Unsolved Maine Wilder Mystery
Temple, Maine - Abel Wilder (-10/27/1857) - Grace(-6/10/1823)
Wilder Ancestry Help Needed
Hi, I'm hoping that someone might be able to help with my ancestral research as I'm stumped in tracing any further. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
I've traced one line of my ancestors to Temple, Maine where it has come to an end with little solid proof of anything beyond it.
Here's what I've got so far (in brief)
Oscar Lee Ranger (my great-grandfather) married Abbie Marie Derby on April 4, 1903.
Abbie Derby was the daughter of James Alfonzo Derby (1850-1923) and Amy York (1860-1946)
James Derby was the son of Aaron Derby (1794-1880) and Jane Wilder (1810-1881).
Temple Maine Vital records show that Jane Wilder was the daughter of Abel and Grace Wilder: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mefrankl/tempvr.htmhttp://www.rootsweb.com/~mefrankl/tempvr.htm
I have visited several cemeteries in Temple and have found several Wilders buried there.
Jane Wilder and Aaron Derby are found in the Temple Flat Cemetery - along with several of their young children who all died young, apparently with only one suriving son - (my ancestor) James Derby.
Abel and Grace Wilder (it is supposed) were married prior to Sept 11 1796 as Temple Maine "Vital Records" show that a daughter Sally was born to this couple on this date.
However, even though Temple VR records show DOB's on people in Temple, it doesn't appear (to me, atleast) that they were born in Temple. (Other research, on my part, indicates that Temple was originally named Abbotstown Plantation for a family of Abbotts that were the first settlers of Temple and this settlement did not occur until about 1803 when Benjamin Abbott (3/17/1770-9/10/1826)
Source: "Benjamin Abbott of Temple, Maine and his Descendants"
written byA. Louis Dennison andprinted in "SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY Vol XI pages 22-31"
The Maine.gov web site states the following about Temple: "Temple a town in Franklin County, incorporated on June 20, 1803 from Abbotstown Plantation, formerly township T1 AP. It annexed land from Wilton in 1831. Settled in 1796, it was the site of an early and strong community of Quakers."
http://www.maine.gov/local/franklin/temple/http://www.maine.gov/local/franklin/temple/
Temple Maine Vital Records report several different Wilder families living there at the time, however, they all seem to come from one family or possibly two brothers (Elias Wilder may either be a son or a brother to Abel Wilder)
Abel and Grace Wilder, it is reported, had the following children:
Sally b. 9/11/1796
Morenda b. 6/7/1799
Alice b. 3/15/1802 d. 3/30/1803 - 1yo
Hary b. 1/1/1804
Dorcas Southers b. 10/26/1808 d. 8/17/1832 (age 23)
Jane b. 12/15/1810 (this is the Jane Wilder who married Aaron Derby)
Samuel Oaks b. 7/4/1815
Apparently Grace (wife of Abel) died 6/10/1823)
Abel remarried (supposedly) to Abigail ____ before 9/20/1827 as a child Moses Warren Wilder was born to Abigail and Abel.
Silas Wilder was b. 3/9/1829
Isaac b. 7/24/1831 d. 8/12/1831 (died as infant)
Jacob b. 7/24/1831 d. ____ (no date) Died Young
Abel (the father) dies on 10/27/ age 70/71y
Abigail (Abel's second wife) dies 12/14/1861
I have to repeat that the above info is from Temple Maine Vital Records. Other Wilder family details are also included with the vrs (ie, children and spouses of some of the Wilders listed above.
Further research I conducted shows the following:
I visited all the known cemeteries in Temple and it gets confusing:
No cemeteries have a Grace Wilder who would have been the wife of Abel Wilder. No cemeteries have an Abigail Wilder.
