He was born in Martinsburg, Pa. The family moved to Schellburg when he was seven or eight years old. His father died when he was about fourteen years old and the family moved to Yellow Creek [his mother's family's home]. He attended school in winter terms, but by the time he was fifteen it was necessary for him to work to help support his mother and the younger children. He worked for a time in the iron mines and coke ovens in the region.

Upon the death of his mother in 1872 he came to Dover, Ohio, in search of higher wages, working in the iron mines near there and at Glasglow and as a section hand on the Cleveland and Marietta railroad.

After his marriage in 1880 he lived in Newcomerstown, Ohio, and began working for some of the railroad companies in that state as a stone cutter preparing stone for constructing buildings and bridges. At first he worked for others but later joined with another man and began to secure contracts for building bridges. After 1890 this work came to be much in demand and more profitable. He acquired a reputation for doing good work and was able to complete his jobs in good time. He had many contracts as new railroads were being built and many bridges were necessary. At first the bridges were of stone but in 1902 he began to work with concrete. After 1912 in addition to constructing buildings and bridges of concrete he began building highways of concrete and brick. The projects became more and more extensive and he found it desirable to form a stock company called the W. M. Brode Co., of which he was the President, G. B. Brode Secretary & Gen. Mgr., C. C. Brode Treasurer, Elmer Barnett V. Pres. and J. S. Barnett Asst. Treas. He was much interested in all the operations of the machines used and in business matters up to within about five years of his death, when his health began to fail. He died at the age of eighty-six. He had other business connections and was elected a director of the First National Bank of Newcomerstown in 1905 and President from 1908-1936.

At different times he traveled to the Pacific coast and through Canada, also to Cuba and Mexico City. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Rotary Club and other fraternal organizations.

[Note by Wallace R. Brode: Wilson, like his father, had a child born out of wedlock prior to his marriage.]