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- [S3341] Buch Cutter, Wm R Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex;, Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex;.
Thomas Wilder (1) fact
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Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex;
by Cutter, William Richard
Thomas Wilder, the immigrant WILDER ancestor of the Wilders of New England, appeared first in America in the town of Charlestown, Middlesex county, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he was a proprietor as early as 1638, and was
admitted as a freeman June 2, 1641. He married, and purchased land in the town in 1643.
His wife Ann was admitted to the choral May 2, 1650, and died in Lancaster, June 10, 1692.
He appears to have lived in Charlestown up to 1659, when he went through the wilderness to the newly organized town of Lancaster, Worcester county, which had been established on common land called Neshaway, May 13, 1053,
but was not given the full privilege of a town until May 7, 1673, six years after the death of the immigrant settler, and it was left to his descendants to defend the place from the Indians during the King Philip war, 1675-76, and against the French and Indians in the
p.302
summer of 1704, when his third son, Lieutenant Nathaniel Wilder (1650-1704), was killed by the Indians. The English ancestors of Thomas Wilder settled in Berkshire, England, on land granted to chief Nicholas Wilder by Henry VII in 1485; and the property previously known as the Sulham estate remained in the Wilder family for over four hundred
years. Nicholas Wilder was a chief in the army of the Earl of Richmond, who succeeded Richard III, killed at the battle of Bosworth Field, August 27, 1485, and was crowned by Lord Stanley as Henry VII, the ceremony taking place on an elevation afterwards known as Crown Hill on the battlefield. When Henry VII gave him the Sulham estate he also gave him a coat-of-arms, which is the rightful property of all of his descendants.
Thomas Wilder descended from this honored warrior chief through:
John (1),
John (2),
Thomas and his wife Martha, made a widow by his death in Shiplock, Oxfordshire, England, in 1632. The Widow Wilder with her daughter Mary followed his two sons, Edward and Thomas, to New England, taking passage in the ship ‘‘Confidence” that landed in Boston in 1638. She settled near her son Edward who had located at Hingham, married Elizabeth Ames and who died October 28, 1690, without issue. Thomas and Ann Wilder had six children:
Mary, born June 30, 1642.
Thomas, born September 14, 1644.
John, born 1646.
Elizabeth, born 1648.
Nathaniel, born November 3, 1650.
Ebenezer. He was a selectman of the town of Lancaster, 1660-67, and died October 23, 1667.
(11) Nathaniel Wilder, third son of
Thomas, the immigrant, and Ann Wilder, was
born in Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Col-
ony, November 3, 1650. He married Mary
Sawyer, of Lancaster, Worcester county,
daughter of Thomas and Mary Sawyer. He
was lieutenant in the militia of the town which
included every able-bodied man competent to
bear arms and which engaged in a fight with
the French and Indians who had attacked the
settlement ; he was killed by an Indian in July,
1704. The children of Nathaniel and Mary
(Sawyer) Wilder were; Nathaniel, born in
1675, who lived in Petersham. Ephraim, born
1678, representative from Lancaster in the
general court of the colony. Mary, born 1679.
Elizabeth, born 1685, died 1707. Jonathan,
born 1686, married and was killed by the In-
dians in 1707. Dorothy, born 1686, married
Samuel Coates. Oliver (q. v.).
(IIL) Oliver Wilder, youngest child and
fourth son of Nathaniel and Mary (Sawyer)
MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Wilder, was born in Lancaster, Massachu-
setts, in 1694, and was married in 1713 to
Mary, daughter of Jonathan Fairbanks, a sol-
dier in the King Philip’s war, and his wite
Deborah, daughter of Edward Shepard, both
Cambridge immigrants who arrived in Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony, May 10, 1643, and had
thirteen children. Oliver Wilder with his
brother Nathaniel were working on their
father’s farm in 1710-and they were attacked
by the Indians. In 1707 their brother Jona-
than had been cruelly tortured by the Indians
and their brother Ephraim severely. In this
instance Oliver and Nathaniel managed to es-
cape but their Indian companion, a servant of
the family who was working with them in the
field, was killed. Oliver was an ensign in the
militia from August 23, 1725, and he was
promoted through successive ranks to colonel,
and in 1757, when sixty-three years of age, he
turned out with his regiment at the news of
the massacre at Fort William Henry, Lake
George, 1757, and marched to the relief as
far as Springfield, when the need of assistance
had passed he returned with the regiment to
Worcester county. He, however, joined the
expedition to Ticonderoga and Crown Point
in 1759. He was moderator of town meeting
and a selectman of the town of Lancaster.
Colonel Wilder died in South Lancaster, Mas-
sachusetts, March 16, 1765. The children of
Colonel Oliver and Mary (Fairbanks) Wilder
were: Hannah, Mary, Oliver, Tilley, Keziah,
Tamar, Phineas, Lois, Moses and Abigail
Wilder.
(IV) Oliver Wilder, son of Colonel Oliver
and Mary (Fairbanks) Wilder, was born in
Lancaster, May 17, 1720. He was a justice of
the peace and captain of militia, serving in the
Indian wars. He married (first) Sarah
Townsend, by whom he had children: Ezra
Oliver and Sarah (twins), born November 7,
1743. His wife Sarah died in 1743. He mar-
ried (second), in 1745, Ruth The
children of Captain Oliver and Ruth Wilder
were: Samuel, born in 1746, and Tamar, born
1748. It was such a line of distinguished an-
cestors that Oliver Darwin Wilder sprang
from. His father, Josiah Prescott Wilder,
was born in Boston in 1801, married Amanda
Carter, of Buckland, Franklin county, Massa-
chusetts, and their children were: Oliver D.,
Charles, Nancy, Elizabeth, Josiah, Catherine,
Emeline, Milton and Susan, all born in New
Ipswich, New Hampshire.
