The latest Wilder book (1998 printing which I have not seen) is a continuation of the work started in 1876 and published in 1878 by Rev. Moses H. Wilder and supports the lineage back to Nicholas Wilder. According to this work (quote supplied by a correspondant):
"Some of have confused this family with that of another Thomas Wilder of Shiplake, yeoman (son of Richard) who died in 1619. This Thomas married in 1606 at Reading, Berkshire to Martha Keene and had sons, Isaac, Mathew, and Abraham and daughters, Elizabeth and Marie. There were many Wilders in the area at the time, so it is not known whether Thomas Wilder who died in 1619 was descended from one of the seven sons of Nicholas or was from another migration. There are records showing Wilders in the region before the time of Henry VII, in whose army our Nicholas was a military Chieftain."[Note: The will of Thomas Wilder names wife Martha, above named children and one unborn.] Reportedly, some pages of the Shiplake parish register for the relevant time period were removed.
It seems that the current consensus is that the 1998 Wilder book is correct, that Martha Wilder Underwood (-1658) was a descendant of Nicholas Wilder (ca.1464-?). Clark seems to base his claim that Martha Wilder who immigrated in 1638 was Martha Keene because of the other Keene's shown on the passenger list. He also cites the 1606 marriage record at St. Mary's Reading of Thomas Wylder to Martha Keene. Since I have not seen the Wilder book, I cannot say any more at this point. The stuff on the internet does not provide sources, analysis or rationale. My instinctive conclusion is most likely Mary Wilder Underwood was the daughter of Thomas Wilder (1579-1634) (descendant of Nicholas (ca. 1464-?)) and Martha (unknown), but that either theory could be proven or disproven by subsequent evidence or analysis. Maybe some DNA testing?
However, it does appear that Mary Wilder Underwood was the Mary Wilder "daughter" immigrated to America in 1638 on the Confidence with her mother Martha Wilder "of Shiplake, county Oxford, spinster", "spinster" in this context meaning widow. It has been presumed that Martha's children included Edward and Elizabeth who supposedly immigrated before 1638 and that John remained in England. Edward Wilder married 1 Apr 1651 at Plymouth to Elizabeth Eames and died 28 Oct 1690 at Hingham; Elizabeth married 16 Jan 1639 at Hingham to Thomas Ensign and died 1688 at Doxbury or Marshfield. I have not seen primary source citations for those marriage dates. Also, a Thomas Wilder married April 1640 at Charlestown to Anna Eames; an Alice Wilder married (unknown) to Henry Warner.
There are various transcriptions of the passenger list on the internet. I have not studied them and am not sure which most closely represents the original listing. One transcription:
CONFIDENCE, of London, two hundred tons, John Gibson, Master. She salled from Southampton the last of April, "by vertue of the Lord Treasurers warrant of the 11th of April,1638." Mrs. Martha Wilder of Shiplake, county Oxford, spinster Mary Wilder daughter Augustine Bearce 20 Martha Keene 60 Elizaheth Keene 13 Martha Keene Josias Keene John Keene 17 Sarah Keene
Also a notion has circulated that our widow Martha Wilder of Shiplake was Martha Higgs. This was apparently based on a statement in the Higgs genealogy to the effect that the family of Thomas Wilder of Shiplake had, in earlier chapters, intermarried with the Higgs family. Martha was not found in that family. Careful reading of that statement shows that it referred to Thomas's Aunt Eleanor Wilder who married a Higgs and not to Thomas himself. So we are still without a maiden name for Martha, thanks, not doubt, to whoever tore out the pages of the Shiplake register."Research into the Higgs family conducted in 1984 in England by a professional genealogist from London did not reveal any Martha Higgs and concluded no Martha Higgs was part of that family. (I do not have any further details about that.) There is, of course, a chance that her surname still MIGHT have been Higgs, but until some evidence is presented, the claim should be presumed NOT correct.
"Martha's supposed son Thomas1 Wilder never appears in any Hingham town record, and no document connects Thomas 'the immigrant' with these Wilders of Hingham. Instead, Thomas Wilder settled by about 1638 in Charlestown, where he was received into the church on March 30, 1640, and made a freeman in 1641. He married an Anna or Hannah ____,[3] and had four sons and two daughters. In 1659, Thomas and his family moved forty miles inland to Nashawena, now Lancaster, Massachusetts, where he died in 1667."See DNA Solves A Wilder Ancestral Enigma by Donald F. Hansen and Michael F. Hansen which further concludes:
"The genetic distance between the two ancestral haplotypes is so great that the descendants of Thomas and Edward Wilder were not patrilineally related within the last 1,000 to 2,000 years. Not only were Thomas and Edward not brothers, their kinship is too distant to calculate in any genealogical timeframe. We also discovered that the haplotypes of the Edward Wilder descendants are quite common and the haplotypes of the Thomas Wilder descendants are rare. This difference further confirms our conclusion that Thomas1 Wilder and Edward1 Wilder were not brothers."
A major source for the history of the Wilder family is The Book of the Wilders; the first edition having been the work of Rev. Moses H. Wilder and published in 1878.
Over the years, additional printings of the original have been produced. Also, updates, revisions, additions and extensions have been produced. Sorting them all out on a WorldCat listing can be confusing. Edwin M. Wilder, M.D. worked for 27 years from 1936 to 1963 on a revision which was published in that year under the title: The Book of the Wilders (Revised), A Further Contribution by Enlargement, Extension and Correction. Second and third printings in 1976 (1977?) and 1998 were produced by Justin E. Wilder, of Goshen, Indiana (then) and last of Angola, Indiana. These are based on the Edwin M. Wilder 1963 revision. I do not know to what extent the second "printing" is different and may have included revision, expansion or correction. The third "printing" is a 1585-page hardbound book and apparently incorporates significant additional information and corrections. Consequently, it should be the preferred resource.
