Wildbore/Wilbore/Wilbor/Wilbur - Descendants of Samuel Wildbore ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Rhode Island USGenWeb Project. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wildbore/Wilbore/Wilbor/Wilbur - Descendants of Samuel Wildbore Wilbur (Wildbore) Arms – Sable, on a fesse between two boars passant argent, a javelin point of the field. Crest – The upper part of a spear proper thrust through a boar’s head erased argent, Cropping blood proper. One of the many notable characters of early Massachusetts history, who were identified with the teachings of Mr. Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, and in consequence were exiled from the colony by the Puritan authorities, was Samuel Wildbore, the progenitor of a large proportion of the Wilbur families of New England to-day.  The surname as used by the founder continued through one or two generations of his descendants, and in the records of the towns where they settled we find the entries Wilbore, Wildboare, Wildbore. Soon afterward the contracted forms, Wilbur, Wilbar, Wilber and Wilbor appeared, and it is to the first orthography that the family in New England at the present time adheres most consistently. The majority of the descendants of Samuel Wildbore, of Boston, Portsmouth, and Taunton, where the scene of his life was chiefly laid, have used the spelling Wilbur since the third generation. The name in its original form had its source in a nickname and signifies literally “the wild boar.” We find the entry “Willelmus Wyldebore” in the Poll Tax for the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1379. (I) Samuel Wildbore, immigrant ancestor and founder, was born in England and is believed to have come to this country before 1633 with his wife and several children. His first wife, Ann Wildbore, is thought by many authorities to have been the daughter of Thomas Bradford, of Doncaster, County York, England. He married (second) Elizabeth Lechford, widow of Thomas Lechford. In 1633 Samuel Wildbore was made a freeman in Boston, and with his wife was admitted to the church in December of the same year. In 1634 he was assessor of taxes. By 1637 he seems to have fallen away from the recognized church, for on November 20 of that year he was one of several disarmed “in consequence of having been seduced and led into dangerous error by the opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson,” and given license to depart from the colony. Shortly thereafter he removed to Rhode Island, where he is next recorded in Portsmouth, on March 7, 1638, on which date he was one of eighteen who entered into the following compact: “We, whose names are underwritten, do here solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick, and as he shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estate, unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his given us in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.” In 1638 Samuel Wildbore was chosen clerk of the train band. In the following year he was made constable and given an allotment of a neck of land lying in the great cove, containing about two acres. In 1640 he and Ralph Earle, who seems to have been associated in some way with him, were ordered to furnish the town of Newport with new sawed boards at eight shillings per hundred feet, and half-inch boards at seven shillings, to be delivered at the “pit,” by the water-side.  On March 16, 1641, he was made a freeman in Portsmouth; in 1644 he was sergeant of militia, and in 1645 returned to Boston with his wife. On November 29, 1645, Samuel Wildbore and his wife were received into the church in Boston, and in a deposition made May 2, 1648, he made oath that when he married the widow of Thomas Lechford he received no part of her former husband’s estate. In 1655 he was again at Portsmouth, but at the time of making his will he lived in Taunton and at the same time had a house in Boston. His will was recorded both in Massachusetts and in Plymouth Colony. It bore the date of April 30, 1656, and was admitted to probate November following. His estate was inventoried at Ł282 19s. 6d. (II) William Wilbor, son of Samuel and Ann (Bradford) Wildbore, was born in England about 1630, and died in 1710 at Tiverton, R. I. On June 10, 1654, he received a deed of ten acres from Samuel Wildbore, then of Taunton. On December 10, 1657, he was granted eight acres. On June 7, 1671, he served as juryman. In 1678, William Wilbor represented the town of Portsmouth in the Rhode Island General Assembly. He owned property in Portsmouth, Little Compton, Swansea, and in Kings Town, the greater part of which he disposed of by deed to his sons before his death. His will, dated March 1, 1710, was proved August 15 following. (III) Samuel (2) Wilbur, son of William and Martha Wilbor, was born in 1664, and died in 1740. He married, in 1689, Mary Potter, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Stokes) Potter. He was a resident of Little Compton, where he followed the occupation of  farming. His will, dated January 14, 1730, was proved June 17, 1740. (IV) William (2) Wilbur, son of Samuel (2) and Mary (Potter) Wilbur, was born in Little Compton, R. I., January 6, 1695, and died in September, 1774.  He married, June 20, 1717, Esther Burgess, daughter of Thomas and Esther Burgess, who was born in 1696, and died in 1768. William Wilbur was executor of his father’s estate, and inherited his dwelling house and west half of the homestead farm. He also received part of his working tools. (V) Thomas Wilbur, son of William (2) and Esther (Burgess) Wilbur, was born in Little Compton, May 31, 1718, and died March 5, 1797. He married (first) Edith Woodman, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Briggs) Woodman, who was born December 20, 1719. He married (second) July 27, 1761, Mary Hoxie, daughter of Solomon and Mary (Davis) Hoxie, who was born September 9, 1737, and died August 4, 1827. (VI) John Wilbur, son of Thomas and Mary (Hoxie) Wilbur, was born July 17, 1774, and died May 1, 1856. He married, October 17, 1793, Lydia Collins, daughter of Amos and Thankful Collins, who was born April 29, 1778, and died December 19, 1852. Their children were: 1. Thomas. 2. Amos C., mentioned below. 3. Lydia. 4. Phebe. 5. Susan C. 6. Sarah S. 7. Mary. 8. John. 9. Hannah C. 10. Ruth. 11. William H. 12. Anna A., born April 20, 1818, died Oct. 29, 1896; married, Oct. 24, 1837, Ethan Foster, 13. Elizabeth W., born Jan. 16, 1821. (VII) Amos C. Wilbur, son of John and Lydia (Collins) Wilbur, was born in Hopkinton, November 25, 1796. He was educated in the local schools and for a few years taught the Hopkinton school during the winter months. During the summer he assisted his father on the farm. Eventually determining on the medical profession for his life-work, he entered Bowdoin College, Maine, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He began active practice in Peace Dale, R. I., but later removed to Fall River, Mass., where for several years he conducted a drug store. In 1852, with Rev. John Wilbur, Amos C. Wilbur visited England, on a religious mission for the Society of Friends. Here he met and, in 1854, married, in the town. of Bakewell, County Derby, Catherine Smith, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Holt) Smith. On their return to America they settled in Hopkinton, where Mr. Wilbur died, December 1, 1873. Mrs. Wilbur died in 1861. Their children were: 1. John E., of Tampa, Fla., where he is engaged in the growing of oranges. 2. Lucy M., who became the wife of the late Edwin Bragg Foster, of Westerly. Mrs. Foster possesses a picture of the old Wilbur house on Diamond Hill, Hopkinton, built prior to 1739, which was the birthplace of the Rev. John Wilbur.