US Congressman, 5th and 7th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was born one of three children in Morgantown, Virginia (later West Virginia), to Lawyer and United States Representative from the State of Virginia Edgar Campbell Wilson and he attended and was educated at local common and public schools. He then entered and attended Morgantown Academy in Morgantown, Virginia (later West Virginia) and the prestigious Jefferson College (later Washington & Jefferson College) in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from in 1852. After his education, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He then commenced to practicing in Winona, Minnesota, and then served as the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota with his residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1857 to 1861. He continued his practice of law while living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when the Civil War broke out. He put his law practice on hold and went onto serve with the rank of Captain in the Union Army of Company A, First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, during the war. The unit had also fought in the great Dakota War of 1862. Following his military service, he resumed his law practice and public service duties. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Democrat, he then served Minnesota's 2nd District (Forty-First Congress) in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1869 to 1871. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative John Thomas Averill. He then resumed his practice of law until he decided to enter the Mayoral race for the office of Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He won the election with 2,208 votes, beating out mayoral candidate Dorilus Morrison who had only 1,534 votes, and served in the position of the 5th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from April 8, 1872, to April 8, 1873. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to serve the Forty-Fourth Congress in 1874 and was beaten out by George Augustus Brackett who was elected the 6th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and served from April 8, 1873, to April 14, 1874. After his term as the Mayor or Minneapolis ended he resumed his law practice. He then ran for another term for the office of the Mayor of Minneapolis and was elected with 2,533 votes while the other mayoral candidates George Augustus Brackett had 2,147 votes, and John H. Thompson had 415 votes. He served as the 7th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from April 14, 1874, to April 13, 1875. He then served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876, and as a Member of the Minnesota State Senate from 1878 to 1879, and as an unsuccessful candidate for the Governor of Minnesota in 1888. In his later years, he remained in active social affairs and political affairs. He served twice as the President of the Minneapolis Club from 1886 to 1890. He at some point in his life had married Delia A. Payne and the couple had two daughters (Eugenia and Mary). He passed away from malarial fever in Nassau, Bahamas, where had gone to regain his health at the age of 56. His body was returned to the United States after his funeral he was interred in the Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the grandson of United States Representative from Virginia Thomas Wilson and great-grandson of Isaac Griffin, also a longtime United States Representative from Pennsylvania.