Background
Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1789 to Richard Wilde and Mary Newitt, but came to America at age eight and moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1802.
lawyer politician representative university professor poet
Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1789 to Richard Wilde and Mary Newitt, but came to America at age eight and moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1802.
He was a businessman and studied law.
After gaining admittance to the state bar in 1809, Wilde practiced law in Augusta. He served as the solicitor general of the superior court of Richmond County, Georgia, and was also the attorney general of Georgia from 1811 to 1813 as a result of holding the Richmond County position. In 1814, Wilde was elected as a Democratic-Republican Representative to the 14th United States Congress and served one term from March 4, 1815 until March 3, 1817, as he lost his reelection campaign in 1816.
Upon Thomas West. Cobb"s resignation, Wilde successfully ran as a Crawford Republican to fill that seat in the 18th Congress and served only a month from February 7, 1825, to March 3, 1825.
He was reelected to three additional terms (21st, 22nd and 23rd Congresses) in that seat and served from November 17, 1827, to March 3, 1835. Wilde lost his reelection campaign in 1834 and traveled in Europe from 1835 to 1840.
In 1843, he moved to New Orleans, returned to the practice of law and served as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Louisiana at New Orleans (current-day Tulane University). Wilde died in New Orleans on September 10, 1847, and was interred in a vault in a cemetery in New Orleans.
In 1854, he was reinterred at Sand Hill family burying ground near Augusta and then reinterred an additional time in 1886 in the Augusta"s City Cemetery.
Member United States House of Representatives (Democrat) from Georgia, 14th, 18th, 20th-23d congresses, 1815-1817, 25, 27-350 lived in Europe 1835-1840.
Married Mistress.