History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

1466

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

from his father's log house. In I849 he left home with an older
brother for the gold fields of California, but sickness overtook him and
he returned to Canada where he taught one term at the district school
that he had attended. In the following year he went to Olean, New
York, where chance led him into the art of daguerrotyping, a novel and
well paid profession at that time. He, prospered at that occupation in
Olean, but his permanent ideals were centered in a more learned profession. Returning to Canada, he continued work as a teacher until
I855, when he entered the medical department of the University of
Michigan. After two courses of lectures and study under Detroit physicians, besides acting as interne at St. Mary's Hospital, he came to
Flint on May 14, 1857, and began practice in partnership with Dr. R. D.
Lamond. He had not yet completed his medical education, but returned
to the University of Michigan in 1858, and was graduated with honors
in 1859. Ten years later, in I869, he attended a course of lectures in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, receiving special
instruction in eye and ear practice from Drs. Agnew and Knapp.
When Dr. Willson began practice in Flint he was broken down in
health, with only slender chances of long continuation as an active
worker. Life in the open, however, combined with hard work acted as
a tonic. Riding long distances on horseback through mud and mire,
over corduroy roads, day and night both summer and winter, he developed a robust constitution, which carried him through long years of usefulness and helpfulness to mankind. Of the many tributes paid to Dr.
Willson we quote from a letter written to him by a former student in his
office and now a professor at the University of Michigan: "I learned
much from your books; but I learned more from you. You gave me new
views of politics and religion and science and man's relation to his
fellows. Over a long and active life, in your profession, in civic affairs,
in state affairs, in public meetings, and in church gatherings, your voice
has always been heard in defense of right, in condemnation of wrong."
Dr. Willson, though a busy professional man, never neglected his
duty as a good citizen, and the first important interruption of his professional work came soon after the outbreak of the Civil war. In i86I
he was appointed surgeon with rank of major of the Tenth Michigan
Infantry, and in i862 was transferred to the Eighth Michigan, called
the Flint Regiment, because most of its members came from.that city.
After joining the regiment in Beaufort, South Carolina, Dr. Willson
was on the field in every battle fought by his command. The hardships
of army life told heavily upon him, and he was compelled to surrender
his commission and return home. In 1864 he was appointed by the
governor of the state as Michigan Military Representative at Washington.
Always a Republican in politics, Dr. Willson was a leader in party
affairs, and several times entered the field of practical politics, but
always in behalf of good government rather than for personal ambition.
In i870 he was elected mayor of Flint, in an exciting campaign, in which
his defeated opponent was Josiah W. Begole, afterwards governor of
the state. In I882 Governor Jerome appointed Dr. Willson a member
of the board of trustees of the Michigan School for the Deaf. Later
when Mr. Begole became governor, he attempted to remove Dr. Willson
from the board, but the latter vigorously defended his position before
the supreme court, which ruled that a state officer could not be removed
by the governor without cause. Dr. Willson was nominated in 1884.,
a candidate for congress from the sixth district, but encountered the
strong Democratic wave of that year, and was defeated.
As a citizen of Flint, he not only witnessed, but participated in,