Edmund Wilson Sr. (December 15, 1863 – May 15, 1923) was an American lawyer who served as the

Attorney General of New Jersey The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

from 1908 until 1914. He was the father of literary critic

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, literary critic, and journalist. He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Wilson began his career as a journalist, writing ...

Early life and education

Wilson was born in

Shrewsbury, New Jersey Shrewsbury is a borough in eastern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located within the heart of the northern Jersey Shore region, the borough is a bedroom community of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

in 1863 to Thaddeus and Charlotte Ann Wilson. He attended

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

and entered

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1881.''Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide''
Vol. 2 (1919/1920). 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 Kingston is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) along the border of South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County and Franklin Township in Somerset County, and also located relatively near Princeton in Mercer Cou ...

.Dabney, Lewis M. ''Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature'' (2005) He graduated in 1885 and studied law at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

. After attaining his law degree he went into practice in

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York metro ...

in the office of Henry M. Nevius. He entered into partnership with Nevius in 1898.

Career

In 1903, Wilson was retained by the

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

William Henry Moody William Henry Moody (December 23, 1853 – July 2, 1917) was an American politician and jurist who held positions in all three branches of the Government of the United States. He represented parts of Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex Count ...

as special assistant in

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

cases against New Jersey bank officials in violation of the

National Banking Act The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks chartered at the federal level, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged developmen ...

. He served on the State Board of Education, and in June 1907 was appointed to the State Board of Railroad Commissioners. He resigned from the Railroad Commission when he was appointed

on November 17, 1908 by Republican Governor

John Franklin Fort John Franklin Fort (March 20, 1852 – November 17, 1920) was an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 33rd governor of New Jersey, from 1908 to 1911. His uncle, George Franklin Fort, was a Democratic governor of New Jersey f ...

after the resignation of Robert H. McCarter. He was appointed for a full term in 1909 and continued to serve under Fort's Democratic successor,

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

(no relation to Edmund).Official bio
Office of the

. Accessed March 30, 2008. During Wilson's term as Attorney General, dozens of influential members of the Atlantic County Republican machine were prosecuted for corruption, including longtime

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

boss

Louis Kuehnle Louis Kuehnle, (; December 25, 1857 – August 6, 1934), known as "Commodore Kuehnle", was an American businessman and politician of German descent. He is considered a pioneer in the growing resort town of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the late 1 ...

. The indictments were made using a little-known law allowing for "elisors" on grand juries to be drawn from outside the local district, thus avoiding the influence of the Atlantic County sheriff, suspected of hand-selecting grand jury lists. Wilson married Helen Mather Kimball (April 20, 1865 – February 1951) in 1892. Their only child, Edmund Wilson Jr. (born May 8, 1895 in Red Bank), was a noted writer and literary critic. According to biographer Lewis M. Dabney, Edmund Jr. was influenced by his father's broad-minded social and political outlook. Dabney writes that Edward Sr., though a lifelong Republican, was "part of a genteel liberal tradition that was disappearing by the time his son was coming of age. He had a wide variety of friends unusual for an upper-middle-class WASP of his time, including blacks and Jews; on occasion he would even bring a Socialist friend home to dinner." Among Edward Sr.'s close friends was Sigmund Eisner (great-grandfather of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

CEO

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...

), with whom he worked to improve the Red Bank school system. In the spring of 1923, Wilson developed pneumonia in Talcottville, New York at an unheated stone house long owned by the Kimballs, his wife Helen's family. He died upon his return to Red Bank.Obituary
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', May 16, 1923. Accessed March 20, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Edmund Sr. 1863 births 1923 deaths Columbia Law School alumni New Jersey attorneys general New Jersey Republicans People from Red Bank, New Jersey Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Princeton University alumni