Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
James Lewellyn "Lew" Wilder, the son of
Francis L. Wilder, the son of
James M. Wilder, the son of
Grace Hosmer Wilder, the daughter of
Daniel Hosmer, Jr., the son of
Bethiah Conant Hosmer, the daughter of
Lot Conant, the son of
John Conant, the son of
Lot Conant, the son of
Roger Conant, Immigrant ancestor, first governor of what was later to become Massachusetts Bay Colony, and founder of Salem, Massachusetts.
Richard Conant,
Daniel Hosmer Jr. was the father of Grace Hosmer Wilder, and the maternal grandfather of James Marvel Wilder, who was himself the grandfather of James Lewellyn Wilder. Daniel Hosmer lived the majority of his life in Concord and Lincoln, Massachusetts. Around the ealry 1800's, he seems to have moved north to Maine, living in Farmington and the adjacent village of Temple, where his son Daniel and daughter Grace and her husband Abel Wilder had settled. It appears possible that in the early 1800's, he may have lived with Abel and Grace Wilder, and it's possible that James M. Wilder knew or lived with his grandfather as he himself grew up.
Daniel Hosmer Jr., the great grandfather of James Lewelyn "Lew" Wilder, was a descendant of the Conant family of Concord, and earlier, of Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts. Daniel Hosmer's mother's name was Bethiah Conant. She was born in Concord, shortly after her father, Lot Conant, moved their family from Salem, where they had lived for nearly one hundred years. Lot Conant purchased the Concord Iron Works in 1714, which by that year had ceased to be profitable. He established a fullling mill on the land, and the family inhabited a home that existed there when they came. The home was believed to be from the 1690's. By the year 1775, the Conant farm had been sold to Roger Brown, who was renovating the home when the Battle of Concord was fought. With the disruption of the Revolution, the home's repairs were not completed for several years, and the home gained the name "1775 House", which it still goes by (in addition to being called the Roger Brown House). The Lot Conant / Roger Brown house is now a bed and breakfast in Concord. Here's a link to a photo of it.
The Lot Conant / Roger Brown "1775 House"
Lot Conant married Martha Cleaves in 1698. She was the first of three wives of Lot Conant. She was the mother of Bethiah Conant Hosmer.
Through Martha Cleaves we are descended from one of the more unusual men in American history, Giles Corey of Salem. Giles was Martha's grandfather. He was accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 of being a witch, and was put to death by pressing between stones. He is the only man in American history to suffer this punishment. Below is a link to the Corey's, ancestors of James Lewellyn Wilder.
The Coreys and Cleaves of Salem, Massachusetts
The headstone of Lot Conant, the great great grandfather of James M. Wilder. His grave is in the South Burying Ground in Concord, Massachusetts.
Bethiah Conant Hosmer was a descendant through her father Lot, of Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, Massachusetts, and often described as the first governor of what was later to become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The following link gives a brief biography of Roger Conant.
A Brief Description of Roger Conant
Did Roger Conant know Sir Walter Raleigh as a boy in England?
This link is to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Main Street". In this passage, Hawthorne tells the story of Naumkeag (the original name of Salem, Massachusetts) in the time of Roger Conant and his wife, Sarah Horton Conant, describing a visit to their homestead.