Biographies: W

1902 Biographies

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WILBER, HENRY P. : was born in Chardon, Ohio, February 11, 1836. His father, William Wilber, was born October 27, 1808 and died July 7, 1878. He was married September 5, 1833 to Sarah Benton, a native of Tolland, Connecticut, who was born December 5, 1814. Mrs. Wilber who is still living, is the daughter of Zadoc [Zadock] and Polly (Kendall) Benton. Her father was born February 9, 1790; his wife was born March 19, 1794 and died February 13, 1815. After attending grammar school, Henry P. Wilber came to Peoria in 1853, and secured his first employment as a clerk in the establishment of Amos P. Bartlett. For eleven years he remained in the employ of that gentleman. In 1864, Mr. Wilber associated himself in the merchant tailoring business with Thomas B. Cooke, under the firm name of Wilber and Cooke. In 1870, he sold out his interest to his partner, and entered the office of Andrew J. Hodges & Company, at that time engaged in the manufacture of harvesters at Pekin, Illinois, all the office work being under his care. Until 1890, Mr. Wilber continued at this work. That year he took charge of Mr. Hodges’ business interests in Peoria, in which he continues to the present time. Taking it all together, Mr. Wilber has been thirty years in the employ of Mr. Hodges. In October 1867, Mr. Wilber was married to Anna E. Hodges, and they have had four children: Belle, who is now Mrs. C. H. Thorn, of Chicago; Nellie G.; Mittie H., who died at the age of ten years; and Florence B. Mrs. Wilber died in June 1899 at the home of her daughter in Chicago, while en route to Harbor Point, Michigan, where Mr. Wilber has a summer cottage. For the past nineteen years they have spent their summers there. Mr. Wilber is a Republican, and belongs to the Universalist Church, and to the Peoria Country Club. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, page 639, submitted by Barb Twist)

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