WILSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM—In Newburgh the Newburgh Daily News has as editor Frederick William Wilson. To the energy and ability of Frederick W. Wilson, editor of the Newburgh Daily News and president and treasurer of the Newburgh News Printing and Publishing Co., is due in great measure the success that newspaper has achieved as a business proposition, and also its recognized standing among the leading newspapers of the State.
Mr. Wilson's connection with the News dates almost from its inception, when as a lad in his teens he entered the business office of the paper in its second year of publication as bookkeeper. The founder of the News, the late William H. Keefe, was not slow to recognize the aptitude of the young man for the business, and in his twentieth year he practically had the entire business management of the then very modest News establishment in his hands, Mr. Keefe confining himself principally to the editorial conduct of the young and rapidly growing paper.
Mr. Wilson was born October 8, 1869, near Brighton, the renowned watering-place in the south of England. His father, Henry Wilson, was a surgeon in the British navy and saw service in the Crimean War. He died when the subject of this biography was but ten years old. After his death his widow, Sarah Jane Cleaver, daughter of a prominent woolen goods manufacturer and former mayor of Northampton, came to Newburgh, where an older son, Dr. Henry Wilson, was established in the practice of medicine. Other relatives lived in New York and the New England States. She died here in 1894, leaving, besides the two sons mentioned, two daughters, Kathryn and Maude, both of whom are married and live in New York City.
Young Wilson evinced an early aptitude for literary work, and having completed his education, frequently contributed to the News, which about that time was started by its founder.
In 1896 a company was organized to conduct the News. Mr. Wilson was one of the incorporators and directors, and at the meeting of the board of directors was chosen secretary and treasurer. Mr. Keefe was elected president. On the latter's death, in 1901, Mr. Wilson succeeded to the presidency of the company. He immediately set on foot plans for the enlargement of the paper and the betterment of its mechanical equipment. One of these was the introduction of typesetting machines. Next the large double brick building, Nos. 40 and 42 Grand street, was purchased and remodeled into an up-to-date newspaper and printing plant at an outlay for alterations alone exceeding $15,000. A perfecting press (the first in the city) was installed therein, and the building was equipped with every known contrivance to facilitate the work of production of a modern newspaper. The plant and equipment to-day represent an investment of over $100,000, and the home of the News is regarded as one of the most complete and handsome newspaper establishments in the State. Simultaneously with the removal of the News to its new home (in the spring of 1902), Mr. Wilson changed the appearance of the paper by discarding the old-fashioned nine-column "blanket" sheet for the modern seven-column folio form—an innovation at that time for small city dailies, but now generally in vogue. The history of the paper under his direction has been one of evolution, progress and marked success.
Besides being a fluent and forceful writer, Mr. Wilson possesses rare business tact and executive ability—a combination seldom found in newspaper men.
He is a moving spirit in all that makes for the welfare and growth of Newburgh and is an earnest advocate both through his paper and orally, of progress and enterprise in municipal matters. He is actively identified with the work of the Business Men's Association for a "greater Newburgh," and is the chairman of the committee which has in hand the arrangements for Newburgh's part in the celebration of the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson River and the centennial of the navigation of its waters by Robert Fulton's Clermont, to be held in September, 1909.
Mr. Wilson early displayed a liking for politics, his first inclination in that direction finding vent in the organization of a juvenile "Tippecanoe Club," which participated in the local parades of the Harrison campaign of 1888. Later he took part in the organization of a club of young voters known as the Union League Club. The one hundred and fifty members unanimously elected him president.
He has always been an admirer and earnest supporter of former Governor Odell. He was a delegate to the State convention at Saratoga in 1900, when Mr. Odell was first nominated for the governorship, and again in 1902, when he was renominated. He was also a delegate to the convention of 1904, which nominated Higgins, and to that of 1906, when Governor Hughes was nominated. He has himself never desired or held public office, but has been a factor in putting many of his friends in elective and appointive positions of trust.
Mr. Wilson enlisted in the Tenth Separate Company at the age of eighteen and served six years. He volunteered to return to the ranks at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and was offered a commission, but the company was not ordered to the front.