William B. Wilson was a native of North Carolina, and his wife, Margaret Tollet, a native of Virginia. Both were reared in Tennessee, to which State they were brought when young. They were married in Bledsoe county, that State, and shortly afterward -- about 1817 or 1818 -- moved to Alabama, where they lived till their removal to Texas.

William B. Wilson made his first visit to this State in the spring of 1833, and remained here nearly three years, during which time he was prospecting and scouting in various parts of the country. He sometimes served in a small band of adventurous spirits like himself, and again under regular authority of the provisional government. He continued on the frontier in this capacity until the Mexicans had been expelled by [Gen. Sam] Houston, and a stable government instituted, when he returned to Alabama and got his family, flocks, herds and negroes, and brought them out and settled near old Wheelock in Robertson county, then the frontier post along that line of travel. This was in December, 1839.

Four years later – 1846 – he died, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His life was thus spent on the frontier, and he was a typical pioneer, impatient of the restraints of society, fond of adventure, bold, active, alert, a great hunter, skilled in woodcraft, generous and hospitable.

His widow survived him many years, dying in 1871, in the eighty-first year of her age. She was a woman of many excellent qualities of head and heart, and left a lasting impress upon the lives and character of her children.

Of these there were eight who reached maturity: William Suel Goodhue Wilson; Temperance Wilson who was twice married, first to John Waites of Tennessee, and secondly to William Eichelberger of this State; Margaret Wilson who married L.P. Standifer; Greenberry J. Wilson; Thomas Benton Wilson; and Nancy Wilson who was first the wife of James Sampson, and then of B.F. Ackerman.

History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties
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