Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-06-23
WILSON KNOWN
AS EDUCATOR
Held Many High Positions Before
Becoming Head of Prince
ton University.
HIS POLITICAL LIFE SHORT
Was Elected Governor of New Jer-
sey in 1910 and President of the
United States in 1912-Of
Scotch-Irish Descent and
Borh in Virginia.

Staunton, Va, on December %, 1856.
He is the son of DR.. Joseph r. Wilson,
a Presbyterian minister, and the grand
son of Judge James Wilson, an Irish
man of Scotch descent, who migrated
from County Down to Philadelphia in
1907. James Wilson prospered and be-
came manager of the Aurora. a lead
ing Democratic journal, Philadelphia
then being the national capital.
About two years after Woodrow Will
sons birth his father accepted call
to the pastOrate of the Presbyterian
church of Augusta, Ga. This was at
that time one of the most influential
congregations in the South, and the
elder Wilson remained as its pastor
throughout the Civil war. He was rec
ognized as one of the leading divines
Of the South.
Woodrow was only five years old
when the war broke out, and as Au-
guSta was not the scene of any actual
conflict, the boy knew little about what
was going on. He was also shielded
from the stormy passions and violent
prejudices of the war, and grew up
into manhood unwarped by sectional
| hate.
1t was at Steubenville, Ohio, that
Joseph Ruggles Wilson, the father of
Woodrow Wilson, was born on Febru-
| ary %, 1922. He was the scholar of
James Wilson's family. Jefferson col
lege graduated him as valedictorian in
1874, after which he taught school and
prepared for the Presbyterian minis
try at the Western Theological semi
nary and Princeton seminary. In 1849
Joseph r. Wilson married Janet Wood
row, daughter of DR.. Thomas Wood
row, a famous Presbyterian minister
of the day, who was descendant from
ancient English stock. The Rev. Mr.
Wilson became the father of two
daughters before he was called as pas
tor to Staunton, Va, where a third
child, a son, was born, and christened
Thomas Woodrow.
The early years of the presidents
life were spent in the interesting
though inconspicuous pursuit of knowl
edge. He specialized in the law, il
American history, and in political
economy. With this foundation laid
he burst upon the political world IL
1910 when he was elected governor o1
New Jersey on the Democratic ticket
In the second year of his governor
ship his boom for president was start
ed under the management of William
+. McCOmbs, one of his former stu
dents at Princeton. During the pre-
dozen other entrants for presidential
honOrs made their appearance.
At the subsequent Democratic ma
tional convention at Baltimore, Jun
2S-July 2, Mr.. Wilson beat out all en-
tries with a vote that increased a
each roll call till his victory was re
corded on the forty-sixth ballot.
the election that followed he was a
easy victor over the Taft and Roose
welt tickets, though his entire popula
vote did not reach that accorded Wi
liam Jennings Bryan in 1908.
OF scotch-Irish Descent.
President Wilson is the son of j
! seph r. and Jessie Woodrow Wilson
, disciples of the Scotch Presbyteria
faith. He was born in the manse of
small church in StauntOn, Va, wher
his father was curate.
From Virginia the Wilson's moved I
Georgia, when Woodrow was aboJ
two years old. There the presider
spent his early boyhood ''in the heal
i of the most terrible tempest that eve
= swept over the Countrywide Civ
war.
From Georgia the family moved
q South Carolina. In the Old Palmetr
State the future president budded in
j. youth and began to think upon c
reer. He first attended Davidson &C
s lege, where he put in one year of hal
{ study.
3 After this one year at college, Woo
3 row remained at home during the ne
& twelve months, transferring to h
& younger brothers a part of the lear
3 ing he had brought with him from D
wilson.
This brings his biography up to Il
year 1S75-a momentous year f
n Woodrow Wilson and for Princett
s. university. 1t was the year he e
t tered Princeton.
He had not been at Princeton lol
e' before he found out just what he wal
g. ed to do. And that thing was to