Some historians consider James Wilson the greatest of all U.S. secretaries of agriculture. In tenure and accomplishment, he set records that have never been equaled. Wilson was born August 16, 1835 in Ayrshire, Scotland, near the farm rented by Robert Burns 50 years earlier. He was one of 14 children. His parents came to the U. S. in 1852, settling in Connecticut before moving to Tama County, Iowa, three years later.

He attended Grinnell College, farmed, taught school, and was elected to the Iowa state house (1867-71), serving as speaker (1870-71). He was a state university regent and from 1891 to 1897 was a professor of agriculture at what is now Iowa State University. In 1897 he joined the McKinley administration as secretary of agriculture and was retained by Presidents Roosevelt and Taft until 1913. Wilson was know as "Tama Jim" to distinguish him from Iowa Senator James Wilson, no relation. Tama Jim was an unusual combination of accomplished educator, shrewd politician, and gifted organizer. President Warren Harding once asserted that except for his Scottish birth he would almost certainly have become president of the United States.

He revolutionized American agriculture by extending the U.S. Department of Agriculture into many areas. He established the extension service, began U.S. world leadership in agricultural science, inaugurated programs in agricultural economics, farm credit, soil conservation, and reforestation. He expanded facilities for research in plant disease and insect control and began a complex of experimental fields and laboratories at Beltsville, Md., that is known as one of the world’s greatest research facilities.

Wilson never forgot his Scottish heritage. He was well indoctrinated, mostly by his father, in the Bible and the poetry of Burns and Scott which he often quoted to make a point. He was a good friend of Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist, a friendship made closer by their common Scottish heritage. He was also very close to other prominent Scottish Americans like Governor William Hoard of Wisconsin, founder of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine, and Henry Wallace. Wallace was the father of Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace.

All three men - Wallace, Hoard, and Wilson - were excellent speakers and writers. They were all about the same age and tried to meet annually. They would meet, sip a little scotch, quote Burns, and plan next year’s meeting. As a staunch Republican, Tama Jim never wavered. He would sometimes admit there was some good in a Democrat, but would add that he had never found it. When President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, came to power in 1912, his 16-year tenure as Secretary of Agriculture came to an end. He was 78.

During his tenure, he expanded weather forecasting, mapped soil types, and pushed for all weather rural roads and food inspection. Wilson began building the hugh complex that houses the U.S.D.A. The classic colonnades stand as his memorial. James "Tama Jim" Wilson died August 26, 1920 in Traer, Iowa.