HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes, Lewis
Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, 
Vol. III, pp. 1257-58.  [Jefferson County]

SAMUEL M. WILSON--To have advanced to the front rank of Kentucky lawyers
and be in logical succession to a circuit judgeship before reaching the age
of forty is what might have been expected of a member of the Wilson family
of Kentucky, the members of which, as appears from the foregoing sketch of
them, have for generations made an enduring impression on the professional
life of Virginia, Kentucky and the West.  Samuel Mackay Wilson, son of Rev.
Dr. Samuel R. Wilson, and the subject of this reference, comes of a fine
line of Maryland and Virginian forebears, who have generally achieved
distinction in the public and professional walks of life.
     Mr. Wilson was born in Louisville, October 15, 1871, and received his
early education in private schools and under the careful training of his
father.  Entering the preparatory department of Centre College, Danville,
Kentucky, October 1, 1886, he spent two years therein, and in the fall of
1888 became a freshman in the college proper.  He left that institution at
the end of his junior year, and after teaching a year and a half, spent a
year at Williams College, Massachusetts.  Another season of teaching, for
a year and a half (the last six months in the preparatory department of
Centre College), enabled him to enter the law department of Centre College.
During his professional course he had the advantage of instruction under
such men as ex-Governor J. Proctor Knott, Hon. R. P. Jacobs, and Hon. John
W. Yerkes, and during his college career, both in Kentucky and in
Massachusetts, he won several first prizes in oratory.
     On the 17th of June, 1895, Mr. Wilson became a student in the law
office of the late Judge Jere R. Morton, at Lexington, and there continued
his reading until October 14, 1895, when he was admitted to practice as a
member of the Fayette county bar.  That city has since been the scene of
his efficient activities as a lawyer, acting judge and participant in
public affairs.  For the first seven years of his residence in Lexington
he practiced alone; then, for a year, was a member of the firm of Morton,
Darnall and Wilson; and from April 1903, to Judge Morton's death in
December, 1908, was of the firm of Morton, Webb and Wilson.  Since January,
1909, he has again followed an independent practice.  From 1903 to 1908,
Judge Wilson served as deputy commissioner of the Fayette Circuit Court,
and on a number of occasions in 1908-10 acted as special circuit court
judge.  His high professional standing is further evidenced and emphasized
by his service, since 1908, as professor of Elementary Law, Common Law
Pleading and Real Property, in the law department of the Transylvania
University, Lexington.  He is chief counsel and general manager of the
Lexington and Central Kentucky Title Company, of which he was the
principal founder; director of the Lexington Law Library Association and
vice president of the Kentucky State Bar Association (1910-11).  In
November, 1901, Judge Wilson assisted in the re-organization of the State
Bar Association, and in 1902-04 compiled its Code of Ethics.
     From a literary standpoint he is the author of the "Early Bar of
Fayette County," 1901; "George Robertson," 1908 (in "Great American
Lawyers"); "The Old Maysville Road," 1908; and "Year Book of Kentucky
Society of Sons of the Revolution," 1911.  In 1898-99 he was editor and
manager of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity Journal, published during that period
at Lexington.  The only public offices, outside of his professional field,
ever held by Judge Wilson have been as a member of the Lexington Board
of Education, in 1904-05 and again in 1910, as one of the Perry's Victory
Centennial Commissioners for Kentucky, the term of his latter appointment
covering 1910-13.
     Judge Wilson was vice president and director of the Lexington
Commercial Club in 1910, and holds membership in the following, as well as
in the other organizations mentioned: Lexington, Country, and New Ellerslie
Fishing Clubs, and the Civic League, of Lexington; Tavern and Filson Clubs,
Louisville; Kappa Alpha fraternity and Sons of the Revolution in Kentucky;
and the Maryland, Ohio Valley, Mississippi Valley and Kentucky Historical
Societies.
     When the last word has been said, however, Judge Wilson's mind and
heart are really wrapped up in the engrossing activities of his
professional work.  This, the most earnest and striking phase of his broad
life, is well depicted by one of the leading publications of his state in
the following extracts: "Mr. Wilson was associate counsel for Caleb Powers
in his last trial at Georgetown and gained a statewide celebrity by the
able manner in which he assisted in the defense of that noted state
prisoner.  His extensive knowledge of the law, his clear conception of the
fine constitutional points involved, his forceful presentation of these
points from the standpoint of his client, and his brilliant final speech in
defense of the prisoner, are still fresh in the mind of the public and
stamp Mr. Wilson as one of the brainiest of the galaxy of brilliant
attorneys engaged in the many trials of the case.  He was one of the
attorneys for the plaintiffs in the recent Water Works litigation, and his
able exposition and defense of the people's rights in this controversy
greatly strengthened him with the general public.  He is chief counsel and
general manager of the Lexington and Central Kentucky Title Company, and
enjoys besides an extensive general practice.
     "Although a Democrat, Mr. Wilson stands high in the estimation of
Governor Willson and in recognition of his legal ability he has several
times been appointed as special judge by the Governor to sit in important
cases; and each time that his honor has been conferred upon him he has
acquitted himself creditably.
     "Mr. Wilson not only takes high rank as a lawyer, but is regarded as
one of Lexington's most brilliant orators, possessing gracefulness of
delivery, fluency of speech and earnestness of manner that renders him a
most attractive public speaker."
     On October 26, 1899, Mr. Wilson married Miss Mary Bullock Shelby, of
Lexington, Kentucky, youngest daughter of Edmund Pendleton and Susan
Goodloe (Hart) Shelby, of "Grassland," Fayette County, that state.  Mrs.
Wilson is a great-granddaughter of General Isaac Shelby, hero of King's
Mountain and the first governor of Kentucky; is a graduate of Sayre
Institute (1894) and attended Dana Hall and Wellesley College (1894-96),
and is not only highly educated, but is one of the most accomplished and
attractive of Lexington's young matrons.

Wilson Morton Shelby Hart Powers Morton
=
Danville-Boyle-KY Lexington-Fayette-KY Georgetown-Scott-KY MA
http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/jefferson/wilson.sm.txt