Wilson was born near Snow Hill, Maryland on September 15, 1771. Graduated from Princeton College in 1790, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1792. He opened a practice in Snow Hill and was elected from the eighth district of Maryland to the Twentieth Congress and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress. He resumed his law practice in Snow Hill after a failed nomination to the Twenty-second Congress and continued his practice until his death in Snow Hill on January 2, 1834. He is buried in the churchyard of Makemie Memorial Presbyterian Church. He was also the father of Ephraim King Wilson II.