OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. 
JOSEPH MILLER WILSON, A.M.,C.E. 
(Read May 1, 1903.) 
To meet Joseph M. Wilson in ordinary intercourse afforded an 
opportunity to learn of the good, true and beautiful in human 
nature; to know him better, in relation to the sciences and arts, 
was a privilege fraught with instruction, aid and a constant pro- 
gression onward and upward toward greater knowledge of things 
as they are ; to know him spiritually, to recognize the Holy Spirit 
of Truth within him dominating all else, was to feel the influence 
of that more profound, ennobling, holier enlightenment, based 
upon sincerity and Divine purpose, which ‘‘ shines reflected in the 
human face.’’ 
To adequately appreciate the strength and force of character 
which lay back of his admirable work, it is important to recall some 
of the conditions which brought it about, for, from the varied stand- 
points of heredity, individual endowment, education and oppor- 
tunity, Mr. Wilson was favored above many, and the excellent use he 
made of what he possessed appeals to the very best that philosophy 
can recognize. 
Joseph M. Wilson was a worthy member of a long line of men 
eminent in professional walks of life, notably as experts in the engi- 
neering profession, each of whom had made his mark in public 
service by ability founded upon integrity, and inspired by a pro- 
gressive spirit which, while ignoring nothing in nature, conserving 
the best from the past, ever led onward toward the further better- 
ment of men and things. 
His earliest American ancestor was Robert Gibbes (1644-1715), 
who came from his native place, Barbadoes, to the Province of 
South Carolina; was Chief Justice of that Province (1708) and 
Governor (1710-1712). His great-great-grandfather was James 
Wilson, an engineer and architect of Stirling,’ Scotland, whose son 
John Wilson (1755-1798) was Lieutenant in the Seventy-first Brit- 
ish Foot (Highlanders), and served throughout the American Revo- 
lutionary War as an engineer under Major Moncrief, of the Royal 
