ROBERT BRUCE
WILSON. In the course of a long active life
time Robert Bruce Wilson has performed useful service
in a number of different fields, and has been a soldier, a
successful Ohio lawyer for upwards of half a century, and in
a more exclusive circle is now known for his interest in art
and letters. Since coming to Toledo about twenty years
ago Mr. Wilson has applied himself largely to
patents, patent cases, trade-marks and copyrights, and is a
recognized authority in that branch of law.
As he has now passed the three-quarter century mark in
life, he does not consider himself on the role of active
lawyers and is only endeavoring to wind up unfinished
business, after which he will retire altogether. A
native of Ohio he was born in Warren County, Dec. 16, 1839,
a son of Robert and Martha (Smith) Wilson, parents
who gave him the name of the noted Scotch patriot. His
father was a native of Virginia and his mother of Ohio, and
were very early settlers in Warren County, where Robert
Wilson, though a farmer, too a very prominent part in
local affairs, serving as county treasurer of Warren County
altogether for fifteen years. He was also for several
terms a member of the Ohio Legislature, and long enjoyed an
enviable position among the citizens of that part of Ohio.
He and his wife were the parents of seven sons and one
daughter, and only three of them are now living. The
family was distinguished by the fact that six of the sons
served in the Civil war. One of them, Judge William
W. Wilson, was a major in the Seventy-ninth Ohio
Infantry, while James was a member of the Third Ohio
Infantry, with the rank of captain and later breveted major.
Three of these sons attained success as lawyers. The
oldest, Judge Jeremiah M. Wilson, was a leading
member of the bar of Indiana, and for two terms represented
the Fourth Indiana District in Congress, and subsequently
transferred his practice as a lawyer to the national capital
and made a national reputation for himself. The second
son, Judge William W. Wilson, of Warren County, Ohio,
was as able in the law and in the substantial virtues of
citizenship as he was a gallant soldier.
The army career of Robert Bruce Wilson began
when he was in his twenty-first year. His literary
education was completed i the old Lebanon Academy, now known
as the National Normal University in Warren County, and he
was already pursuing the study of law when the cloud of
Civil war settled upon the country. The day following
the firing upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, he left his law
books and enlisted in Company F of the Twelfth Ohio
Infantry. Upon the organization of the regiment he was
made fourth sergeant, and by faithful he was made fourth
sergeant, and by faithful performance of duty was promoted
to first sergeant, to second lieutenant, later became
adjutant of the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Ohio Infantry,
and finally served in the field as assistant acting adjutant
general in General McCook's Brigade. Few men in
the Union army served for a longer period. He was in
the army more than four years, from the very beginning of
the rebellion until mustered out and given an honorable
discharge Nov. 1, 1865. He belonged to the
distinguished Kanawha Division of the Union army, and in the
course of his army service came to know the fellow officers
in the same division who afterwards reached the
distinguished eminence of the presidency, they being
President Hayes and President McKinley.
Any man, whether a private or officer, might feel a just
pride in having been a member of this division, which
furnished to the country a number of major generals, two
cabinet officers, a justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, Three governors of Ohio and two presidents of
the United States. It was the Kanawha Division which
crushed Lee's right wing at South Mountain and opened
up a way to his rear. The "Damascus Blade of the Army
of the Potomac," was the descriptive phrase applied to this
division in an article published immediately after the
battle of South Mountain in the old New York Herald.
Having acquitted himself so worthily in behalf of his
country's integrity, Mr. Wilson returned home,
resumed the study of law, and in 1867, after passing the
examination, was admitted to the bar. He did not begin
practice immediately, but instead accepted and held for
three years the position of deputy assessor of internal
revenue. His first work as a lawyer was done at
Dayton, Ohio, but a year later he removed to a larger field
at Cincinnati, where he practiced from 1871 to 1895.
It was on account of ill health that he gave up general
practice in that year and removed to Toledo, where for a
time he lived quietly without making an effort to accumulate
a practice. After recovering in a measure his health
he found idleness irksome, and he then opened his office and
confined himself exclusively to practice as a patent
attorney. Few members of the bar in Northwest Ohio
have found so congenial a success in the field of patent law
as Mr. Wilson. In every way he seems adapted to
the work of a patent lawyer, and though for more than a year
he has endeavored to retire he finds it impossible to
absolve himself entirely from business that ahs accumulated
in the past. Mr. Wilson keeps an office at 610
Spitzer Building, and few besides his old clients know that
he is still contracting business as a lawyer.
His principal business now is an invention perfected by
one of his clients. Mr. Wilson has some
financial interest in this invention, which is still pending
before the patent office at Washington. For years
metallurgists have sought a practical combination of iron
and zinc in an alloy which could be depended upon and which
could be manufactured on a commercial scale. The great
value of such an alloy is that it prevents rust absolutely
and would be a great factor in prolonging the existence of
iron, tin and other metal and would eliminate the necessity
of painting, which is a continuous expense for iron
structures, especially bridges and such structures as are
exposed to the oxygen of the air. This alloy was
discovered by one of Mr. Wilson's clients in
Pennsylvania accidentally, and when the process is patented
it will doubtless mean a fortune of many millions of dollars
to the owners of the patent.
Mr. Wilson has always been a lawyer, devoted to
his profession, and has had little part in practical
politics. He is an enthusiastic member of the Grand
Army of the Republic and of the Loyal Legion, is a member of
Toledo Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and has never given
up his membership with the Fred C. Jones Post at
Cincinnati. He finds his recreation in painting and in
various other branches of the fine arts, and for many years
has taken part in artists' exhibitions, and is considered
one of Toledo's most interesting figures in artistic
circles. He has painted a number of landscapes,
figures and other bits of form and color, and some of these
have been exhibited in the Toledo artist' collection at the
Toledo Museum of Art. At his home he has a number of
paintings, including the coat of arms of the Loyal Legion,
done in oil, and including his full record of service in the
Civil war. He is a member of the Collingwood
Presbyterian Church.
He has an interesting family and enjoys a beautiful
home life at 934 Grand Avenue, where since the death of his
wife, who was his devoted companion for over forty-five
years, his daughter, Grace M., has presided over the
home. On Oct. 30, 1869, Robert B. Wilson
married Miss Isabella Gould, daughter of John
Franklin Gould, who at one time owned Franklin Furnace,
one of the large iron furnaces along the Ohio River in
Southern Ohio. Mrs. Wilson was also a niece of
Amos Akermann who served as United States attorney
general during President Grant's administration.
Mrs. Wilson was born at Franklin Furnace in 1845, and
died in the Toledo Hospital at Toledo, Sept. 26, 1913.
She is buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery at Cincinnati.
Her early life was spent at Lebanon, Ohio, and later she
lived in Cincinnati until she and Mr. Wilson
came to Toledo about eighteen years before her death.
Of her three children, Grace Margaret was for some
years a writer on the Toledo News-Bee, and is now dramatic
editor on The Toledo Times. The son, Sterling G.,
is now deceased, while Cedric Harold is a deputy at
the Woodward High School at Cincinnati, while Cedric
graduated from the Toledo High School.
~ Page 960 ~ A History of Northwest Ohio by Nevin Otto
Winter, Litt. D. - Vol. II - The Lewis Publishing Company,
Chicago and New York, 1917 |
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