William Bauchop WILSON, Congress, PA (1862-1934)

WILSON, William Bauchop, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Blantyre, Scotland, April 2, 1862; immigrated to this country with his parents, who settled in Arnot, Tioga County, Pa., in 1870; attended the common schools; engaged in coal mining 1871-1898; international secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America 1900-1908; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1913); chairman, Committee on Labor (Sixty-second Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 and for election in 1914 to the Sixty-fourth Congress; appointed Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President Wilson and served from March 5, 1913, to March 5, 1921; during the First World War was a member of the Council of National Defense; member of the Federal Board for Vocational Education 1914-1921 and also chairman of the board in 1920 and 1921; appointed on March 4, 1921, a member of the International Joint Commission, created to prevent disputes regarding the use of the boundary waters between the United States and Canada, and served until March 21, 1921, when he resigned; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1926; engaged in mining and agricultural pursuits near Blossburg, Tioga County, Pa.; died on a train near Savannah, Ga., May 25, 1934; interment in Arbon Cemetery, Blossburg, Pa.

Bibliography

Gengarelly, W. Anthony. “Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson and the Red Scare, 1919-1920.” Pennsylvania History 47 (October 1980): 311-30; Wilhelm, Clarke L. “William B. Wilson: The First Secretary of Labor.” Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1967.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present