This is a wild shot. But I have a William M. Wilson turning up in 1850 Rowan Co. NC, living in the Shaver Hotel in Salisbury and a silversmith. That suggests he had no family in Rowan Co. He shows in the census as 27 years of age (b.1823). By 1860 he is nowhere to be found, but in 1857 he had married Caroline Earnhardt in Rowan Co. NC. They had a child named Clara Bell Wilson, my g-g-grandmother. He must have deserted this family.

Is your William M. Wilson a silversmith?

Betty Pace -- BettyPace@Juno.com