[2][1] His parents were Lucy Thorpe and Moses F. Wilson, a polic court and common pleas judge.
[6] In October 1898, he played the interlocutor in a minstrel show produced by the University Glee and Mandolin Clubs.
[10][9] He started writing general stories but advanced to covering theater as the dramatic editor.
[2][12] Although raised in a Democratic household, Wilson was initially an independent Republican, he wrote editorials against the Cincinnati Charter Party in its early days.
[10][1] He supported William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, and Al Smith.
[12] The meeting did not change the mayor's mind, but Seasongood convinced Wilson to run for city council.
[13][14] While on city council, Wilson fought against administrative corruption and supported the enforcement of gambling laws.
[15] The editorial staff of The Cincinnati Post wrote that although they did not always agree with Wison politically, they had "high respect" for him as mayor and found him to be "polished, scholarly, urbane [with] the democratic touch...He enhanced the city's fame..."[16] He was succeeded as mayor by James Garfield Stewart.
[2] In 1936, Wilson came to national attention after he dubbed President Franklin D. Roosevelt "a rabble raiser with a Harvard accent".
[17] In 1940 and 1941, Wilson was head of the Cincinnati chapter of the Committee to Defend America, organized to promote support of Britain and France against Germany.
[2] In November 1898, Wilson was made an honorary member of the Triginta Optioni Fraternity of Hughes High School in Cincinnati.
[15][1] In August 1946, Wilson became ill with a heart condition while staying at his home in Mount Desert Island.