Francis L. Wilder (1831-1866)
Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
James Lewellyn Wilder, the son of
Francis L. Wilder
Francis L. Wilder, the son of
James Marvel Wilder and Hadassah Thompson Wilder
Francis L. Wilder (Marian and Agnes’s grandfather )
Born about 1831 in Norridgewock, Maine or perhaps North Anson, nearby.
Father was James Marvel Wilder . Mother Hadassah Thompson.
Francis L. Wilder was possibly the namesake of a first cousin of James M. Wilder. The original Frank L. Wilder lived his life in Temple, ME, where James M. Wilder is believed to have been born, as was about the same age as James M. Wilder, perhaps a year younger.
Francis’s mother Hadassah died when he was very young (1832 ). It is possible that she died of Asiatic Cholera, as there was a major epidemic of this disease in Norridgewock in this year, but this is speculation on my part. His father James remarried in 1833. Wife’s name was Rebecca Wait. Rebecca would have been the stepmother who raised Francis. Francis had a half sister, Rebecca’s daughter, Lomira, born in 1839). She is believed to be buried in North Anson, ME. No record beyond this. Details of Rebecca’s life are not known today (2010).
As a boy, Francis probably attended Norridgewock schools, or schools in one of the nearby villages. It is evident from recently discovered records that Francis had interaction with his extended family in the Norridgewock area enough to be named as an heir in his great grandmother’s will. In 1850 Sibyl Smith Wood (his great grandmother) left him a writing desk in his will. I believe that this may be the “sewing table” that we had in our living room in Berkeley, and that Tim now owns. Mom had said she thought it was from Norridgewock. His father is listed on the census for Fairfield ME and North Anson ME around the time of Francis’s childhood. These are towns adjacent to Norridgewock.. Francis is listed as a furniture maker as a teenager (US Census) working with his father. He may have been the Francis Wilder who was a school teacher in Norridgewock in 1849. No other person named Francis in this area found.
Family tradition says that he was in Nova Scotia in the early 1850’s, perhaps to teach in the village of Menudie. No other information has been found to this story. By the late 1850’s, there is evidence that he was teaching at the Germantown Academy. A history of the academy mentions “Mr. Wilder” as a teacher there at that time, and census records show that he lived near the campus at the same time. Francis married Anna Wile of Pleasant Valley, NY, around 1853, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister in Pleasant Valley. Anna Wile was in Philadelphia as a teenage girl, living with her mother’s sister, married to Jacob Helfenstein. It would seem that by this time, Francis had also come to Philadelphia, perhaps to teach or attend school How they met and where they were married is unknown, but it is clear from poetry written by Francis to Anna that their relationship was loving. They shared a tragedy from childhood, Francis’s mother Hadassah, and Anna’s mother Rebecca, were both in their early ‘30’s when they died, within a year of each other, Rebecca in 1831, and Hadassah in 1832. Francis and Anna had two children. Anna (“Annie”) and James Lewellyn (more commonly known as Lew). There is currently no information about where he may have attended college, but from his professional life, it would seem likely that he did. By the Civil War, Francis and family were living in Philadelphia area, where he taught and was the vice president of the Quaker City Business College.He is listed on advertisements for the college as having been the vice president, as well as being an instructor in “Book-keeping, Mathematics, History and Political Economy”. The college at the time he was vice president appears to have had somewhere between 500 and 800 students. It also seems to have issued its own currency, of which an example exists today. There is no tradition of Francis serving in the Civil War. He is shown, however, on a list of men of draft age from the Philadelphia area in June of 1863—the month that General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania, on their way to defeat at Gettysburg. He died of consumption (tuberculosis ) in 1866. He may have spent part of his illness in Pleasant Valley at the home of his brother in law ( the house still stands ), Joseph Ward that spring. He is buried in the cemetery of the Presbyterian church in Pleasant Valley NY. Anna never remarried.
This link is to an enlistment register located in the National Archives, from 1863. Among the men who are listed as eligible for military service in the summer of that year is Francis Wilder, a teacher in Philadelphia, married, who was born in Maine.
Francis Wilder on Draft Register, 1863
This is information about the Quaker City Business College, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that Francis Wilder was the vice president of during the time of the Civil War. The link is to a catalogue of the school from November of 1865. Francis's son James Lewellyn "Lew" Wilder would have been a baby of about five or six months at the time the catalogue was printed.