The only Wilders found in cemeteries in Temple were:
1. Jane Wilder who married Aaron Derby (and a few of their children) (daughter of Abigail and Abel Wilder).
2. Silas Wilder, his wife Alice K, and son Frank A (tombstone says that Frank was "Only son") (Silas was a son of Abel and Abigail listed above) - they apparently had a daugher (Mary Alice b. 1/28/1863)
3. Samuel Oaks Wilder (son of Abel and Grace Wilder) with wife Emeline K ___ b. 9/16/1829 d. 1/27/1921 - and their son Henry L who died in 1878 at age of 19 - and their other son Eugene M who died in 1899 (ae 39) and Euguene's wife "Etta H" who died in 1891 at the age of 29.
A cemetery which I could not find (which I'll explain futher), it is reported that it had the graves of Elias Wilder and his wife Rebecca. Tombsone's read Elias d. July 26 and his wife d. Jan 19, 1853. http://www.rootsweb.com/~mefrankl/ctrhilltemp.htmhttp://www.rootsweb.com/~mefrankl/ctrhilltemp.htm
Temple vitals report that Rebecca Wilder died 1858 at the age of 81yo 10m, which puts her DOB at 1776/77. This means that she was about the same age as Abel. So I am assuming that Abel and Elias were brothers coming from New Hampshire with the Abbott family who came at the same time from New Hampshire.
Ok... I need to explain the cemetery I could not find.
First, the cemetery is not accessible by car. I had to walk a good mile or so up a dirt road going up Center Hill in Temple. There's no running water anywhere near this place, which seems odd for a bunch of early settlers in the late 1700's. I came to an old house (maybe 100-150 years old) still standing but everything grown up around it. Stone walls were everywhere. Not like most stone walls which would be 100's of yards from each other. These stone walls were maybe 50 feet apart and going vertical as well as horizontal and went on forever at the same distance apart.
One place had a pile of stones just stacked on top of each other maybe 10 feet high. These people seem to have spent most of their time moving around stones and building walls. But, no cemetery could be found (even though the person who recorded the gravestones said the following, "Overgrown when visited in the early 1980's. Indentation indicate there are many more burials than stones" recorded by Theo Walker of Farmington - and he recorded 29 persons there 20 years ago.
The interesting thing about the recording of stones by Walker is that it indicated that Elias Wilder, Rebecca Wilder, Abijah Derby, Charles D Whittemore, and Susan (Mitchell) all died in 1853 - all were adults. No children recorded buried in the cemetery.
Now, to add some spice to the research.My Wilder research came across some interesing similarities to another interesting figure. And, that is Helen Jewett aka Dorcas Doyen, a female prostitute in NYC, who was murdered in 1836 and was supposedly born in Temple, Maine in 1813.
http://www.common-place.org/vol-02/no-02/tales/http://www.common-place.org/vol-02/no-02/tales/
which captivated Nathaniel Hawthorne - for more info: http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/books/patricia_cohen.htmhttp://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/books/patricia_cohen.htm
Temple Maine vitals show noone by the name of Dorcas Doyen having been born. However Jacob and Mary Doyen, who are listed among Temple vitals show that they had six sons and a daughter named Rachel b. 1803
The Wilder family show a Dorcas who died at the age of 23.
The Dorcas Doyen from Temple is reported to have died at the age of 23. Both born in Temple at about the same time.
However, Temple vitals show a dob of Dorcas Wilder as 10/26/1808 and not 1813.
This interesting tidbit may have nothing to do with the Wilder Family, but I am having very difficult time trying to trace any of the families to put some ancestral heritage to the Wilders.
So, I then try to research the other families who came at about the same time to Temple, to figure out if the Wilders came from the same communities.
Best guess, so far is that they came either from "New Hampshire" "Vermont" or "Plymouth Mass"
Any help with Wilder or other family ancestry that arrived in Temple Maine in the late 1700's would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Miles Ranger
More Replies:
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Re: Unsolved Maine Wilder Mystery
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Re: Unsolved Maine Wilder Mystery