Wilson Family History

John Wilson was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1795. Although his family lived in town, John worked on farms and become an expert ditcher.

John Wilson and Sarah Cook were married in in 1831. In 1836 they sailed with their three children from Hull, England for America. Baby Sarah died at sea on June 6th and was buried at sea near St. Kilda Isles north of Scotland. The crossing took eight weeks and they landed in Montreal where they only stayed a short while before moving to Detroit.

This is the chest that contained all the family’s possessions for voyage to America. It is stamped John Wilson N 7, likely indicating the family berth on the ship.

John Wilson worked as a sawyer in a mill in Detroit and the family became caretakers of the Poor House in Mt. Clemens.

On November 2, 1837 John Wilson received Land Grant 7424 for 80 acres in what is now Berlin Township, St. Clair County but was then Wayne County Michigan.

Macomb County historical records say that John Wilson and his oldest son John Henry “walked through the woods from Mt. Clemens, leading a cow and making their own path, as there were no roads then. They built a built a log cabin 16 feet by 16 feet. Indians, Bears, Deer, and Turkey were plentiful. The family took up abode in 1842.”

A survey done November 1864 was done by the Macomb County Surveyor indicating that the land was then considered Macomb County, with same legal description as present for St. Clair Co.

John Henry acquired adjacent land in Section 31 and married Mary Shepard on October13, 1860 by Robert McKay, Justice of the Peace.

Robert Newton Wilson was born on February 20, 1846 and was the eleventh of thirteen children born to John and Sarah Wilson. On June 11, 1872 he married Elizabeth Stevens of Marion, Michigan and they had two children, Walter and Charles Henry born in 1880.

On November 19, 1890 Robert Newton Wilson paid his siblings $388.00 each to settle the Estate of John and Sarah Wilson and take ownership of the Wilson Family Farm.

Robert N. Wilson was a craftsman with inlaid wood designs in furniture that remain in the family home. He also built the two large historic post and beam barns still used today. He passed away in 1906 and ownership of the farm passed to youngest son Charles H. Wilson.

In 1912, Charles H. Wilson married Magdalene Mitchell from Charlevoix, Michigan. Maggie Mitchell was born in the seaside village of Arbroath, Scotland and traveled to America with her family as a teenager. She ran the family farm for a year when her parents and youngest sister returned to Scotland.

Charles and Maggie Wilson had two children, Robert Mitchell who attended Michigan Agricultural College before returning to the farm, and Elizabeth Ann who attended Eastern and became an elementary teacher.

Robert M. Wilson modernized the dairy facilities and eventually moved the farm from subsistence farming to producing milk as the main source of income. On October 5, 1945 he married Joy Hough from Romeo. Not only were Robert and Joy joined in marriage, two historic farm families were joined as well. The Hough family came to Gloucester, Mass. in 1640 and later coming to Almont, Michigan in 1833 by way of the Erie Canal.

It is believed that this makes the Wilson and Hough Family Farms the only Dual Sesquicentennial Farms in Michigan.

Robert and Joy Wilson had three children. Robert Charles and Joy Angeline who attended Michigan State. Lea who attended the University of Michigan.

After health issues prevented Robert M. Wilson from actively operating the family farm, Robert C. Wilson returned to farm in 1971 and began operating it as a grain farm which today is spread across Lapeer, Macomb, and St. Clair Counties.