The farmhouse at Wilson's home, Ferniegair Farm

Ferniegair Farm

William B. Wilson was very respected for being fair and unbiased in his opinion and was often asked to give his opinion on different matters, not only by the miners but by businessmen as well. A group of men noticed outcroppings of coal between Blossburg and Arnot and decided they should mine the area. They consulted several people, Wilson included. Each advised mining the property except Wilson. His report was that the veins were so located that it would not pay to work them. However, the men purchased the property and tried to mine it.

After a short time it was found that W.B. Wilson's opinion had been correct and the mine was shut down. The owner of the property stated that as Wilson had given him good advice and the property was no good developing for coal, he would let him work it and share the profits. The property had a farmhouse and outbuildings with 100 acres of land. The price of the farm was $1,500. The farm, which Wilson named Ferniegair for a small town near his birthplace in Scotland, was hilly, with only a few acres suitable for tilling. The bottom lands were covered with broken boulders and the mountain pasture divided by a vein of sandstone. The neighbors joked about the cows falling off the farm and being killed.Wilson said, "We farm our lawn. We have none too much land, and we have deemed it better to work the good land than to try to keep up the lawn."

After William's death in 1934 the farm was sold to the American Legion Post No. 572 of Blossburg in 1937. The Legion Post is still located there today.

The Wilson index:

• William Bauchop Wilson Main Page
• Coming to America
• Growing up in Arnot, Pennsylvania
• The Next 20 Years
• Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America
• Congress
• Secretary of Labor
• 1921 - 1934
• The Family
• United Mine Workers Pins & Ribbons
• Poetry By W.B. Wilson
• Bibliography