WorldCat also shows various other printings, expanded on later, such as: a 1966 printing, published Sacramento, California ("Vols. 1-2 have continuous paging"); a 1989 facsimile reprint in two libraries; a 1967 apparently mimeographed copy (six libraries) that goes by the title A further contribution to the history of that branch of the Wilders who immigrated to Massachusetts ...; a 1999 microfiche copy by UMI, Ann Arbor MI (G7848) (not sure if original or revised edition); and some "Extracts."
During his years of research, Edwin Wilder had collected a large amount of information about Wilder's who could not be traced to the subject lines of the primary book. He had planned to publish that information as a supplement but died before that project could be completed. Justin Wilder completed that work and published the Supplement of Unattached Branches in 1979. I have seen a copy of that book, which has 264 pages, including everyname indexes. His 1998 reprint of the original Wilder reportedly contains the information about these "Unattached Branches" as well as subsequently-found linkages of some of these branches back to the immigrant ancestor lines.
Following is a listing of the major, but not all, various editions and "printings" (including microform) of the Moses Wilder book and derivatives as shown by WorldCat .
WorldCat shows multiple accession entries for (apparently) the original hardcover book including 3006870 and 1817565.
Over the years, additional printings and duplications of the original have been produced. It has been reproduced on microfiche: Sanford, N.C. :/ Microfilming Corp. of America,/ 1982./ 5 microfiches ; 11 x 15 cm./ (Genealogy & local history ; G 698) and microfilm by LDS/GSU. As of 2010, this book is available in electronic format online at Heritage Quest books. I have also found electronic versions from the Internet Archive as follows.
This PDF format requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or a clone such as PDF-XChange Viewer. It was scanned from an original very yellowed copy and is presented in color, so contrast is not the best. File size is 21MB, so downloads will take time on a slow internet connection. Full file name: bookofwildersfur00wild.pdf
This PDF format requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or a clone such as PDF-XChange Viewer. It was scanned from an original very yellowed copy and is presented in black and white, so contrast is not the best. File size is 17MB, so downloads will take time on a slow internet connection. Full file name: bookofwildersfur00wild_bw.pdf
This file is a text version scanned and OCR'd. As is typical, OCR translation is not perfect so there will be various typographical errors. However, the text is visually more readable and is searchable. Full file name: bookofwildersfur00wild_djvu.txt
Note again, however, that the 1998 version will have the most up-to-date and correct information. See Clark, below, for comments.
Justin E. Wilder describes the lineage of these printings as follows:
Harold K. Wilder arranged for the typing and printing and mailed out loose-leaf pages in batches from 1963 to 1969. He turned the material over to me and I arranged for a small second printing in 1975 - 1976. This third printing is one large, attractive and durable hardbound volume of 1585 total pages. It includes the Introduction, Picture Section, Thomas Line, Edward Line, Supplement of Unattached Branches and a complete new Index.I have incorporated much new information that I have received through my correspondence with many Wilder descendants and others in the twenty-two years since the last printing. One-third of the text pages are either new material or retyped with changes. This includes additional data that had not been available to Dr. E.M. Wilder, as well as correction of many errors. I was able to verify corrections to some errors and omissions by referring to Dr. Wilder's original data sheets. I made changes when the source showed that the new data was more reliable than the old. The Introduction includes the latest information that is known about our Wilder ancestors in England. Many of the families in the Supplement of Unattached Branches are connected to their proper place in the main part of the Book.
This is not an extension of Dr. Wilder's genealogy. I have not added information on families born since Dr. Wilder completed his work. That would have been a larger task than I felt I could undertake. The new data is basically information that Dr. Wilder could have included if he had found it at the time. My role is to provide a channel through which many contributors could make improvements to the new Book that Dr. Wilder spent years compiling and which "Cousin" Harold K. Wilder promoted, printed and distributed back in the 1960s.
The WorldCat entry for this "third" printing (OCLC 40656202) shows Publication: Goshen, Ind. : J.E. Wilder; Year: 1998; Standard No: LCCN: 00-265460;
The 1998 third printing is still available for $59 as of December 2014. Ordering address has changed from 2010 and can be found at the web site for the publication: The Book Of The Wilders (Revised) The 1998 printing is also available on microfilm through the LDS FHL and FHC branches (FHL US/CAN Film 1425204 Item 1).
The full title of the revision apparently is: Book of the Wilders (revised) : a further contribution to the history of that branch of the Wilders who immigrated to Massachusetts about 1638 by enlargement, extension and correction of Book of the Wilders : a contribution to the history of the Wilders from 1497, in England, to the emigration of Martha, a widow and her family to Massachusetts Bay in 1638, and so, through her family, down to 1875, with a genealogical table showing, as far as may be, their relationships and connections (I have not seen) See Clark, below, for comments.
This appears to be a reprint in 1989 of the 1878 edition, 394 pages.
This may be a photocopy of Justin Wilder's 1976 "second printing." Three libraries have this photocopy.
This would appear to be the original version "first printing" of the 1960's revision written by Edwin M. Wilder, probably mimeographed type-written. Three libraries.
This appears to be a circa 1967 copy of the "second printing" which was mimeographed and arranged in three physical volumes. Six libraries have copies.
During his years of research, Edwin Wilder had collected a large amount of information about Wilder's who could not be traced to the subject lines of the primary book. He had planned to published that information as a supplement but died before that project could be completed. Justin Wilder completed that work and published this Supplement of Unattached Branches in 1979. LCCN: 81-212265. WorldCat accession entries: 6660149.
Secondary sources:
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