BIO: Barrens Sylvester Wilder, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                            CHAPTER XXXVIII.

                          BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

400   BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

  BARRENS SYLVESTER WILDER (deceased), late proprietor of the "Mansion

401  BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

House," Carlisle, was a native of Ohio.  He was born December 18, 1833, 
and was a son of Dwight and Harriet (Barrens) Wilder, the former a 
native of Massachusetts, and by occupation a farmer.  To Mr. and Mrs. 
Dwight Wilder three sons and one daughter were born, of whom Barrens 
S., the subject of this sketch, was the second son and child, and when 
but a small boy his parents moved to this county, and settled on a 
farm, where Barrens grew up, attending school during the winters.  
December 20, 1859, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Gurtner, who was 
born in York County, Penn., July 22, 1843, a daughter of John and Susan 
(Wise) Gurtner, the former of whom was a blacksmith, a native of 
Germany, and who came to this country when a child, and whose father, 
George Gurtner, settled in York County, Penn.  John and Susan (Wise) 
Gurtner were the parents of one son and three daughters:  Mary, who 
married Hezekiah Williams; John; Harriet, who married John Barnet, and 
Elizabeth, the wife of our subject.  Mr. and Mrs. Barrens S. Wilder 
soon after marriage engaged in the hotel business, taking charge of the 
"Railroad House," at New Cumberland, which they conducted for four 
years; then took the hotel at Bridgeport, Cumberland County, with which 
they were identified until 1876, when they removed to Carlisle, and 
took charge of the "Mansion House," where Mr. Wilder died March 17, 
1884.  He was prominently connected with Masonry, having passed all the 
chairs in the various degrees of the order to the thirty-second degree, 
and was also a prominent member of the I. O. O. F.  He was a member of 
the town council of Carlisle for three years, and stood high in the 
estimation of all as an upright, honest citizen.  To Mr. and Mrs. 
Wilder five children were born, of whom the following named are living:  
Clara, wife of John Klink, resident of Harrisburg, a telegraph operator 
by profession, but at present employed as a clerk and book-keeper for 
Cumberland Valley Railroad Company; Susie, Arabella and Robert A.  All 
the children were born at New Cumberland, Cumberland County, and the 
youngest three reside with their mother.