(20 April 1821-10 April 1879), blacksmith, merchant. Born at Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland. About 1842 he emigrated to Canada, where he settled in the Township of Chatham, Que., before coming to Alexandria about 1857. In that rough, dynamic GC frontier town, he bought a “blacksmithing and carriage shop,” and operated it on “a larger scale” than the previous proprietor for some 15 years. Afterwards, he was a general merchant in Alexandria, with a branch store at Laggan. Clarence Ostrom identifies him simply as a blacksmith, and the merchant career may have been something of an early-retirement project. Also, Wilson had some involvement in farming in the Alexandria area. He was remembered in 1903 as “one of the best known men of his day” in Alexandria.

     He was married (1) in 1842 to Mary Stirton, and (2) about 1845 to Agnes Logie, who was born near Ayr, Scotland. Robert Wilson was a Presbyterian, and a Presbyterian elder, apparently in the Alexandria Presbyterian congregation. Before this congregation had a settled minister, the Wilsons attended church at St. Elmo, where they were part of the congregation of the Rev. Daniel Gordon. Robert Wilson sent his daughter for education at a convent in St. Hyacinthe. He was a member of the first board of trustees of Alexandria High School. Robert Wilson was killed in an accident in Alexandria, perhaps through the kick of a horse. He was buried at Kirk Hill. His house in Alexandria was known as “The Pines.”

 His son J. Lockie Wilson has left in his typescript recollections a few striking anecdotes about Wilson. Another son, John Ruthven Wilson (1847-23 April 1874) graduated from McGill in 1866 and studied law in Toronto. He was called to the bar in 1869, and practised law in Alexandria till his early death. He was solicitor of the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Railway Co., which proposed to built the first railway through Alexandria, and was the predecessor or earlier form of the Canada Atlantic, which actually did so. J.G. Harkness, who evidently thought him a man of promise, calculated that he was only the second lawyer to have a practice in Alexandria. Another son, Robert A. Wilson (23 July 1851-30 June 1921) who was born at Chatham, Que., graduated from McGill in 1875, and was a civil engineer and land surveyor. He practised in Winnipeg, where he was an alderman, and in Colorado, and died in Toronto, where he had retired. As a surveyor he had been involved in laying out some of the townships at Battleford, Sask. He contributed money and a number of books towards the library established in connection with the Presbyterian congregation at MacLaren Hall, Alexandria. Cornwall Reporter 19 April 1879 * MacMillan diary for date of death, with biog. note, also for date of death of John Ruthven Wilson * MacMillan, Kirk, 259 * folder of Lockie Wilson papers and 1936 Standard Freeholder article as per notes to life of J. Lockie Wilson * GN supplement 1903 [20] (QF) * Harkness 347, 434-435 * Ostrom 8 * Whyte, ii, 152, 385 * MacGillivray & Ross 268 * Woodburn 190 (“Wilson R, general dealer”) * Archives of Ontario-SC, for Robert (died intestate), & John Ruthven Wilson * obituary of John R. Wilson, Witness, 24 April 1874 * obituaries of Robert A. Wilson: Cornwall Freeholder 7 July 1921 and (with portrait and useful notes on the family) The McGill News 3:4 (Sept. 1922)