Edmund Wilson, Sr.

Who was Edmund Wilson, Sr.?

Edmund Wilson, Sr. was an American lawyer who served as the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1908 until 1914. He was the father of literary critic Edmund Wilson.

Wilson was born in Shrewsbury, New Jersey in 1863 to Thaddeus and Charlotte Ann Wilson. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and entered Princeton University in 1881. At Princeton he edited the student newspaper with his brother John. In his senior year, he led a rebellion against the faculty and was "rusticated" from the university, made to live in Kingston, New Jersey. He graduated in 1885 and studied law at Columbia Law School. After attaining his law degree he went into practice in Red Bank, New Jersey in the office of Henry M. Nevius. He entered into partnership with Nevius in 1898.

In 1903 Wilson was retained by the United States Attorney General William Henry Moody as special assistant in Justice Department cases against New Jersey bank officials in violation of the National Banking Act. He served on the State Board of Education, and in June 1907 was appointed to the State Board of Railroad Commissioners.