Wylie was born February 25, 1814 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Wylie was the eldest son of Andrew Wylie (the first president of Indiana University) and Margaret Wylie (née Ritchie).[1][2] His maternal grandfather was Craig Ritchie, a Scottish-American immigrant pioneer and Pennsylvania state lawmaker.[2][3] Her maternal uncles included David Ritchie (a Pittsburgh city councilman, U.S. congressman, and judge).[4]
Wylie and his wife would in Alexandria until outbreak of the American Civil War. Both the Wylie and Bryan families opposed succession, and remained unionists during the war. Amid the war, he moved to Washington, D.C., and had his wife move to Pennsylvania for safety. His wife's sister and brother-in-law (Mariana and Jedediah Hyde Lathrop) also moved their family to Pennsylvania, while father remained in Alexandria.[4] After moving Washington, D.C. circa 1861, he practiced law there until 1863.[1][4]
Federal judgeship
Wylie was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia on March 10, 1863, and was confirmed by the Senate on March 12, 1863. However, the Senate voted to reconsider the confirmation on March 13, 1863, with no subsequent Senate vote. His nomination expired on March 14, 1863, with the
sine die adjournment of the special session of the 38th United States Congress.[1]
Following his retirement from the federal bench, Wylie resumed private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1885 to 1905.[1]
In 1868, his wife gave birth to their son Horace, their only child who would live into adulthood. Horace would remain a resident of Washington, D.C. for many years, and he and his first wife (Kylie, with whom he has six children) became fixtures of the city's social scene. Horace would abandon D.C. and his family there to elope with Elinor Hoyt Hichborn. He would live to be a nonagenarian, dying in the year 1960.[4]