John McClure Wiley (August 11, 1841 – August 13, 1912) was a U.S. Representative from New York. Born in Derry, Ireland, he immigrated to the United States in 1850 with his parents, who settled in Erie County, New York. Growing up in western New York, he attended the common schools and entered the workforce at a young age, laying the foundation for a career that combined business, real estate, and public service.
After completing his schooling, Wiley engaged in mercantile pursuits and became active in the real estate business in Colden, Erie County, New York. His business activities in this rural community helped establish his local reputation and provided him with the economic and social footing to enter politics. As he developed his commercial interests, he also became increasingly involved in Democratic Party affairs at the local and state levels.
A member of the Democratic Party, Wiley began his formal political career in the New York State Assembly, where he represented Erie County’s 5th District in 1871 and 1872. His legislative service in Albany marked his emergence as a significant Democratic figure in western New York. Over the following decade, he remained active in party politics and was selected as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1884, 1888, and 1892, participating in the nomination processes during a period of closely contested national elections and shifting party alignments.
Wiley was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first Congress, serving a single term as a U.S. Representative from New York from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891. As a member of the Democratic Party representing New York, he contributed to the legislative process during this one term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history marked by debates over tariffs, economic policy, and civil service reform. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1890, choosing instead to return to private life and other forms of public service.
In 1890 Wiley married Virginia Emmeline Cooper (1858–1934), daughter of John J. Cooper, who served as Indiana State Treasurer from 1883 to 1887. The marriage linked Wiley to a prominent Midwestern political family. The couple’s son, John Cooper Wiley, later pursued a distinguished career as a United States diplomat, serving as U.S. ambassador to several foreign countries, thereby extending the family’s involvement in public service into the twentieth century and onto the international stage.
On April 24, 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed Wiley as United States Consul at Bordeaux, France. In this diplomatic post he represented American commercial and consular interests in one of France’s principal port cities, serving from April 24, 1893, until July 31, 1897. His consular service coincided with a period of expanding American trade and growing U.S. engagement in European markets, and it marked the culmination of his federal public career.
After returning to the United States, Wiley divided his time seasonally, residing in Jacksonville, Florida, during the winter and in Colden, New York, during the summer. In his later years, his summer residence shifted to Washington, D.C., reflecting his continuing ties to the nation’s capital and to the political and diplomatic circles in which he had long moved. He died in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, on August 13, 1912. John McClure Wiley was interred at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, a city connected to his wife’s Indiana family and their broader Midwestern political associations.
Congressional Record
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