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Joshua Lacy Wilson was an American Presbyterian clergyman.
Background
Joshua L. Wilson was born on September 22, 1774, in Bedford County, Virginia, the son of Henry Wright Wilson, a physician, grandson of Maj. Josiah Wilson who was in Maryland before 1688. Joshua's mother, Agnes Lacy, was a sister of the Rev. Drury Lacy of Virginia. When the boy was about four years old his father died and his mother married John Templin, father of Rev. Terah Templin, a pioneer Presbyterian preacher of Kentucky. In 1781 the family moved to Kentucky, and after the death of his stepfather Joshua bought a farm in Jessamine County, then a part of Fayette County.
Education
In his twenty-second year he sold this farm for money to attend an academy at Pisgah. Leaving there in 1796, he next studied under Rev. William Mahon in Mercer County.
Career
With less than three years' schooling, he began teaching in Frankfort, but gave it up to "read divinity" under Rev. James Vance, near Louisville. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Transylvania on October 8, 1802.
His first charge consisted of the churches of Bardstown and Big Spring, over which he was installed after his ordination on June 8, 1804.
Called to the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati on May 28, 1808, Wilson inaugurated a ministry there that continued until his death. An assiduous student himself, he assisted in founding Cincinnati College and was professor of moral philosophy and logic there for several years. He was the first chairman (1828 - 1830) of the board of trustees of Lane Theological Seminary. He fostered Sunday schools, Bible societies, and libraries. With equal conviction he attacked theatres, dancing, and the Masonic order. His theology was that of the Old School, and his defense of Calvinistic doctrines led him into many controversies both within and without his denomination. His published writings consist of pamphlets and newspaper articles, dealing chiefly with polemical subjects.
After The Pandect, which he founded in 1828, passed out of his hands and became the New School Cincinnati Journal, he established in 1831 the Standard, as an Old School organ. He assisted in the preparation of the "Western Memorial" of 1834 which expressed alarm at "the prevalence of unsound doctrine and laxity in discipline", and he subsequently signed the "Act and Testimony" of 1835, setting forth the Old School view. A prominent member of the Old School Convention of 1837, he became moderator of the Old School General Assembly in 1839. Though handicapped by bodily disease, he remained in public life until a few weeks before his death on August 14, 1846, which occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Achievements
Joshua Lacy Wilson was a minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, who was not only very active in organizing and guiding the religious, educational, and philanthropic activities of his own congregation, but found time to play a significant role in community affairs.
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Religion
Like many sincere Calvinists, Joshua Wilson attacked the theater, dancing, and similar amusements, as well as the Masonic order deists, New Lights, and Roman Catholics.
Views
Joshua L. Wilson opposed the "New England theology" and the operation of the "Plan of Union, " and published his Four Propositions against the Claims of the American Home Missionary Society in 1831.
Personality
Over six feet in height, reserved, and said by some to resemble Andrew Jackson, Joshua L. Wilson exhibited "great energy and decision of character" in promoting the moral and religious welfare of the rising city.
Connections
On October 22, 1801, Joshua L. Wilson married Sarah B. Mackay, who became the mother of his eight children.
