Fisher Family Genealogy

WILDER John Thomas

Male 1830 - 1917  (87 years)


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  • Name WILDER John Thomas 
    Birth 31 Jan 1830  Hunter Village, Greene Co., NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Death 20 Oct 1917  Jacksonville, Duval Co., FL Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Person ID I355  Main
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2007 

    Father WILDER, Reuben,   b. 17 Apr 1797   d. 15 Jun 1880 (Age 83 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother MERRITT, Mary   d. 17 Feb 1882 
    Relationship Birth 
    Family ID F338  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 STEWART Martha Jane,   b. 22 Sep 1837, Greensburg, Decatur Co., IN Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 29 Feb 1892, Johnson City, Washington Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 54 years) 
    Marriage 18 May 1858  [4, 5
    Children 
     1. WILDER Mary,   b. 18 Feb 1859   d. 29 May 1938 (Age 79 years)  [Birth]
     2. WILDER Annie,   b. 6 May 1861   d. 10 Feb 1931 (Age 69 years)  [Birth]
     3. WILDER Rachel,   b. 1 Jan 1865   d. 22 May 1941 (Age 76 years)  [Birth]
     4. WILDER Martha Rees,   b. 9 Jun 1868  [Birth]
     5. WILDER Stewart,   b. 17 Oct 1872  [Birth]
     6. Edith WILDER,   b. 8 Nov 1875, Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location  [Birth]
     7. WILDER Ruby,   b. 30 Mar 1880   d. 26 May 1880, Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 0 years)  [Birth]
    Family ID F149  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2007 

    Family 2 LEE, Dora E.   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 1904  [6
    Family ID F329  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2007 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 31 Jan 1830 - Hunter Village, Greene Co., NY Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 20 Oct 1917 - Jacksonville, Duval Co., FL Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • (VII) BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS WILDER. son of Reuben and Mary (Merritt) Wilder, was born at Hunter Village, Greene County, New York, January 31, 1830, and died at Jacksonville, Florida October 20, 1917. Internment was in Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

      As a boy he served as an apprentice draftsman in a millwright plant at Columbus, Ohio, later establishing his own foundry and mill at Greensburg, Indiana. By the time of the outbreak of the Civil War his business was a success and his products were sold in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He was member of the Democratic party when the war commenced, but decided that he would support the Union cause and had two six-pound cannon cast in his foundry. In May, 1861, he organized a light artillery for the first three-year regiment recruited in Indiana, which was mustered into service as Company K of the 17th Indiana Infantry, with Wilder as captain. June 12, 1861, he was appointed by Governor Oliver P. Morton lieutenant-colonel of the 17th Indiana Volunteer Infantry and was advanced to colonelcy the following year. His command first saw service in West Virginia and was with Buell’s army in the second day’s battle at Shiloh. It was after this that he was given command, as senior colonel, of a brigade which served at Munfordville, Kentucky, and in the Tullahoma campaign in Middle Tennessee. In June, 1863, when Hoover’s Gap in the Cumberland Mountains was held by a strong Confederate force to give Bragg’s main army time to fall back toward Chattanooga, Wilder’s brigade forced the gap open and pursued its defenders when they retreated. As a result of the engagement the command came to be known as “Wilder’s Lightning Brigade.” It was composed of the Indiana and Illinois infantry regiments, but differed from other infantry commands in that his men were equipped, at the insistance of Wilder, with the then new model Spencer repeating rifles, and its troopers were mounted. Cist, the historian of the Army of the Cumberland, wrote in 1897, to President McKinley: “General Sheridan told me just after the battle of Chickamauga that he would rather have Wilder’s military reputation than that of any other man in the service.” On August 6, 1864, Wilder was brevetted brigadier-general in recognition of his services.

      Resigning from the army in October, 1864, he removed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and took part in leading the development of natural resources around that city. He founded the Roane Iron Works and built one of the first blast furnaces in the South. In 1870 he established a rail mill at Chattanooga, and was also active in the promotion and construction of the Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago railroad. For himself and his associates he acquired about half a million acres of iron and coal lands in Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, and built the Carnegie furnace at Johnson City. He was mayor and postmaster, at Chattanooga, pension agent at Knoxville, and commissioner of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and an honorary member of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. President Benjamin Harrison asked General Wilder to serve as his Secretary of War, but he refused.

      Brigadier-General John Thomas Wilder married (first), May 18, 1858, Martha Jane Stewart. (Stewart III.) He married (second), in 1904, Dora E. Lee, of North Carolina, whose father was a captain in the Confederate Army. [7]

  • Sources 
    1. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 568, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS WILDER. son of Reuben and Mary (Merritt) Wilder, was born at Hunter Village, Greene County, New York, January 31, 1830...

    2. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 568, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS WILDER...died at Jacksonville, Florida October 20, 1917.

    3. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 568, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      Internment was in Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

    4. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 569, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      Brigadier-General John Thomas Wilder married (first), May 18, 1858, Martha Jane Stewart.

    5. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 571, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      She (Martha Jane Stewart) Married Brigadier-General John Thomas Wilder.

    6. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 569, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).
      He (John Thomas Wilder) married (second), in 1904, Dora E. Lee...

    7. [SR1] Wilfred Jordan, editor, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1942), 568-576), 568-569, 974.8 D2c 1978. (Reliability: 2).