Three Generations of Edward Wilder

Leading up to Edward Wilder’s Stomach Bitters, we see that Edward Wilder (grandfather) was the first of three generations of Edward Wilders. He resided at Bird’s Creek, Charles County, Maryland. He died in 1779, leaving only one son, who was also named Edward Wilder. The second Edward was born on the December 10, 1779, a few weeks after the death of his father. Edward served with much distinction as captain of a company in Colonel Thomas Neill’s regiment of cavalry in the State of Maryland during the War of 1812.

Wilder married Susan Key Egerton (1795–1879), on the February 14, 1811. At the time of their marriage, he had been a clerk for her father, and was engaged to be married to Susan at the time of her father’s death. They were married soon after, and he moved into the business of his father-in-law, who was a farmer and merchant at Chaptico, a small town in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, which is southwest of Washington, D.C.

Chaptico lies on Chaptico Run, which forms a bay as it enters the Wicomico River and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. Chaptico may be Algonquian for “big-broad-river-it-is” and related to the friendly Chaptico tribe visited by Governor Charles Calvert in 1663. The town was a shipping point until the Wicomico River silted up in the 18th century. It was damaged by the British in 1813, during the War of 1812. Some of its prominent citizens were pro-Southern and jailed during the Civil War.

Wilder continued his business until his father’s death on the January 7, 1828. The elder Wilder left a widow with five children; three sons and two daughters, Margarette, born February 17, 1813; Mary, born April 14, 1815; James Bennett, born July 12, 1817; Oscar, born June 4, 1819; and Edward, born December 31, 1825, this being the third Edward Wilder of the family. This is the Edward Wilder of Wilder’s Stomach Bitters from Louisville, Kentucky.

Edward Wilder (the father) was described as a tall, spare man who was industrious and enterprising, and was highly respected in the community where he resided. Wilder and his wife were both Episcopalians by birth and Wilder, though not a communicant, was exceedingly fond of taking his family to church every Sunday. They continued, after the death of Wilder, to reside in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, until December, 1830. The spirit of emigration to Kentucky and Missouri began to run pretty high, and Mrs. Wilder, believing it would be best for her young and growing family, decided to break herself loose from the friends and relations by which she was surrounded and seek a new home in the wild Western world, and on December 18, 1830, they landed at Louisville, Kentucky.

Soon after their arrival in Louisville, James Bennett Wilder engaged as a clerk in a local wholesale drug house. The two other sons, Oscar and Edward, were sent off to school. In 1834, Oscar left school and engaged his services to the same firm with whom James Bennett was employed. On the October 15, 1838, they both purchased the business in which they were employed and commenced for themselves as J. B. Wilder & Company, first located on the east side of 4th, between Main and Market Streets. In 1853, the firm became J.B. Wilder & Bro., the brother being Oscar. This is about the time Edward Wilder joined as a clerk. Unfortunately, Oscar died in May 1854 after an accident involving a fall through a trap door. After that event, Edward became the Brother partner in the firm. In July 1858, James Bennett and Edward Wilder dissolved the partnership and Edward kept the druggist business.

It would take James Bennett time to rebound and he opened his own competing drug business, J. B. Wilder & Co., at 181 West Main between 5th and 6th. His two partners were Thomas O’Mara and Graham Wilder from 1866 to 1871. O’mara actually had his own bitters called O’mara’s Fenian Bitters (O 63). James Bennett Wilder was very successful and considered  a prominent area businessman with his drug firm. He was also a director of both the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and Bank of Louisville. James Bennett also rebuilt and lived in the historically significant Bashford Manor Estate in Louisville which is a three-story brick mansion designed in the French Renaissance style with a mansard roof and fifteen rooms. The home was built in 1871-72 and was named after both Wilders ancestral home in Maryland and the English home of his ancestor, Lord Baltimore.

Interesting to note, at this same time, John Bull, another medicine man, moved to Louisville and worked at Hyer’s and Butler’s drugstore. In 1837, he opened his own store, which failed within two years. Bull then joined the wholesale drug firm of James B. and Edward Wilder as a prescription clerk, who also marketed a line of proprietary remedies. Bull is listed as an employee of J.B. Wilder Co. in Collins’ 1843 Louisville Directory, but by 1845 he was in partnership with Robert Bower manufacturing a “tonic syrup”. Bower withdrew from the business by 1847. With new financing, possibly from Edward Wilder, Bull began to market a sarsaparilla mixture (ca. 1850) – first in Kentucky and then in other states.

dsoted above, and remained at 215 West Main, between 6th and 7th Streets. This is where he promoted his marble-faced building. The building was eye-catching with a gothic front and moulding, and the only one in the West according to advertising. The stone was procured in Indiana and looked equally as well as the much-admired Boston granite. The Wilder Company graphics adorned the front in beautiful block letters and a mortar and pestle completed the crown. There was also a beautiful and immense sky light used for dramatic effect. The establishment was 191 feet in length, and 24 feet wide and had a cellar and five stories. Here they sold large quantities of drugs, chemicals, paints, oils, and dye-stuffs that were replenished on a daily basis. His partners were Robert L. Egerton, and J. Murray Percival. Egerton should sound familiar to Kentucky bottle collectors as his R.L. Egerton Bitters (pictured below) is listed in the Top 25 Kentucky Bitters Bottles list.

Edw. Wilder and Co. were listed from about 1866 to 1871 as the proprietors of Edw. Wilder’s Stomach Bitters, Sarsaparilla and Potash, Compound Extract of Wild Cherry, Family Pills, Chill Tonic and Mothers Worm Syrup. He spent large sums of money advertising his brands and was recorded as spending $40,000 to advertise his stomach bitters alone.

If you are wondering why two Wilder brothers would each have wholesale and retail druggist concerns within the same area of downtown Louisville, it was not for consumer convenience. These two competed in the market and in the courts. The stories in this arena are fascinating. An example is noted below regarding James Bennett Wilder piggy-backing on his younger brother Edwards successful Edward Wilder’s Stomach Bitters. Using his position as a director for the L & N Railroad, James Bennett set out to adorn every car on the main line and on every branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad with unpaid for placards advertising Edward Wilder’s Stomach Bitters. As you will see below, he created facsimile bottles and labels, and filled them with his version of the bitters. He then sold them to customers under the guise of his brothers bitters and kept all the profits! I can not find any surviving examples of this bottle, though it was apparently not as ornate.