Evening star., 1917-03-05
Came From a Line of Men Dis.
tinguished for Their
Learning.
BEGAN LIFE AS LAWYER,
BUT CLIENTS WERE NIL
Election as Governor of New Jersey
Was Stepping Stone to the
Presidency.

| Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton.
! Va. December IS, 1855 He was the son
| of DR.. Joseph r. Wilson. Presbyterian
| minister. and the grandson of Judge
| James Wilson. an Irishman of Scotch de-
scent, who came from County Down to
Philadelphia in 1907. James Wilson pros
pered and became manager of the Aurora.
a leading democratic journal, Philadel-
| phia then being the National Capital.
Joseph Ruggles Wilson. father Of Wood
| row Wilson. was born February %. 1922,
| in Steubenvilie. Ohio. He was the scholar
of James Wilson's family. jefferson Col
| lege graduated him as a valedictorian in
1914. after which he taught school and
prepared for the Presbyterian ministry
| at the Western Theological Seminary
and Princeton Seminary.
In 1S49 Joseph r. Wilson married
Janet Woodrow, daughter of Thomas
Woodrow, famous Presbyterian min
lister of the day, who was a descendant
from ancient English stock. 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.
Removed to Georgia.
When Thomas Woodrow Wilson was
two years old his father took a pas
torate in Augusta, Ga. and soon be-
came one of the most noted ministers
of the south. Thoroughly equipped as
theologian <and a pulpit orator OF
power. he early reached and long main
tanned a position of much influence in
his church. When the civil war broke
out he embraced the Confederate cause.
Like Grover Cleveland, who was
christened Stephen Grover Cleveland.
Mr.. Wilson dropped his first given
name. He was entered as student at
Princeton as Thomas Woodrow Wilson.
and Tommy he was always called by
his parents. Tommy" Wilson. the Au-
gusta schoolboy, was decribed by Prof.
John T. Derby, one Of his teachers: as
quiet but exceptionally studious. The
most important instructor OF young
Wilson, however. was his father,
His father believed that nobody had
grasped a thought until he could put 1t
quickly and definitely into words. This
| he did himself, and this he taught ms
son to do. AS a result. as Tommy
came to learn the written symbols In
which speech is set down. he was
learning method of recording and
transmitting language which ne was
already well able to handle.
Enters Davidson College.
The Wilson's moved from Augusta to
Columbia, S. c., in 1870. DR.. Wilson re-
signing his pastorate to take the chair
of pastoral and evangelistic theology
cal Seminary. at Columbia. The son at
tended Charles Barnwelfs private
school, At the age of seventeen he en-
tered Davidson College at Davidson,
N. C.
Living at the college was rather
primitive; the boys kept their own
rooms filled their own lamps. cut up
and brought in wood for their own
fires and carried in water from the
pump. Young Wilson Joined a literary
society and played on the base ball
nine He did not finish the year at
Davidson for he fell i'll before examina-
tions came on and was taken to his
home. then at Wilmington. n C., where
his father had taken pastorate. Here
Wilson took things easy for a year,
except fof tutoring in Greek and a few
| other studies that he thought might
be necessary for entrance to Princeton
! in September. 1875.
Woodrow Wilson obtained prominence
| among his mates in the famous class of
10. No less than forty-two of the
122 graduates of '79 were honor men,"
having an average of 80 per cent or
better for the four-year course. VIII
son barely got in among them; he
ranked forty-one. Besides being a
good student at Princeton, Wilson be-
came managing editor of the college
paper and was prominent in under
graduate activities.
, He spent great deal of his time in
| the college library, specializing on gov
ernment. the theory of it and the lives
of political leaders. To this he added
assiduous practice in writing ard eX-
| temporaneous speaking. He belonged
| to Whig Hall and the Liberal Debating
| Club. Wilson was not recorded as a
| prize debater. but he did score as sec
| ond sophomore orator.
| At the age of twenty-five he signal
lied the closing of his undergraduate
days at Princeton by breaking into the
international Review In its issue of
| August, 1879, with an article entitled
Cabinet Government in the United
States" he contrasted British and
| American systems of government.
pointing out advantages in the British
In the fall of 1879 ne took up the law
course at the University of Virginia,
where he INDUCED in long. dropping
mustache and in membership in the
glee club.
| "she Sleeps. My Lady Sleeps" is shown
| by old programs OF university con-
! tenor solos.
Takes Up Practice of Law.
| In May, 1882. he carried his law
diploma and an oratorical prize to At
| lanta, Ca, where ne opened an office for
. the practice OF law. The office. how
ever, did not prosper. and after eight
cen months he quit. Tie Atlanta ex-
pertinent however, was far from event
less Although litiGants gave him
| nothing to do. he was not idle. He
| promise of Miss Ellen Louise Axson to
be his-Wife. The Axsons were prom