Orange B. Wilson was born around January 1833 in New York to Alvah and Annice Wilson. His father was a farmer who owned $900 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to York, Ohio, in the 1830s, and by 1850, he was also working as a farmer. He married Olive C. Point on February 18, 1854, and they had at least five children: Orville, born around 1855; Clark, born around 1857; Charles, born around 1859; Justin, born around 1868; and Clare, born around 1874. They lived in Granger, Ohio, and he worked as a laborer. By 1860, he owned $50 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on May 2, 1864, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 166^th Ohio Infantry on May 15. The regiment spent the next few months defending Washington, D.C., and Wilson mustered out on September 9, 1864.

 

He returned to York after leaving the army, and he worked as a wheelwright. By 1870, he owned $300 of real estate and $100 of personal property. By the late 1880s, he was suffering from chronic diarrhea and heart trouble. He applied for a federal pension in April 1889 and eventually received one. He died of paralysis in York, Ohio, on February 27, 1904.

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