States, pp. 316–17.Google ScholarAmerican Church History Series, vol. III. New York, 1894.Google Scholar
29 James Blythe to J. L. W., April 23, 1830. Absalom Peters to J. L. W., November 9, 1830.
30 B. Cushman to Absalom Peters, December 17, 1830. The American Home Missionary Society Correspondence, at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IIIinois.
31 Extracts from the Minutes of Cincinnati Synod. Joshua L. Wilson Papers. Also Beecher, C., Autobiography, Correspondence, Etc., of Lyman Beecher, II, 358–59Google Scholar. 2 volumes, New York, 1864. Cf. Trial and Acquittal of Lyman Beecher, D. D., before the Presbytery of Cincinnati, On Charges Preferred by Joshua L. Wilson, D. D., Published by Eli Taylor, Cincinnati, 1835.
32 J. L. W. to Sarah M. Wilson, May 31, 1836.
33 John Howe to J. L. W., November 18, 1831.
34 J. L. W. to James Blythe, July 9, 1833.
35 The Western Presbyterian Herald, Louisville, Ky., June 1, 1837.Google Scholar
36 Beecher, op. cit., II, 356.
37 J. L. W. to Hon. B. Storer, Janaury 21, 1836.
38 Published in pamphlet form, Cincinnati, 1839.
39 Foote, W. H., Sketches of Virginia, Second Edition, Philadelphia, 1856, p. 520.Google Scholar
40 J. L. W. to Hon. B. Storer, Janaury 21, 1836.
41 J. L. W. to Rebeea C. Clopper, July 18, 1839.
42 L. W. to Samuel R. Wilson, May 23, 1846.
43 Quoted from the Commercial Advertiser by the Presbyteran Herald, Louievifle, 08 27, 1846.Google Scholar