Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Wilder, Almon 1806 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 8, 2007, 2:38 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

ALMON WILDER. In making note of the pioneer settlers of Crete Township, the 
name of Mr. Wilder should occupy a prominent position. Acting upon the maxim 
that a rolling stone gathers no moss, he has for the long period of forty-
eight years maintained his residence upon the same farm, this embracing land 
which he entered from the Government in 1844, for the consideration of $1.25 
per acre. He owns eighty acres of the original entry, and forty acres which he 
purchased from another party. He has effected all the improvements upon it, 
this being accomplished solely by persevering industry and good management. 
The roof which shelters him and the comforts which surround him are a standing 
monument to his unremitting toil and his frugality, which made him careful to 
live within his income and make a wise provision for the future. Mr. Wilder 
came to Will County from Ashatabula County, Ohio, of which he had been a 
resident for many years. He was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., May 21, 1806, 
and is consequently eighty-four years old, but notwithstanding his years he is 
bright and active, well informed and intelligent and possesses such a clear 
recollection of past events that an hour may always be spent pleasantly and 
profitably in his company. During his younger years Mr. Wilder was one of the 
leading politicians of this part of the county. He originally voted with the 
Democratic party, but after the outbreak of the Rebellion transferred his 
support to Republican principles. He served as Township Supervisor nearly five 
terms, and for many years was Assessor and Collector. He maintains that his 
exceptional good health has been the result of correct habits and inhaling the 
pure country air. He has always followed agricultural pursuits, and he was 
uniformly successful as a tiller of the soil. The immediate progenitor of our 
subject was Ruben Wilder, Jr., a native of Vermont and of New England 
parentage. The paternal grandfather was Ruben Wilder, Sr., who was likewise 
born in Vermont, and who emigrated first to New York State and then to 
Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he spent his last days engaged in agricultural 
pursuits and dying when quite aged. The removal to Ohio was made as early as 
1810, or perhaps 1808. He was married in his native State to a lady who was 
also born in Vermont, and who, like him, lived to be quite aged. Grandfather 
Wilder was a prominent member of the Old School Baptist Church, a man of 
decided views and opinions, and who exererted no small influence among the 
people of his community. Ruben Wilder, Jr., the father of our subject, was the 
eldest child of his parents and was but a lad when they left his native State 
of Vermont and settled in Onondaga County, N. Y. He was there reared to 
manhood and married Miss Polly Herring. She was born in Vermont and was taken 
by her parents to New York State when a child. After her marriage to Ruben 
Wilder, Jr., they settled on a farm in Onondaga County, N. Y.,where their 
three eldest children were born, one of whom died in infancy. When Almon was a 
few years old they removed to Ohio, settling in the woods of Ashtabula County, 
where the father obtained a tract of Government land and opened up a farm. 
When quite well advanced in years they left the Buckeye State and removed to 
Dyer, Lake County, Ind., where they both died at an advanced age. They were 
consistent members of the Christian Church and adorned their profession by 
their daily walk and conversation, being kind and tender parents, hospitable 
neighbors, and doing good as they had opportunity to those around them. The 
subject of this notice was one of the elder members of a family of six sons 
and four daughters, and after the removal of the family to Ohio he went to 
live with his Grandfather Wilder, with whom he made his home until reaching 
his majority. Soon afterward he was married, in Ashtabula County, to Miss Anna 
Corey. This lady was born in New York and was taken to Ohio by her parents 
when a child, they settling in Ashtabula County, where Mr. Corey followed 
farming and where both he and his good wife spent the closing years of their 
lives. Mrs. Anna Wilder was carefully trained by her excellent parents and 
received her education in the common schools. She remained under the parental 
roof until her marriage and accompanied her husband to Lake County, Ind., 
where her death took place in 1840. She was then comparatively a young woman, 
but the mother of nine children, three of whom died in infancy. She proved the 
faithful partner of her husband and was a consistent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Six of their children are still living, and with two 
exceptions they are all married. Eliza is the wife of Alfred Robinson, who 
officiates as receiver in a Street-car Railroad Company in Chicago; Maria is 
the wife of Myron Mordorff, and they live on a farm in DeKalb County, this 
State; Mary is the wife of William C. Adams, a retired farmer of Crete 
Township; Martha, Mrs. John Dodge, lives on a farm in Crete Township; Melissa 
M. is a well-educated lady and for many years has been a teacher in the city 
schools of Chicago; Edward A. served in the Union Army during the Civil War 
and since its close has been a resident of Eldorado County, Cal.; he is 
single. Mr. Wilder, in 1842, contracted a second marriage in Cook County, this 
State, with Mrs. Louisa (Wilson) Raymond. This lady was born near London, 
England, and is of pure English stock as far back as is known. She emigrated 
to America when quite young, settling with her parents in Canada, where she 
was married to her first husband, George Raymond. They afterward removed to 
Michigan, where Mr. Raymond died when a young man, leaving three children. 
John died when thirty years old. The survivors are Christiana, the wife of H. 
P. Gray, a machinist of Chicago, and Ann who married Clark Holbrook, a farmer 
of Cook County, this State. Of this marriage of our subject there have been 
born two children: George H., married Miss Augusta Brown, and is farming in 
Cook County; Louisa is the wife of C. S. Howard, a leading business man of 
Denver, Colo., very wealthy and extensively engaged in the lumber business. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wilder are prominently connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, in which Mr. Wilder for many years has been a leading officer and to 
which he has always contributed a liberal support.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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