
James Wilson (16 August 1835 – 26 August 1920) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-IO 5) from 4 March 1873 to 3 March 1877 (succeeding Francis W. Palmer and preceding Rush Clark) and from 4 March 1883 to 3 March 1885 (succeeding William G. Thompson and preceding Benjamin T. Frederick), and as United States Secretary of Agriculture from 6 March 1897 to 3 March 1913 (succeeding Julius Morton and preceding David Houston).
Biography[]
James Wilson was born in Ayrshire, Scotland on 16 August 1835, and his family emigrated to America in 1852 and settled in Connecticut before moving to Traer, Iowa in 1855. He served in the State House in 1867, as a professor at Iowa State University, in the US House of Representatives from 1873 to 1877 and from 1883 to 1885, and as United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1897 to 1913. Wilson was the longest-serving cabinet official in US history, serving for sixteen consecutive years, having held a similar political philosophy to the three presidents under which he served. He frequently sided with incumbent business interests against food regulations. He died in Traer in 1920.