Stanley Calef Wilson Papers

Stanley C. Wilson of Chelsea Vermont, elected Governor of Vermont in November 1930 and re-elected for a second two year term in November 1932, was born on a farm in Orange on September 10, 1879, being the second son of William W. and Lydia (Browning) Wilson. He attended the district schools in Orange and graduated from Goddard Seminary, Barre, in 1896. For a year he worked on the home farm and taught school. Entering Tufts College in the fall of 1897 he graduated in 1901 with an A.B. after completing five years of work in four years. Upon graduation from college, he studied law in Montpelier in the offices of Dillingham, Huse and Howland, Zed S. Stanton and George W. Wing, passed the bar examinations in October 1903 after a little more than two years study but had to wait the completion of the prescribed three years of study for admission to practice. Admitted to practice in 1904, he immediately entered a law partnership with Benjamin Gate under the firm name of Gates and Wilson in Montpelier. In 1905 he removed to Chelsea, and remained there until his death in 1965.

While in Montpelier, Wilson did newspaper reporting and editing for the Montpelier Daily Journal, served as deputy clerk for Washington County Court, and served for three years in Company H of the Vermont National Guard. In Chelsea he had several law partnerships, principal among which was Wilson And Keyser which absorbed much of his energies until his retirement in 1965.

Governor Wilson’s public life was wide and varied. He was official reporter of the Vermont Senate, 1902 and 1904; state’s attorney for Orange county, 1908-1912; member of the Vermont House and chairman of the committee on ways and means, 1915; member and Speaker of the House; 1917-1923 Superior Judge; Chairman of the Republican state committee for the elections of 1914 and 1916; member of the commission to prepare constitutional amendments, 1920; president of the Vermont Bar Association, 1924; member of the House and chairman of the appropriations committee, 1925; senator from Orange county and chairman of the judiciary committee, 1927; chairman of the Lake Champlain bridge commission, 1927; Lieutenant Governor, 1929-1930, and delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1932.

Governor Wilson was married to Grace Goodwin Bacon (1879-1968) on April 22, 1909. Other non-public activities beside the law practice include: Secretary, Vermont Copper Co., 1942-1957; trustee, Goddard Seminary, Barre Vermont, and trustee and Chairman of the Board of Norwich University, 1915-1965. He was active in the Universalist Church in Washington, Vermont.