Wilbor and Wilcox Families

The Wilbor Family

Charles Wilbor, Sr., born in Little Compton, Rhode Island on 22 August 1768, and Sarah Handy, born in Connecticut on 13 August 1775, had four children; Naomi (1798-1860), Philander (1802-1875), Charles Jr. (1806-????), and John Borden (1808-1865).

In 1818, John Borden [J.B.] Wilbor emigrated with several of his family members to Milan, Ohio, soon thereafter relocating in Huron. According to Lewis Cass Aldrich in The History of Erie County Ohio (1889), J.B. Wilbor, N.M. Standart, and Charles Standart started a general mercantile business in 1832 with the name Wilbor & Co. This venture lasted until 1837, when J.B. commenced business with J. Fleeharty.

J.B. Wilbor had four children with his first wife Emily Brewster; Eliza (b. 1834), John Henry (b. 1836), and Jay (b. 1839). Records indicate that in 1837-38 Episcopal clergymen in Huron organized a new church named Christ Church, and soon elected J.B. to serve as a vestryman. J.B. Wilbor's second wife, Lydia Adams, bore two more children: Philo Adams (b. 1843) and Stark (b. 1846). Aldrich also indicates that J.B. served as a Huron County Commissioner in 1840, representative for the 30th Senatorial District from Huron County in 1853, and as a Democratic treasurer of Erie County from 1848 to 1852.

Following these political positions, in 1857 J.B. became partners with J.W. Sprague building vessels and conducting mercantile operations until 1861. Shipping and delivery receipts located in Folder 20 document Wilbor and Sprague's business transactions. John Borden Wilbor died on 16 April 1865 in Huron, Ohio.

The Wilcox Family

J.B. Wilbor's third wife, Charlotte Wilcox, represents the familial conduit between the Wilbor and Wilcox families. Correspondences between Charlotte "Lottie," and her parents and her brothers Arthur, Edgar (Ned), and Lucien Wilcox appear in Folders 21 and 22. Folder 22 contains letters written during the Civil War between the Wilcox Family in Erie County and three members of the O.V.I. 7th Infantry E Company: Captain John W. Sprague who was captured at Birch River, Virginia on 8 August 1861and exchanged on 5 January 1862; Captain Arthur T. Wilcox who was captured at the Battle of Cross Lanes in Virginia on 26 August 1861; and First Lieutenant George C. Ketchum who was captured at the Battle of Cross Lanes in Virginia on 26 August 1861.

An Edward Harmon Wilcox, who arrived at Sandusky in 1847 and married Sophia Sprague, worked as a clerk in L.S. & S.E. Hubbard's dry goods business. Edward Wilcox and his brother, R.M. Wilcox later established their own dry goods business, initially named E.H. & R.M. Wilcox and then the R.M. and C.B. Wilcox Co. Clinton B. Wilcox entered into the dry goods firm at the age of twenty following his father's (Edward) death. By 1902, Clinton is president of the burgeoning dry goods firm. The R.M. and C.B. Wilcox Company remained along Columbus Avenue between Market and Water Streets until the 1920s when the corporation dissolved.

Clinton B. Wilcox then moved into the utilities field, where he managed the Sandusky District of the Ohio Public Service Company, which took over Sandusky Gas and Electric Company in 1924. In addition to working as a dry goods dealer and a utilities manager, C.B. Wilcox served as vice-president of the Moss National Bank and director of the Commercial National Bank. He was one of the original organizers of the Sandusky, Milan, and Norwalk Electric Railroads; one of the earliest in the nation. He served as director of this enterprise for many years. He also remained active in hospital work, serving as director of Sandusky's Providence Hospital, and served as a trustee of the Toledo State Hospital. He also served on the Sandusky Board of Health. While vacationing in 1939 Clinton B. Wilcox died of pneumonia. Unfortunately, there is very little information within this Collection detailing Clinton B. Wilcox or the R.M. and C.B. Wilcox Company.

One of John Borden Wilbor's sons, Stark Wilbor, married Isabel Mary Fairchild and had three boys; Rollin D., Paul A., and Stark W. (August 14, 1876- September 6, 1961). Letters penned by Stark W. Wilbor in Paris, Texas addressed to Mrs. William [Helen] Hansen of the Follett House immediately before his death provides further insight into the Wilbor and Wilcox Families. These letters appear in Folder 23.