Monmouth Cemetery, Root Township, Adams Co., Indiana
**EDWIN WILDER, of Monmouth, came to this county with his mother and two brothers, settling on a new farm about a mile north of Monmouth. This was the spring of 1845. There was a log cabin and a log stable on the place, which they purchased of William Randall. The first forty acres was bought of Judge Evans, and on this piece of land they cleared twenty or thirty acres before building. The three brothers went to work, and in a year and a half earned money enough to pay for the forty acres. In the meantime they lived in a house rented of Judge Evans. A few mouths later the brothers bought another forty acres. They bought 120 acres of Robert Evans, and a few years afterward another forty, which made 240 acres. The oldest brother, Alvin, took eighty acres, and the twins, Edwin and Edmond, kept their interests together, and are still together. The eldest brother was born February 16, 1820, and died January 3, 1878.Edwin and Edmond were born July 16, 1826, in Genesee County, New York, where they lived until they were ten years of age. Their father died there in 1827, aged about forty-five years. The parents, Chauncy and Sarah (Davis) Wilder, were born in Springfield, Massachusetts. The father was born January 12, 1780, and the mother July 20, 1784, and died August 17, 1855, in Root Township, this county. The father is buried in Alexandria, Genesee County, New York. and the mother in Monmouth cemetery, this county. Edwin was married October 20, 1856, to Miss Mary Berckley, who was born in Ohio and died in Root Township in the fall of 1863, leaving three children - Sarah E., born August 22, 1857; Harriet, born March 29 1859, and Chauncy C., born January 5, 1861. December 6, 1865,
Mr. Wilder was married to Miss Mary Thompson, who was born in Summit County, Ohio, January 3, 1839, where she lived until eleven years of age, when the family removed to Allegan County, Michigan, where she was reared and married. Her father, James Thompson, was born August 6, 1811, in Vermont, and in early life removed to Worcester, Massachusetts. He was married in Cambridge, Vermont, to Miss Hannah Lord. There were five children in her father's family - Stephen, Sarah, George, Otis and Mrs. Wilder. All are living but Otis, who was the youngest of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Wilder have no children. His grandfather, Hiram Wilder, and his grandmother Wilder, were born and died in Springfield, Massachusetts. His maternal grandparents were of English descent. Mrs. Wilder's grandparents, James and Mary (Dwinnell) Thompson, died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Her maternal grandfather, Reuben Lord, was born in Massachusetts, and died in Cambridge, Vermont. Her maternal grandmother, Martha (Divoll) Lord, was born February 24, 1779, and died in June, 1848.
Mr. Wilder voted the Republican ticket until the last two elections, when he voted the Prohibition ticket. He died on he homestead in Root Township February 27, 1887. His oldest brother, Dwight, renoved to Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where he was married, and where he died at the age of fifty-four years, leaving a wife and three sons. Eliza married, in Genesee County, a man named Samuel Holmes, who moved to Michigan. Harriet married, in Genesee County, a man named David Davis, who also moved to Michigan. Mary married William Garrett, and removed to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, thence to Van Wert Ohio; thence to St. Mary's, Ohio, where she died, leaving her husband and nine children. Laura married Samuel De Witt in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and moved to Lewiston, same State, where her husband died. Laura then removed to Adams County; thence to Wheatland, Missouri, where she lived with a married daughter, and where she passed the remainder of her days.
**Biographical and Historical Record - Adams and Wells Co. Indiana Lewis Publishing Co. Chicago, IL 1887
**Headstone photo - Jim Cox, Ft Wayne, Indiana 2011
