While Wilson is a common surname, three pieces of evidence from the year 1887 point to real estate agent David Curry “D.C.” Wilson (1833-1906) as this street’s namesake: a tract map indicating him as a local landowner; the Los Angeles City Directory showing him residing on nearby Lemon Street; a news blurb about Wilson selling a lot on the newly-named Wilson Street to developer Moses L. Wicks. D.C. Wilson was born in either Mississippi or Tennessee, worked as a lumberman and grain miller in Oxford, MI, married thirteen-year-old Mary Ann Clark (1842-1931) there in 1856, and moved to SoCal with her and the kids in 1871. (They would have ten children in total, half of whom were born here.) They resided in Los Nietos for a decade and then perhaps dwelled in the San Gabriel area – it’s not clear – before moving to Lemon Street in 1886-1887, at which point Wilson gave up milling for real estate. He was listed as “divorced” on his death certificate; I have little biographical info beyond that.
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