Joseph Matthew Delany Willard Wilson graduated from Kingsley Seminary in Arcadia, Tennessee. Kingsley still exists today, but as a public elementary school. Joseph studied medicine and wanted to be a doctor, but ended it promptly after learning that many fellow classmates were studying for the "money." Even his son, Ben once told me that his father shared the story of his disgust in learning that many classmates did not want to be doctors to help people, but because of the money to be made. He did leave medical study with some skills, as Ben also recalled watching his father put stitches into one of his brothers' foreheads after a rodeo accident, teaching Ben how to do it too.

Joseph's trades & experiences included a druggest, a miller, a carpenter, storekeeper, and lastly he took farming/cattle ranching when his youngest four children were entering their teen years.

"He was a Presbyterian and often read to his children from the Bible. He and his brother, Tom, were good singers and often went about doing solos. Was said to be a good speaker. He once spoke at the Kingsley Academy on the "Education of the Young." "While he never ran for political office, he was quite a politician and was always giving speeches at political rallies. He was a strong socialist. I remember in Oklahoma seeing him walk across the floor, back and forth through the room practicing his speeches." (from memoir of Birdie Wilson Gibson, his daughter as transcribed by Norma Barton)

He had a general store in Stella, Oklahoma with a partner. Joe lost it all when he became ill and bedridden for about a year. It's thought that this was the first time Joe was badly stricken with Inflamatory Rhumatism in his back. The partner sold the store & ran off.

Joe and his oldest son, Hugh, drove a covered wagon into Colorado. His wife, pregnant with their last child (three children and his first grandchild had died by that time), followed by train, carrying only a sewing machine. Some months after the baby was born in the back of that covered wagon in Rocky Ford, CO, Joe moved his family to the Chama, NM area, leasing about 300 acres of land 12 to 14 miles south of town for about 7 years, until the youngest boys were grown, then lived out the rest of his days, about 60 mi. north, in Pagosa Springs, CO.