Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Amherst H. Wilder was a St. Paul pioneer businessman and philanthropist who arrived in the city in 1859 from New York. Why he came to St. Paul is unknown. He was born in 1828 and died of a kidney infection on November 11, 1894 at the age of 66. His business activities included interests in mercantile, real estate, transportation (including freight, stage coach, and railroads), banking, and lumber companies.

He married Fanny S. Wilder in 1861 and they had one daughter, Cornelia Day Wilder. Family trips to Europe in the late 1880s prompted Amherst H. Wilder to form up a will in case he and his family died traveling at sea. If this occurred, it specified that his fortune was to be used for charitable purposes in St. Paul.

Amherst H. Wilder's last will specified that one-third of his estate go to his wife, one-third to his daughter, and the rest to be placed in trust for the benefit of the children of his daughter. His last will stated that if his daughter died childless, then after the death of his wife a large portion of his estate should go toward the endowment of a charity “to aid and assist the poor, sick, aged, or otherwise needy people of St. Paul.” Both Amherst's wife and daughter had similar provisions in their wills to form charitable organizations after they died.

Amherst H. Wilder's business operations and family life were closely intertwined. He had numerous business interests beyond the Wilder charities and this is reflected in the Wilder family papers through the A. H. Wilder & Company records, the O. F. A. Insurance Company records, the Superior Water, Light, and Power Company records, stock and bond registers, and estate papers.

Fanny Spencer came to St. Paul from Utica, New York to visit her brother and soon met Amherst H. Wilder. They got married in 1861. During the late 1880s their home was built on Summit Avenue in St. Paul near the James J. Hill residence.

Fanny S. Wilder survived both her husband and daughter, and she died April 5, 1903, three months after her daughter Cornelia.

She named Victor M. Watkins as the executive officer of the executors of her will and of any corporation formed with the provisions of her will.

Cornelia Day Wilder was born in 1868. It is thought that Cornelia's volunteer work with the poor influenced her parents philanthropy, and that she had a very close relationship with her father. She worked with her father during the last years of his life on ideas for an endowment to serve the poor and needy in St. Paul.

She married Dr. T. E. W. Villiers Appleby in 1897. She met him while volunteering for the Society for the Relief of the Poor, and he signed an ante nuptial contract reserving all power over the Wilder fortune to Cornelia Day.

Cornelia Day Wilder Appleby died childless on January 20, 1903. After Cornelia died Dr. T. E. W. Villiers Appleby attempted to have the ante nuptial set aside but the courts upheld it. Cornelia left him an annual income of $10,000. Dr. T. E. W. Villiers Appleby agreed to a cash settlement with the trustees of the estate.

The Wilder family's vision was to “aid and assist and to furnish relief and charity for the worthy poor, sick, aged, or otherwise needy people of the said City of St. Paul.” The wills of Amherst H. Wilder, his wife Fanny S. Wilder, and his daughter Cornelia Day Wilder Appleby set up charities to honor this vision.

Between 1903-1910 the Wilder estates and charities were involved in litigation as a result of potential heirs who sought to set aside the Wilder family wills. The wills were challenged in five different lawsuits. The Charity created by Amherst H. Wilder did not begin until 1906 and those founded by his wife and daughter did not start until 1909.

The three separate charities, all named for Amherst H. Wilder, merged in 1910 to become the Amherst H. Wilder Charity. The consolidation was approved April 17, 1909 and occurred in December 1910. The net worth of the Amherst H. Wilder Charity in December 1910 was approximately $2.6 million.

In 1953, the Amherst H. Wilder Charity's name was changed to the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

From the guide to the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation records and family papers., 1865-2006., (Minnesota Historical Society)