John Bordeaux Wilson was born in Philadelphia on May 7, 1848. He graduated from Philadelphia's Polytechnic College in 1867 with a degree in civil engineering. After graduating he joined the engineering corps of the Union Pacific Railroad and worked in the Dakota Territory and Utah from 1868 to 1869. Following his work on the Union Pacific, Wilson worked as a surveyor in Pennsylvania and joined the U.S. Engineering Corps. He returned to railroad engineering with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway and also worked as a silver miner in Colorado until 1877, when he returned to Pennsylvania and bought half of the Star Clay Company. Wilson spent much of his later life in Philadelphia, Longswamp Township, and Mertztown, Pennsylvania, with his wife Millie F. Logan (1852-1890) and their five children.
From the description of Letter to Emma Moore Wilson, 1868, March 12. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 696620380
