David Wilson

David Wilson (born September 17, 1818, Hebron, New York, U.S.—died June 9, 1870, Albany, New York) was an American lawyer and author who collaborated with Solomon Northup to describe the latter’s kidnapping and enslavement in Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana (1853).

Wilson attended Salem Washington Academy in Salem, New York, and graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1840. He then studied law with lawyer and future state senator Orville Clark in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls), New York, and later practiced law in Whitehall, New York.

Wilson suffered from poor health for a good part of his life, and because of that he largely gave up his law career. He turned to authoring books on historical subjects. His first book, Life in Whitehall: A Tale of the Ship Fever Times (1849), was a compilation of newspaper columns that fictionalized tales from the seamy lower echelons of Whitehall during a typhus outbreak originating from recently arrived immigrants. He also wrote The Life of Jane McCrea: With an Account of Burgoyne’s Expedition in 1777 (1853), a biography of an American colonial figure whose alleged murder by Native American allies of the British was credited with turning sentiment against British rule. Henrietta Robinson (1855) was an account of a scandalous murder and the resulting trial.

Wilson’s most successful work was Twelve Years a Slave (1853; film 2013), the narrative of illegally enslaved freeman Solomon Northup. He served as Northup’s amanuensis, transcribing and editing his story, and composed the book’s preface, in which he vouched for the accuracy of Northup’s account. Clark had been involved in the process that resulted in Northup’s rescue from slavery, including the circulation and signing of a petition and an affidavit, suggesting that Wilson encountered Northup through Clark.

Wilson served half of a term in the New York State Assembly (1852). Thereafter he held a number of minor legislative and judicial positions in state government. He was later a partner in a beer-brewing venture.