Scope and Content

This collection contains materials related to Joseph P. Wilson. The majority of the collection are letters written between 1851 and 1869 to Joseph P. Wilson, from Joseph P. Wilson, or about his business interests. The letters include a proposal written by Wilson to the president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company about the St. Cloud and Minneapolis railroad, references to Wilson’s involvement with the James L. Fisk expeditions to Montana in the early 1860s, and information relating to his business in mercantile and railroads. In addition, there is mention of the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota.

A number of the letters detail the legal counsel Wilson provided to his brother-in-law, William A. Corbett, regarding a land dispute in St. Augusta, Minnesota. The collection of letters also contains information about the platting of land in and around St. Cloud. Other authors besides Wilson include William A. Corbett, A. B. Wilson (sister?), and brother John L. Wilson, one of St. Cloud's founders.

The letters are transcribed. Information that is torn, faded, or otherwise unclear is noted with brackets and a question mark.

Biography

Joseph P. Wilson was born in Columbia Falls, Maine on March 16, 1823. Wilson, along with George F. Brott and C.T. Stearns, purchased and platted the land that would become Lower Town of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Wilson studied law in Geneva, Illinois and in 1846 enlisted for the Mexican War as part of an Illinois regiment. After the war, Wilson married Mary P. Corbett and moved to St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota in 1850. Upon arriving in Minnesota, Wilson became involved in real estate, purchasing property in what is now northeast Minneapolis and in St. Anthony Park. Wilson also purchased property in what would become St. Cloud. He also worked in the lumbering, mercantile, and railroad business. He served as a Ramsey county commissioner from 1852 to 1855, was a member of the 1858 Minnesota constitutional convention, and served as a Minnesota state senator from 1864 to 1865.

He moved to St. Cloud in 1863 and built a house in East St. Cloud in 1888. It was here that he platted more city lots and lived until his death on February 18, 1900. His wife Mary and their five children survived him - Justus A. Wilson (1851), Ida Wilson Van Cleve (1854), Franklin B. Wilson (1859), Edith Wilson Thompson (1861), and Helen Wilson Schwartz (1865). Wilson is buried in St. Cloud's North Star Cemetery.

See the Joseph P. Wilson Papers finding aid for more information.

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