Representative Wilson Shedric Hill

Wilson Shedric Hill (January 19, 1863 – February 14, 1921) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from Mississippi from 1903 to 1909. Over the course of his career, he held a series of local, state, and federal offices and was an active participant in the legislative and political life of Mississippi during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Hill was born on January 19, 1863, near Lodi in Choctaw County, Mississippi, an area that later became part of Montgomery County. He attended the common schools of his locality before pursuing higher education at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Seeking professional training in the law, he enrolled at Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1884, preparing him for a career in legal practice and public service.

In 1884, Hill was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Winona, Mississippi. Almost immediately he entered public life, winning election to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1885. In addition to his legislative service at the state level, he became involved in municipal affairs in Winona, serving as a member of the city council from 1892 to 1894. His growing reputation as a lawyer and public official led to his appointment and subsequent service as district attorney for the fifth judicial district of Mississippi from 1891 to 1903, a position in which he gained extensive prosecutorial and administrative experience.

Hill’s prominence in state and local politics paved the way for his election to the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, and Sixtieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1909. During these three terms in office, he represented Mississippi in the House of Representatives, participated in the legislative process, and worked to advance the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history marked by the early Progressive Era and continuing regional adjustments in the post-Reconstruction South. His congressional service reflected the priorities of Mississippi Democrats of the time, including attention to agricultural, economic, and legal issues affecting his district. In 1908 he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination, bringing his continuous service in Congress to a close in March 1909.

After leaving Congress, Hill resumed the practice of law, this time in Greenwood, Mississippi. He remained active in Democratic Party affairs and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1912, participating in the national party deliberations that shaped the presidential election of that year. Continuing his long association with public legal service, he later served as district attorney for the northern judicial district of Mississippi from 1914 until his death in 1921, returning to a prosecutorial role similar to the one he had held earlier in his career.

Wilson Shedric Hill died in Greenwood, Mississippi, on February 14, 1921, while still in office as district attorney. He was interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Winona, Mississippi, the community where he had first established his legal practice and begun his public career.