Newhanover-Onslow County NcArchives Obituaries.....Wilder, Jesse December 9, 1914
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Bill Gibson bgibson@uncfsu.edu July 2, 2006, 1:07 am

The Morning Star, Wilmington, NC - Thursday, December 10, 1914
CAPT. JESSE WILDER DEAD

Prominent Naval Stores Man in Wilmington for Many Years--Career of 
Great Usefulness Ended.

   Capt. Jesse Wilder, for nearly 50 years prominent in Wilmington as 
a business man, passed away yesterday afternoon at 3:20 o'clock after 
an illness of six weeks.  He had sufficiently recovered from his 
first attack to be able to return to his work on the wharf ten days 
ago, but suffered a relapse after two days.  He grew gradually worse, 
but his wonderful vitality did not fail him and he remained conscious 
almost to the last moment.

   The announcement of his death will bring profound sorrow not only 
to a host of friends in Wilmington, but throughout this entire 
section.  He had been in the naval stores business since 1868 on the 
wharf and was widely known to the trade both in the North and South.  
He had been in this business here longer than anyone else.

   He was simple and unaffected in manner, full of the joy of living, 
industrious, always mindful of his own affairs and always willing and 
glad to help those in need.  Had he lived until next February he 
would have been 78 years old, and yet so lightly did his years rest 
upon him, that unless one knew his age, he was always considered to 
be much younger.

   Captain Wilder took a prominent interest in fraternal 
organizations, finding there taught many of the lessons which he 
daily practiced.  He became a member of St. Johns' Lodge of Masons, 
No. 1, on January 10, 1868, and at the time of his death was the only 
living charter member of Stonewall Lodge, No. 1, Knights of Pythias, 
which was organized in 1879.

   The business of Captain Widler on the wharf, now the George L. 
Morton Company, was founded by Captain Wilder in 1868, shortly after 
the close of the War Between the States.  He continued the business 
alone and most successfully until 1872, when he was joined by the 
late S. H. Morton, his brother-in-law.  Upon the death of the latter, 
his son, Col. George L. Morton, took his place and the George L. 
Morton Company was established, with Captain Wilder as general 
manager.  They did as big business in naval stores and Captain Wilder 
was recognized as being the best posted man in this line in this 
section.

   Captain Wilder served for four years in the Confederate Army, one 
year in the Second Georgia batallion of infantry and three years in 
the Fourth North Carolina cavalry.  He was captured the day before 
the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox and spent some months in 
the Federal prison at Sandusky, Ohio.

   Captain Wilder was a native of Onslow county, but in early boyhood 
moved with his parents to Georgia.  Before the war he was engaged in 
the naval stores business in that State, and gave this up to enter 
the Confederate army.

   For ten years or longer Captain Wilder served as a member from the 
First ward on the Democratic Board of Audit and Finance of the city 
of Wilmington, having given up this office in November, 1910.

   The only near relatives surviving him are his niece, Miss Eliza 
Morton, who was a constant attendant at his bedside during his last 
illness and was with him when the end came, and a nephew, George L. 
Morton, Jr., both these being children of Col. George L. Morton, 
formerly of this city and now of Atlanta, Ga.  Capt. Wilder's wife 
died about 40 years ago and he never married again.

   The funeral will be conducted from the Orton hotel this afternoon 
at 3:30 o'clock by Rev. Dr. A. D. McClure, pastor of St. Andrew's 
Presbyterian church, a lifelong friend of the deceased.  The 
interment will be in Bellevue cemetery and will be with Masonc 
[Masonic] honors.  The members of Cape Fear camp of Confederate 
veterans, of which he was a member, will also attend the services and 
will escort the remains of their comrade and friend to the grave.

   The pallbearers will be as follows: Gen. James I. Metts and 
Messrs. Herbert McClammy, R. C. Cantwell, S. M. Boawright, John S. 
McEachern and A. S. Holden.

Additional Comments:
Jesse Wilder was the son of Abram & Eliza Wilder.  His sister, Mary 
Carrie, married Stephen H. Morton of Onslow County.  About 1871, S.H. 
Morton, Mary Carrie, and their child, George Lee, moved to 
Wilmington, N.C.  Shortly thereafter S.H. Morton went to work with 
his brother-in-law in the turpentine distilling business.

The business was located on Nutt Street.  Abram Wilder, a cooper, 
worked for a time, with his son.  Abram Wilder died in 1884 and 
Stephen H. Morton died in 1886.

George Lee Morton, Sr. became a regional manager for the Galena Oil 
Company, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, and moved his family from 
Wilmington to Atlanta in 1910.

Eliza Ward Morton, was a daughter of George Lee, Sr. from his first 
marriage. She would have been almost 21 years old at the time of 
Jesse Wilder's death.  George Lee, Jr. was the son of Mildred Gracey 
Thompson, George Lee, Sr.'s second wife.

Jesse Wilder was born in 1839 and died the 9th day of December, 1914.

Jesse, Abram and Mary Carrie Wilder are buried together with Stephen 
H., George Lee, Sr. & Jr. in Bellevue Cemetery, Wilmington, NC.

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