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HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Genealogical Society, Inc., 1925
Vol. 5  Page 405-406

        FRAZER E. WILSON, local historian of Greenville and Darke County,
was born at Ansonia (then Dallas), Darke County, Ohio, September 10, 1871,
and is the son of Augustus N. and Sarah C. (Niswonger) Wilson. From the
best data at hand it seems that this branch of the Wilson family is of
Quaker origin, tracing descent from one Steven Wilson, a carpenter of
Cumberland county, England, who came over about 1688, A.D., and settled in
the original Quaker community in the valley of the Delaware River near
Trenton, New Jersey. His certificate from the Friends in England is
recorded in full on the records of the Chesterfield monthly meeting in the
southern part of Trenton. Steven soon crossed to the west side of the
Delaware and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia,
where he was employed in erecting Quaker meeting houses. Here he married
one Sarah Baker, the daughter of an influential Quaker family. He soon
became firmly established in this community and served in the Provincial
Assembly. Here the family remained for several generations with varying
fortunes until about 1820 when one Thomas Wilson, then a young unmarried
man, left for the budding state of Ohio, walking from Philadelphia to
Zanesville, Ohio. Later he conducted a flatboat load of goods down the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and walked back to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Thomas finally settled in Preble County, where he married Elizabeth Leas,
the daughter of a prosperous pioneer farmer.
        Augustus N. Wilson was the sixth son of this union, being born in
1842. He served nearly four years in Company E, Sixty-ninth Regiment, Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and participated in Sherman's march to the sea. After
teaching for a short time in rural schools he followed the bent of his
natural inclinations and engaged in mercantile pursuits in a small way with
his two brothers. In 1873 he came to Greenville, Ohio, and soon made
valuable connections with practical business men who helped him to build up
a prosperous business in dry goods and carpets. In 1880 his firm completed
the commodious three-story brick business room on Broadway, near Third
Street, which has since continued to be one of the best trading centers in
the county seat. Besides conducting an active and prosperous business Mr.
Wilson raised a family of seven children and served in various official
capacities, notably as a member of the City Board of Education, president
of the Board of Trustees of the Dayton State Hospital and mayor of
Greenville. He was active both physically and mentally, and for thirty
years never missed his annual fall hunting trip to the wilds of various
states. He died in 1923, commanding the respect of the community for his
active and useful life.
        Frazer E. Wilson, third in a family of seven surviving children,
was educated in the public schools of Greenville and was graduated from
high school in 1893. He later attended Ohio Wesleyan University and
Oberlin College. In 1892 he became a member of the firm of A.N. Wilson &
Sons, and has given some thirty years to this business, which, since 1920,
has been reorganized and conducted as a corporation, known as the Economy
Store Company, of which he is now president.
        While in high school, Mr. Wilson manifested great interest in the
study of natural science, particularly geology and related subjects, and
later developed a strong liking for the study of ethnology, archaeology and
local history. In 1894 he compiled a book dealing with the military
campaigns of St. Clair and Wayne in the wilds of the old Northwest
Territory and the resulting treaty of Greenville. This book which he later
revised under the title The Peace of Mad Anthony," received high
commendation as a literary production and was placed in many of the best
city and university libraries of the country. In 1914 Mr. Wilson compiled a
comprehensive history of Darke County, which is recognized as a standard of
authority in his community and state. Mr. Wilson was one of the founders of
the public museum in 1901 and has served on the Board of Curators since
that time. He was a charter member of the Greenville Historical Society and
is now its secretary. In recognition of his contributions to local history
and various historical articles published in the Quarterly, he was made a
life member of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in 1907.
Although not a politician, in the common conception of that term, he has
served as city treasurer, clerk of the City Board of Education, and is now
president of the City Council being elected on the republican ticket in a
democratic community. Socially he is a member of the local Kiwanis Club,
and has served as chairman of its civic affairs committee. In spite of
these various activities Mr. Wilson is vitally interested in church life.
Although raised in a liberal atmosphere and being inclined to a broad
interpretation of the Scriptures, Mr. Wilson has been actively associated
with church work for nearly thirty years. Through marriage he became
connected with the Reformed Church, and has served in various offices in
the church, being now an elder, superintendent of the Bible School and
teacher of the Men's Class. Church history and theological subjects are
subjects of intense interest to him.
        Mr. Wilson married at Greenville, Ohio, June 7, 1904, Miss Pearl
Larimer, oldest daughter of John Wright and Caroline (Mowen) Larimer. The
Larimer family is of Scotch-Irish descent. Isaac Larimer, Mrs. Wilson's
great-grandfather, settled in Fairfield County, Ohio, with the pioneers.
Enlisting for the War of 1812, he served as an ensign in Captain George
Sanderson's Company of Ohio Militia. He was taken prisoner at the capture
of Detroit but was allowed to retain his sword, which is still in the
possession of the family. His son Isaac, born in 1808, represented his
district in the Ohio Legislature for two terms. He married October 9, 1838,
Margaret Ray. Their son, John Wright Larimer, father of Mrs. Wilson, was
born near Lexington, Perry County, Ohio, June 24, 1846. He was a soldier in
the Civil war, serving in Company B, Seventeenth Ohio Infantry, and
participated in Sherman's march to the sea. In 1865 he settled in Darke
County, and on November 12, 1872, married Miss Margaret Mowen, daughter of
David and Sarah (Hartie) Mowen. Mrs. Wilson was the first child of her
parents and was born September 8, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Wilson have three
children: John Larimer, born October 13, 1905, now a student in Ohio state
University; Wayne Alden, born November 29, 1908, now a student in the
Greenville High School; and Miriam, born March 30, 1912, now a pupil in the
seventh grade of the Greenville schools.