U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Page 88, ALEXANDER WILSON Born in Paisly, Scotland, July 6th, 1766 — emigrated to the United States, July 14th, 1794 — settled in the County of Berkeley, now in West Virginia, shortly after his arrival, as a weaver. His residence here was marked by great poverty, and does not seem to have left very pleasant impressions on his mind, if we may judge by the following lines extracted from one of his poems — Farewell to Virginia — to Berkeley adieu, Where, like Jacob, our clays have been evil and few, So few — they seemed really but one lengthened curse, And so bad that the Devil only could have sent worse. He was a man of unconquerable resolution and energy, and of enthusiastic devotion to natural science. He had completed the seventh volume of his great work on ornitholigy before he died, and was engaged, when seized with his last illness, in collecting the materials for the eighth volume. Of the many active men whose biographies are before the public, there is not perhaps one whose life presents such heroic resolution in the pursuit of science. He died August 23, 1813, and was buried in Philadelphia. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------