In 1772 - 27 adult Wilders paid poll tax. In the Revolutionary war, 22 Wilders were at some time in service. In 1798 there were twelve houses filled with Wilders and they were called the WILLFUL WILDERS. Thomas Wilder came to Lancaster from Charlestown with 340 pounds. He was in Charlestown as early as 1638 and admitted to the church in 1640 and made a freeman as 1641 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Information on Thomas Wilder from Brief Historical and Genealogical Sketches of the Earliest Proprietors and Pioneers of Lancaster Mass in two volumes 1883 pp 180-186. From The Book of the Wilders N.Y. 1878 THE CONN. NUTMEGGER MARCH 1975 PP 627-629 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Birth Marriage and death from THE BOOK OF THE WILDERS Thomas line pg 1 FHL 929273 W 645 wi Vol 1 Archive Record and TIB. It is believe by some good authorities that Thomas Wilder with his brother, Edward, and sister, Elizabeth, proceeded their mother and sister, Mary, to America. In 1640 in Charlestown, Mass, be became a freeman, was received into the church and was married. Around 1654 he removed to Lancaster, Worcester Co. Mass. His farm of 500 acres was near and easterly from the present town of Lancaster as marked by the burial grounds on his farm in which he was the first one buried. His gravestone says that he first in 1651 in Hingtown, Ma. He was a selectman in Lancastr from 1660 till his death. ---------------------------------------------------------------- From DESCENDANTS OF HARVEY WILDER by Harvey Wilder. There was some thought that his wife was Ann Johnson and not Ann Eames. This book also has a lot of the same materials as the above refernces.
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From HISTORY OF THE TOWM OF LANCASTER MASS. by Rev. Abajah P Marvin
From The Old Burying Grounds in Lancaster. “ SACRED to the memory of THOMAS WILDER from Lancaster in England who first settled in Hingham in 1641 and came to this town July 1 1659 and died Oct 23, 1867 leaving three sons viz, Thomas, John and Nathaniel, from whom are derived all of the name Wilder in this town and vicinity.”
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From THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER by Marion Fuller Safford
There were 22 Wilder descendants from Thomas Wilder in the Revolutionary War.