The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Wilson, James Grant

WILSON, James Grant, American author: b. Edinburgh, Scotland, 28 April 1832; d. 1914. He was brought to America in infancy by his father, William Wilson (q.v.), served in the Union army during the Civil War and reached the rank of brigadier general. After the war he settled in New York and in 1885 became president of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Among his numerous publications are ‘Biographical Sketches of Illinois Officers’ (1862-63); ‘Love in Letters, Illustrated in the Correspondence of Eminent Persons’ (1867); ‘Life of Fitz-Greene Halleck’ (1869); ‘Sketches of Illustrious Soldiers’ (1874); ‘Poets and Poetry of Scotland’ (1876); ‘Centennial History of the Diocese of New York, 1775-1885’ (1886); ‘Bryant and His Friends’ (1886); ‘Commodore Isaac Hull and the Frigate Constitution’ (1889); ‘Life of General Grant’ (1897); ‘The Presidents of the United States’ (1901); ‘Thackeray in the United States’ (2 vols., 1904. He was the editor (with John Fiske) of ‘Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography’ (6 vols., 1887-89; Vol. VII, 1900), and alone, of ‘Memorial History of the City of New York’ (1892-93).