Walking around the churchyard of Christ Church in Philadelphia wont take you very long, but it is however a walk back in time. In this small yard are the final resting place of two Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and four Signers of the U.S Constitution (Robert Morris and James Wilson signed both!). Along the outside wall of the church is a lonely ground marker which is all that remains of the final resting place of another fallen founding father, James Wilson. Just like Robert Morris (and it is kind of funny that they both lie at rest only yards away from each other in the same churchyard), James Wilson ended up a poor man and spent time being chased by debt collectors and spending time in the institution known as Debtor's prison because of his shady land dealings. Just like Morris again, Wilson was one of only six men who signed both the Declaration and Constitution.
Wilson was a Scotsman, and a very learned Scotsman at that. Before moving to the Pennsylvania Colony he had studied at three different Universities in his home country. Wilson wasn't done learning however, after giving up a teaching position he moved into law, apprenticing at the Law Firm of another later member of the Continental Congress John Dickinson. After passing the bar, Wilson moved out of Philadelphia into rural Pennsylvania and started taking mostly cases involving land disputes. This is where the 'land bug' struck and Wilson used a lot of the information he learned from his cases and got into land speculation. This land bug never left Wilson and would ultimately be his downfall.
Wilson started to make a lot of money in these land deals, purchasing land on credit and on the cheap, then reselling it for a huge profit. He was in fact one of this countries first flippers, if he was still around today he would probably have his own TV show on HGTV, probably called something like "Wilson Knows Best'. Soon he had all of the spoils that come from wealth in the 18th Century, a new home, a beautiful wife, a slave, and some money saved up. He became more and more well known, and soon he was selected for positions of power. In May 1775, he was selected to represent Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress.
Wilson voted for Independence along with Franklin and Morton on July 2, Morris had excused himself from the vote allowing the vote to be unanimous. Now we get into the interesting part of the blog I like to call, Is it Real, Or Is it Legend!!!
According to legend (and the Revolution produced a lot of these legends), Wilson's home was attacked by the British while he defended it from the inside. This is however, a myth, the British never attacked Wilson's home, especially not with Wilson in it. However, the people of Philadelphia did attach Wilson's home. Philadelphia's Patriots hated Wilson because of his defense of the cities Tory merchants in court, and in 1779 a group of citizens and militiamen angrily attacked Wilson's home which was located at the corner of Third and Walnut Streets. This altercation came to be known as the Fort Wilson incident, at the end, several men were injured, a few dead, and Wilson left town.
It took a while before Wilson returned to public life, in 1787 he was a major force in helping create the U.S Constitution. After the Constitution was accepted and George Washington was installed as the first President Wilson thought he was a sure thing for the U.S Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, however, this was given to John Jay. Wilson, continued to borrow money and continued to purchase land. Soon the bottom fell out of the land business and when it did Wilson had hundreds of thousands of dollars that he couldn't repay, and so he was chased, hunted, and pursued by creditors looking for repayment, finally ending up in debtors prison. In 1798 after his release, Wilson died in Edenton, North Carolina where for the longest time he was buried at the home of Justice James Iredell, his bones were finally moved to Philadelphia in 1906.
Morris and Wilson are the only two signers buried in the Christ Churchyard, however, there are four other signers in the Christ Church Burial Ground so that is where I headed next.
I know it has been a while, so follow me on Twitter @tombtours, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tombtours and on other sites like Tumblr. I will be posting again real soon, my next Founding Father will be Benjamin Rush!
And now for a BIG announcement! I am currently in the planning stages of a Founders Podcast, which I plan on releasing very soon. I will keep you all notified!
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