Ephraim King Wilson

Ephraim King Wilson (September 15, 1771 – January 2, 1834) was a Congressional Representative for the State of Maryland and a prominent early nineteenth-century lawyer and public figure on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He was born near Snow Hill, Worcester County, Maryland, on September 15, 1771, into a region that was then largely rural and agricultural. Although specific details of his parents and early childhood are not widely recorded, his subsequent education and professional achievements indicate that he was raised in circumstances that allowed for advanced schooling and entry into the legal profession.

Wilson pursued higher education at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton College in 1790, a period when the institution was a leading training ground for future lawyers, clergy, and public officials in the early United States. Following his graduation, he returned to Maryland to study law. After completing the customary period of legal study, he was admitted to the bar in 1792. Soon thereafter, he opened a law practice in Snow Hill, establishing himself as a lawyer in his native Worcester County.

Building on his legal career and local standing, Wilson entered public life as a representative of Maryland in the national legislature. He was elected from Maryland’s eighth congressional district to the Twentieth Congress, serving from March 4, 1827, to March 3, 1829. During this period, national politics were increasingly shaped by the emerging Jacksonian movement, which advocated for a more populist approach to governance and a skepticism of entrenched economic interests. Reflecting these political currents, Wilson was reelected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1831. His alignment with the Jacksonian cause placed him within the broader realignment of American politics that accompanied the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

After his second term in Congress, Wilson sought to continue his service in the national legislature but was unsuccessful in securing nomination to the Twenty-second Congress. Following this failed nomination, he returned full-time to his legal practice in Snow Hill. He resumed the active practice of law and remained a respected member of the local bar, continuing in his profession until his death. His career thus followed a pattern common to many early American legislators, who alternated between periods of public service and private legal practice rather than pursuing politics as an exclusive, lifelong occupation.

Wilson’s family connections extended his influence beyond his own lifetime. He was the father of Ephraim King Wilson II, who would later become a United States Senator from Maryland, and of William Sydney Wilson, thereby establishing a family tradition of public service. His daughter became the second wife of Ara Spence, a judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, further linking the Wilson family to the state’s legal and judicial elite. These familial ties underscored the Wilson family’s continuing prominence in Maryland’s political and legal circles in the nineteenth century.

Ephraim King Wilson died in Snow Hill, Maryland, on January 2, 1834. He was interred in the churchyard of Makemie Memorial Presbyterian Church in Snow Hill, a burial place associated with some of the region’s notable families. His life and career, rooted in the Eastern Shore and extending to the halls of Congress, reflected the trajectory of a classically educated lawyer who participated in the formative decades of the United States and contributed to the evolving political landscape of Jacksonian America.