Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES ALLEN WILDER
The honor of lifelong identification with California and the distinction of influential association with the
agricultural interests of Sacramento county may be claimed by James
Allen Wilder. In addition, he is proud of the fact that his father,
Benjamin Wilder, was one of the pioneers of that memorable year of 1849.
The family of the mother, who bore the family name of Elitha
C. Donnor and who was born in Springfield, Ill., October 11, 1832,
was even more early in its efforts to reach the coast,
and the sad fate of their expedition aroused a wave of sympathy throughout the
entire world. They had started for the coast in 1846, when Mrs. Wilder
was a girl of fourteen. Unfortunately, delays prevented them from
completing the journey ere cold weather commenced. They were confronted
by the fear of being obliged to spend the winter on the east side of the
mountains. Their alternative was the attempt to cross the Sierras.
They chose the latter, and most of the party perished in the snows of the
mountains, but this young girl was one of the survivors
who, almost starved and well-nigh exhausted, reached the American settlements
on the
12th of March, 1847. She had
been snowed up in the Sierras for months. During 1854 she became the wife
of Benjamin Wilder, who was born in Rhode Island March 27, 1821,
descended from colonial residents of New
England. The schools of Rhode Island and those of Springfield, Ohio, afforded Benjamin Wilder exceptional advantages for that
day, and when only seventeen he was able to successfully teach school, which
work he pursued for the ensuing five years. At the age of twenty-two he
traveled south to New
Orleans and secured
employment as a bookkeeper, but in 1848 he returned to Springfield, Ohio. The news concerning the discovery of gold in California caused a change in his plans, and he forthwith began to
prepare for a trip to the coast. From 1849 to 1852 he worked in the
mines, and then for two years he ran an old-fashioned stage coach out from Sacramento
to Jackson, Amador county, During 1855 he began to be interested in the stock
business and in 1856 he bought a Spanish grant comprising five thousand two
hundred and twenty acres, but unfortunately he lost the place in 1861, all
being wrested from his possession with the exception of one section of
land. Discouraged by his ill luck, he returned to the mines, where he
remained about ten years. Again, in 1872, he resumed agricultural
pursuits, and this time he settled in Franklin district, Sacramento county, where he engaged in
raising grain and stock until the infirmities of age necessitated his
withdrawal from active labors. His death occurred in 1898 at the old
homestead. His wife still continues to reside at the old family home,
having been a resident of California for sixty-six years.
During the sojourn of the family at Camp Pocahontas, a mining camp in Eldorado county, James Allen Wilder was born March 25, 1862. As a boy he lived at Placerville, the same county, and attended the public schools.
When his father settled upon a farm he began to assist him in the cultivation
of the land and the care of the stock. Eventually he was trusted with
greater responsibilities and long before his father's demise he had relieved
him of the greater share of the heavy tasks on the farm. Since the death
of his father he has continued farming operations for himself, owning two
hundred and fifty head of cattle as well as other stock, besides which he is
also running his mother's place of four hundred and eighty acres of land.
September
6, 1911. he
was united in marriage with Mrs. Ora Mary Bryant, who
was born at Fort Scott, Kan., and has made California her home since 1890. Upon the farm he has made
improvements as needed, and the property now ranks as one of the best-improved
in the vicinity of Bruceville. Having worked
with steadfast devotion on the farm, he has had no leisure for participation in
public affairs, and has taken no part in the same aside from voting the
Republican ticket. The only fraternity in which he has become an active
member, the Knights of Pythias, receives his cordial
co-operation in benevolent and civic enterprises.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 598-600. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sally Kaleta.