Wilson, James
agriculturist, congressman, cabinet officer, was born Aug. 16, 1835, in Scotland. In 1855 he moved to Iowa, locating in Tama county, where, as early as 1861 he engaged in farming on his own account. He was elected to the state legislature, and served in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth general assemblies, being speaker of the house in the last-mentioned assembly. He was elected to congress in 1872, and served in the forty-third, forty-fourth and forty-eighth congresses. From 1870 to 1874 he was a regent of the state university, and made secretary of agriculture March 5, 1897. He was elected to the fifty-third congress.