Oliver Darwin Wilder, son of Josiah Pres-
cott Wilder, was born in New Ipswich, New
Hampshire, August 25, 1830. He attended
MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the public school, and worked on his father’s
farm. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F,
Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, and was
made sergeant of the company. At the close
of the war in 1865 he returned home and
worked for a number of years at the chair
business at Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He
removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1887,
and established a general provision market,
and he subsequently engaged in the hay and
grain business. He was a comrade of the
Grand Army of the Republic, Ladd-Whitney
Post, No. 185, Lowell, Massachusetts ; a mem-
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows; Knights of Pythias, Improved Order
of Red Men; and with his wife and family
members of the Highland Methodist Episco-
pal Church, Mr. Wilder serving as president
of the board of trustees of the church congre-
gation. In political faith he affiliated with the
Republican party, and held office as council-
man two years and one year as alderman.
He was married November 22, 1854, to
Caroline Elizabeth Maynard, of Ashburnham,
Massachusetts, daughter of Antipas May-
nard, and their children were: 1. Alice Row-
ena. born November 5, 1860, married
Charles Slater, and made her home in Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania. 2. Wesley Morrill,
born November 1, 1873, who married Bertha
Maria Ripley, July 19, 1899, and their chil-
dren were: Richard Franklin, born Septem-
ber 29, 1900; Ruth Lucille, born July 22,
1903; Donald Edward Wilder, born October
15, 1905. He engaged with his father in the
hay and grain business in Lowell, becoming a
partner in the business in 1894.
Jeremiah Butman, the immi-
BUTMAN grant ancestor, was an early
settler in Salem, Massachu-
setts. He was a fisherman by trade, and was
living as late as 1673 in Salem. He married,
October 8, 1659, Esther Lambert. Ann Pick-
ton, widow of Thomas Pickton, bequeathed in
her will, dated December 29, 1677, and proved
June, 1684, to William Cash, Sr.; to Jeremiah
Butman and wife and their children, Jeremiah,
Mathew, John, Joseph and Benjamin Butman.
She was some near relative of the Butman
family. In the early records the name was
frequently spelled Bootman and Buttman.
Children of Jeremiah Butman: 1. Mary, born
July 4, 1660. 2. Jeremiah, born November 4,
1662. 3. Mathew, born September 11, 1665,
mentioned below. 4. John, born about 1667.
5. Joseph, born about 1669, mentioned be-
low. 6. Benjamin, born about 1671.
303,
(11) Mathew Butman, son of Jeremiah But-
man (1), was born in Salem, September 11,
1665. Married Elizabeth ; children: 1.
William, born March 5, 1690. 2. Jeremiah, born
February 8, 1691. 3. Mathew, born April 28,
1693. 4. Edward or Edmund, born April 13,
1699. 5. Benjamin, baptized November 23,
1701. 6. Priscilla, born August 10, 1704. 7.
Elizabeth, born May 1,
born December 3, 1710.
UPL 7 Le:
(II) Joseph Butman, son of Jeremiah But-
man (1), was born in Salem about 1669. He
married Rebecca Children, born in
Beverly, where the family settled: 1. Rebecca,
born October 15, 1699. 2. Esther, born
August 1, 1701. 3. Rebecca, baptized August
23,1702. 4. Joseph, born April 1, 1704, men-
tioned below. 5. Daniel, born June 12, 1708.
6. Hannah, born May 12, 170—. 7. Lydia,
born September 10, 1710, baptized July 6,
1712. 8. Judith, born December 12, 1712. 9.
John, born January 10, 1714-15. 10. Judith,
born 1716, baptized November 18. 11. Amas,
born January 5, 1717-18.
(III) Joseph Butman, son of Joseph But-
man (2), was born in Beverly, Massachusetts,
April 1, 1704, died at Wenham, Massachu-
setts, July 16, 1777. He lived at Beverly,
Marblehead and Wenham. His wife was
probably Esther, who died at Wenham, Sep-
tember 2, 1782. Among their children was
Joseph, mentioned below.
(IV) Deacon Joseph Butman, son of
Joseph Butman (3), was born in 1740. He
lived at Marblehead in his later years and his
children may have been born there. He mar-
ried (first) Jane Wells, November 28, 1769, at
Marblehead ; married (second), May 22, 1774,
Emma Morse. He was a soldier in the Revo-
lution in 1777 under Captain Edward Fetty-
place, engaged in guarding the coast. He
was also in the navy and was taken prisoner.
He was delivered with other prisoners to
Colonel Gabriel Johonnot, March 17, 1778, by
Charles Waller, commissary of prisoners at
Rhode Island. Daniel and David Butman, of
Danvers, were in the Revolution. Joseph may
have lived at Danvers for a time. He was
deacon of the church at Marblehead. He died
1707. 8. Benjamin,
9g. Mary, born June
there October 16, 1812, aged seventy-two
years. Among his children were: 1. Daniel,
born about 1765; mentioned below. 2. John,
born about 1770, drowned October 12, 1809.
4/ 5 "
3. Joseph, Jr., resided in Marblehead; mar-
ried, April 28, 1793, Elizabeth Stiles: both he
and his son Joseph died before 1817. 4. Bet-
sey (?) married at Beverly Caleb Friend,
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