Illinois:  History of Cass County, Illinois, ed. William Henry
Perrin. O. L. Baskin & Co. Historical Publishers, Chicago, 1882. 
Cass County.

JOHN N. WILSON, the present efficient postmaster of Virginia
City, was born in Licking County, O., June 1, 1832.  George
Wilson (deceased), his father, was a native of the Old Dominion
State; was born Oct. 30, 1795, and by occupation was a farmer; he
removed from his native State to Ohio about the year 1805, and
thence to Virginia Precinct, Cass Co., and entered farming in
1842, and there died in 1872.  He married Miss Jane B. Moore, a
native of Pennsylvania, in the year 1819.  They had nine
children--four sons and five daughters; John, our subject, was
the sixth born, and was about ten years of age when his parents
came to Cass County.  He received his schooling in Virginia
public schools, and entered a dry good store and post-office as a
clerk, in 1856, at twenty-four years of age, for S. W. Nealy.  He
continued with Mr. Nealy for about six months, after which he
entered the drug business for about two years.  He served as the
Virginia agent for the Wabash Railroad Company two years, and in
1867 was appointed postmaster of Virginia, by Andrew Johnson, and
has continuously held the position with entire satisfaction to
the public up to the present time.  In 1873, Mr. Wilson opened in
the same room with the post-office, a full and complete stock of
books, stationery, wall paper, news, notions, etc., and takes the
lead in his line of trade in the city.  Oct. 7, 1858, he married
Miss Rachel M. Berry, daughter of Thomas S. and America Berry,
and a native of Cass County.  She died Oct. 8, 1872, leaving
three children: Kate, Jessie, and Ella, who died at eight months
of age.  He again married, January 20, 1861, Miss Mary F. Walker,
of Virginia, Cass Co., and a native of the State of Virginia. 
She died January 11, 1877.  As a third wife he took Miss L. H.
Ainsworth, Feb. 8, 1878; she is a native of Vermont, and daughter
of Samuel Ainsworth, deceased.  Mr. Wilson is of Scotch-Irish
descent.  His father, George, was a son of Archibald, who was one
of the first pioneers of the Buckeye State, and his father, also
Archibald, came West to fight the Indians, about 1760.  Our
subject was the first City Treasurer of the City of Virginia, and
has twice been a member of the City Council.  He is a Republican,
a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the A.O.U.W.,
Virginia Lodge.

Wilson Moore Nealy Johnson Berry Walker Ainsworth
=
Licking-OH VA PA VT