My Genealogy Hound

WILSON CAMP, a citizen of the town of Ellery and a soldier of the late civil war, is a son of John and Abigail (Simmons) Camp, and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, May 27, 1841. He is a descendant of an old New England family. His grandfather, Samuel A. Camp, Jr., was a native of the State of Connecticut and a son of Samuel A. Camp, Sr., a graduate of Yale University, a clergymen of the Presbyterian church at that day. He was married to Lemira Wilson, and had eight children, — six sons and two daughters. Grandfather Jonas Simmons was a native of Rensselaer county, New York, near Troy, but emigrated to Chautauqua county in 1818, where he purchased a tract of land in the town of Ellicott, and located upon it. He was a hunter, pioneer and farmer, and through his combination of pursuits became well and favorably known in connection with the early settlement and development of Chautauqua county, He was united in marriage to Miss Strunk, a daughter of one of the old Dutch families of Rensselaer county, John Camp, father of Wilson Camp, was born in the year 1800, and died in 1856. He was a steady-going farmer, in politics a whig of decided anti-slavery proclivities. His marriage with Miss Abigail Simmons resulted in the birth of three children: John, deceased; Wilson, subject, and Herman, deceased.

In March, 1879, Wilson Camp was united in marriage to Mrs. Nancy Halladay (nee Wilkins). In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which he served until discharged for promotion. On September 1, 1864, he accepted a commission as second lieutenant in the Eighth Regiment U. S. colored troops, and shortly afterward received a promotion to the first lieutenancy. Mr. Camp took part in thirteen engagements, the most important of which were Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. At Gettysburg he received a severe wound, but, notwithstanding, continued in the service, and was present at Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Throughout his entire service he was faithful to duty, all of which is fully attested by his numerous promotions from private to captain, to which latter rank he was promoted in the winter of 1865. At the close of the war he returned to civil pursuits, and first engaged in lumbering, which business he continued to follow until 1876, when he came to Chautauqua county, In farming and allied pursuits he has been engaged ever since. He is a stanch supporter of the Republican party and its principles, and is also a member of the Grange. Mr. Camp is an honest, unassuming man, well liked by all those who have come to know him.