DEATH OF MR. WILSON

PROMINENTLY IDENTIFIED WITH THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.

Was Union Soldier in Civil War, Consul at Ghent, Lawyer and Scientist.

Mr. Thomas Wilson died yesterday morning after an illness which extended over quite a long period. Funeral services will be held at the late residence, 11:18 Connecticut avenue tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. Dr. Teunis S. Hamlin, the pastor of the Church of the Covenant, will officiate. The interment will be in Rock Creek cemetery.

Mr. Wilson spent the greater part of a busy life in this city, and he had a large circle of friends here. He was born on July 15, 1832. in New Brighton, Beaver county. Pa. His ancestors on his father's side came from northern England, and originally settled in Harford county, Md.

His mother's family, the Mercers, were likewise from northern England, and emigrated to Chester county, Pa. As the country developed both families moved to the west, and before the beginning of the last century the Wilsons settled in Beaver county, Pa., and the Mercers in Columbiana county, Ohio. Mr. Wilson's parents were both of the Quaker persuasion, and throughout their lives continued in harmony with that sect.

After receiving a common school education, the young man started out to make his own way in the world, and apprenticed himself to David Woodruff in Salem, Ohio, in order to learn carriage making. After two years he returned to New Brighton and remained with his parents, working at his trade until he attained his majority. He then went west, serving as a journeyman in St. Louis. Mo., Troy, NY., and elsewhere, but finally settled in Marietta, Marshall county, Iowa, where he followed his trade by making the heavy plows used for breaking the new priarie land.

Served as Deputy Clerk of Court.

At that time he was chosen a deputy clerk of the court, and served during its sittings. This experience turned his attention to law, and he read Blackstone and Kent after his day's work In the plowshop, and in that way acquired a fair understanding of the principles of law, completing his course in the law office of Finch Crocker, in Des Moines, Iowa, after which he was admitted to the bar. Returning to Marietta he began his legal practice with considerable success, and at the same time entered politics, taking an active part in the struggle over a county seat, which terminated, however, with the defeat of Marietta.

At he beginning of the civil war he enlisted in the 2d Iowa Cavalry, and was promoted to be captain, but preferring the infantry branch of the service, he resigned and raised a company, of which he was given command, in the 4th Iowa Volunteers. September 16, 1864, he was mustered out of the service, and came to Washington for the purpose of settling his accounts with the government in connection with the service. His success with these claims led to his forming a legal partnership with Thomas Corwin of Ohio, which subsequently included William H. Owen and later L. G. Hine, for the prosecution of claims against the government. His practice, while frequently before the local courts, was however principally before the Court of Claims and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Wilson continued to be actively engaged in legal practice until 1881, when he retired.

Unwilling to remain entirely idle, he secured an appointment as United States consul to Ghent, Belgium, whence after a few years he was transferred to Nantes and later to Nice, France.

Archaeological Studies.

From his early boyhood he had been interested in Indian mounds, and one of the largest of these prehistoric monuments which he often visited was in the immediate vicinity of Beaver Falls, Pa. While at Nantes his attention was directed to the study of prehistoric monuments, in which Brittany is so rich, and his leisure was devoted to the then new science of prehistoric archaeology, which he took up and pursued with avidity. He visited all of the museums and collections in western Europe, and investigated most of the sites known for their occupation by prehistoric man. During his residence in Europe he gathered, both by purchase and as the result of his own excavations, a collection of many thousands of objects pertaining to prehistoric archaeology, which he subsequently deposited in the United States National Museum. He also became acquainted with many of the distinguished European savants, and was elected to their scientific societies.

Soon after his return from abroad Dr. Charles Rau, the curator of antiquities in the United States National Museum, died, and Mr. Wilson, in 1887, became his successor, in which place he continued up to his death.

Mr. Wilson had been one of the foremost advocates of popular instruction in the science of anthropology, and besides lecturing had devoted considerable time to the preparation of papers on that subject,among which may be mentioned the following: “A Study of Prehistoric Anthropology” (1888), “Results of an Inquiry as to the Existence of Man in North America During the Paleolithic Period of the Stone Age” (1888). “Criminal Anthropology” (1890), “Primitive Industry” (1892), “Minute Stone Implements from India” (1892), “The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol.” (1895), “Prehistoric Art. or the Origin of Art as Manifested in the Works of Prehistoric Man,” (1897), and “Arrowpoints, Spearheads and Knives of Prehistoric Time” (1898), all of which have been contributed to the publications of the United States National Museum.

Active Interest in Science.

In connection with his museum work he was called upon to install the exhibits of the department of prehistoric anthropology at the Cincinnati exposition in 1888, and he also had much to do with the subsequent displays of his department at the world's fair in Chicago and at the expositions in Atlanta, Nashville anel elsewhere. He was sent to Paris as a delegate from the Smithsonian Institution to the tenth international congress of anthropology and prehistoric archaeology in 1881, and also took advantage of that opportunity to study the world's fair held in Paris during that year. In 1892 he visited the Columbian historical exposition held in Madrid, where he received two medals, and was named a commander In the Order of Isabella la Catolica. He served on the Jury of awards at the world's Columbian exposition in Chicago in 1893, and passed upon all of the exhibits in the Convent of La Rabida. He was one of the commissioners to the exposition held in Brussels in 1898, and his services there gained for him the decoration of the Order of Leopold Premier from the King of Belgium.

Mr. Wilson was one of the regents of the National University, and had received a degree of LL.D. He was a member of many scientific and patriotic societies, serving as vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1889, delivering his inaugural address at the Columbus meeting in that year. He was a member of the anthropological societies of Brussels, London, Paris and Washington, respectively. He was a member of the District of Columbia Commandery of the Loyal Legion and a member of the Cosmos and the Army and Navy clubs of this city. Dr. Wilson leaves a widow and one son.