Stephen Fowler Wilson

Stephen Fowler Wilson (September 4, 1821 – March 30, 1897) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district from 1865 to 1869. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district from 1863 to 1865, participating in state and national politics during the Civil War and early Reconstruction periods.

Wilson was born in Columbia Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, the youngest of seven children born to George and Jane Wilson. Raised in rural northern Pennsylvania, he came of age in a region that was still being settled and developed, an environment that shaped his later interest in law, local governance, and public affairs. Details of his early schooling are not extensively documented, but his subsequent legal training and professional advancement indicate a solid foundational education typical of aspiring professionals in mid-19th-century Pennsylvania.

Pursuing a legal career, Wilson studied law under the Honorable James Lowrey, a prominent lawyer in Tioga County. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the Tioga County bar in 1845. He established himself in practice and spent almost twenty-five years as a working attorney, building a regional reputation in Wellsboro and the surrounding area. During this period he also held several local offices, reflecting both his growing prominence in the community and his increasing engagement with public service.

Originally a Democrat, Wilson shifted his political allegiance when the Republican Party was founded in the 1850s, aligning himself with its emerging platform on Unionism and, increasingly, antislavery and Reconstruction issues. His political career advanced rapidly in the early 1860s. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district, serving from 1863 to 1865. His tenure in the state senate coincided with the final years of the Civil War, and he remained in the body for one session even after his election to Congress. In 1864 he further demonstrated his standing within the party by serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which renominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency.

Wilson was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, representing Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1869. His service in Congress took place during a critical period in American history, encompassing the close of the Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the early years of Reconstruction. As a member of the Republican Party representing a northern district, he contributed to the legislative process over two terms, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents while the nation debated the reintegration of the Southern states and the rights of newly freed African Americans.

After leaving Congress, Wilson returned to judicial and legal work in Pennsylvania. In 1871 he was appointed additional judge of the fourth judicial district of Pennsylvania to fill a vacancy, marking the beginning of a long judicial career. He was subsequently elected to that position and served as an additional judge for ten years, presiding over a broad range of civil and criminal matters in a district that included Tioga and neighboring counties. His judicial service during this period helped shape the administration of justice in a region undergoing economic and social change in the postwar decades.

Wilson later extended his judicial service beyond Pennsylvania. On October 16, 1884, President Chester A. Arthur appointed him associate justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court, placing him on the bench of a frontier jurisdiction where federal and territorial law intersected amid rapid population growth and economic development. After his service in New Mexico, he returned to Pennsylvania and became president judge of the fourth judicial district from 1887 to 1889, the chief judicial officer of the district. Following the conclusion of his term as president judge, he resumed the private practice of law in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

Stephen Fowler Wilson spent his final years in Wellsboro, continuing to be identified with the legal and civic life of Tioga County. He died there on March 30, 1897. He was interred in Wellsboro Cemetery in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, closing a public career that had encompassed local officeholding, state legislative service, two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and significant judicial responsibilities at both the state and territorial levels.