The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, issue 1 | Page 6

attractions. She died
on a visit to that town, July 21, 1831, leaving four children. On the
twenty-ninth of August, 1833, Mr. Wilder was united to Miss Abigail,
daughter of Captain David Baker of Franklin, Massachusetts, a lady of
education, accomplishments, and piety, who died of consumption,
April 4, 1854, leaving five children. He was married a third time on the
eighth of September, 1855, to her sister, Miss Julia Baker, who was
admirably qualified to console him and make his dwelling cheerful, and
who has two sons, both living. No man has been more blessed in
domestic life. We know not where there would be a more pleasing
picture of peace and contentment exhibited than is found in this happy
family. In all his pursuits and avocations, Mr. Wilder seems to have
realized and practised that grand principle, which has such a bearing
and influence on the whole course of life--the philosophy of habit, a
power almost omnipotent for good or evil. His leisure hours he devotes
to his pen, which already has filled several large volumes with
descriptions and delineations of fruits and flowers, proved under his
own inspection, and other matters pertaining to his various relations in
life.
Colonel Wilder has shown us by his life what an individual may
accomplish by industry, perseverance, and the concentration of the

intellectual powers on grand objects. Without these, no talent, no mere
good fortune could have placed him in the high position he has attained
as a public benefactor. He has been pre-eminent in the establishment
and development of institutions. Few gentlemen have been called upon
so often, and upon such various occasions, to take the chair at public
meetings or preside over constituted societies. Few have acquitted
themselves so happily, whether dignity of presence, amenity of address,
fluency of speech, or dispatch of business, be taken into consideration.
As a presiding officer he seems "to the manner born." His personal
influence has been able to magnetize a half-dying body into new and
active life. This strong personal characteristic is especially remarked
among his friends. No one can approach him in doubt, in despondency,
or in embarrassment, and leave him without a higher hope, a stronger
courage, and a manlier faith in himself. The energy which has impelled
him to labor still exists.
Mr. Wilder is now president of the New England Historic Genealogical
and Society, the American Pomological Society, and the Massachusetts
Agricultural Club. He is senior trustee of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College, and senior member of the State Board of
Agriculture, and of the executive committee of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society. He is senior director in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, the Hamilton National Bank, the New England
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and the Home Savings Bank. He is an
honorary member of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain; a
corresponding member of the Royal Horticultural Society of London,
and the Societe Centrale d' Horticulture of France; and a fellow of the
Reale Accademia Araldica Italiana of Pisa.
Well did Governor Bullock on a public occasion speak of Mr. Wilder
as "one who has applied the results of his well-earned commercial
earnings so liberally that in every household and at every fireside in
America, when the golden fruits of summer and autumn gladden the
sideboard and the hearthstone, his name, his generosity, and his labors
are known and honored." He is also known and honored abroad. The
London Gardener's Chronicle, the leading agricultural paper in Europe,
in April, 1872, gave his portrait and a sketch of his life, in which is

introduced the following merited compliment:--
"We are glad to have the opportunity of laying before our readers the
portrait of one of the most distinguished of transatlantic horticulturists,
and one who, by his zeal, industry, and determination, has not only
conferred lasting benefits on his native country, but has by his careful
experiments in hybridization and fruit-culture laid the horticulturists of
all nations under heavy obligations to him. The name and reputation of
Marshall P. Wilder is as highly esteemed in Great Britain as they are in
America."
In closing this sketch, we may remark that complimentary banquets
were given him on the eightieth and the eighty-fifth anniversaries of his
birth. On the former occasion, September 22, 1878, the Reverend
James H. Means, D.D., his pastor for nearly thirty years, the Honorable
Charles L. Flint, secretary of the Board of Agriculture, the Honorable
John Phelps Putnam, judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court, and
others, paid tributes to the high moral character, the benevolent
disposition, and the eminent services, of the honored guest of the
evening.
The last banquet, September 22, 1883, on his completing the ripe age
of eighty-five, was a much more important occasion. The banquet was
held, as the former was, at the Parker House,