James Wilson (U.S. politician)
James Wilson ( born August 16, 1835 in Ayrshire, Scotland, † August 26 1920 in Traer, Iowa ) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as Minister of Agriculture of the United States from 1897 to 1913, longer than any other ministers in U.S. history the Cabinet belonged.
The Scottish-born Wilson grew up as one of 14 children of his parents on a farm. In 1852 the family moved to the United States, settling first in Connecticut down before they moved on to Iowa, where James Wilson's parents finally built up in 1855 in Traer, a town in Tama County, a farm. He attended college in Grinnell, was active in agriculture and had a job as a teacher.
Wilson's political career began in 1866 with the election into the House of Representatives from Iowa, where he served from 1867 to 1871; 1870 to 1871, he served there as the Speaker. In 1870 he became professor of Agriculture at Iowa State Agricultural College, now Iowa State University, a position he held until 1874.
As of March 4, 1873 Wilson was representing the 5th District of Iowa member of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. He was nicknamed " Tama Jim " to distinguish him from James Falconer Wilson, a Senator from Iowa. He first spent two terms in Congress before retiring on March 3, 1877.
From 1878 to 1883 James Wilson was a member of the Railway Commission of Iowa. His country he represented then by 3 March 1885 a further two years in the House of Representatives before he retired for the time being on the policy and from 1890 to 1897 held the post of Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State University.
In March 1897 Wilson finally achieved nationwide notoriety when he was appointed U.S. President William McKinley as agriculture minister in his cabinet. This office he retained under his successors Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, before retiring on March 5, 1913 after the election victory of Democrat Woodrow Wilson at the age of 77 years from the federal government. Wilson's tenure is considered as a period of modernization in the agricultural sector. In the area of food inspection and road expansion, he acquired great merit.
James Wilson returned to the end of his term of office to Iowa, where he died ten days after the his 85th birthday on 26 August 1920. To commemorate him, a student was given the name of Wilson Hall on the campus of Iowa State University. His farm house, the Knapp- Wilson House in Ames, was declared in 1964 to a National Historic Landmark.