Arthur Edward Wildman
Arthur Edward Wildman, proprietor of a farm in Cedarville township, rural mail route No. 1 out of Cedarville, was bom on a farm one mile north of the village of Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark, August 10, 1860, a son of Marion and Elizabeth (Walton) Wildman, both of whom were born in Greene county, members of pioneer families in this part of the state. Marion Wildman was born in Cedarville township, this county, in November, 1838, a son of Edward and Hannah (Thorne) Wildman, the latter of whom was born in that same township, her parents having been among the early Quaker settlers in that part of the county and prominent among the "conductors"' of the "underground railroad" that was maintained between the various Quaker settlements in this state for the purpose of assisting runaway slaves to freedom. The Thornes came up here from Tennessee. The Wildmans also were Quakers and Edward Wildman was for years a leader in and the heaviest contributor to the Friends meeting at Selma. Edward Wildman was born in the year 1800 and was about nine years of age when he came to this state with his parents, John Wildman and wife, from Virginia, the family settling on the northern edge of Cedarville township, this county, but later moving up into the Selma settlement in the adjoining county of Clark, where the Wildman homestead thus came to be established. Reared on that place, Edward Wildman established his home there after his marriage to Hannah Thorne and became the owner of more than twelve hundred acres of land on the line between Greene and Clark counties. In 1873 he was gored by a bull and received injuries which resulted in his death. He and his wife were the parents of four children, of whom Marion was the third in order of birth, the others having been William, who continued to make his home on the Wildman homestead tract a mile east of Selma; John, who developed a farm property in Cedarville township, this county, and Rachel, who married Israel Hollingsworth and is now living in the vicinity of Richmond, Indiana, to which place she and her husband moved in 1899.
Though born in this county, Marion Wildman was but a child when bis parents moved up over the line and established their home in the Selma neighborhood and there he grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the Selma schools. During the days of his boyhood it not infrequently became a part of his duties to assist his grandfather Thorne in the operation of the "underground railroad" by hauling runaway slaves from the Thorne "station" to the next "station" north at North Lewisburg. He had a birthright in the Friends meeting at Selma and was ever devout in his service. but never forward. After his marriage he bought a tract of one hundred and fifty acres a mile north of the village of Selma, but in 1874 traded that farm for the Samuel C. Howell farm in Cedarville township, this county, and on the latter place established his home. He had inherited about three hundred acres adjoining the Howell place and after acquiring the latter place had seven hundred and thirty acres, of which all but about one hundred and fifty acres lay in Greene county. He had a brick house, just off the Columbus pike, and in addition to his general farming fed about one hundred and fifty cattle for the market every year. Originally a Republican, Marion Wildman in his later years espoused the cause of the Prohibition party. In 1897 he retired from the farm and moved to Richmond, Indiana, where he died on February 18, 1901, and where his widow and youngest daughter are still living.
Marion Wildman was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth Walton, was born in Spring Valley township, this county, in 1842, and died at her home in Cedarville township on May 28, 1884. She was a daughter of Moses and Mary (Cook) Walton and a sister of Capt. Moses Walton, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, the Waltons having been early residents at Spring Valley. To Marion and Elizabeth (Walton) Wildman were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Howard, now a resident of Clark county; Mary, who died unmarried in 1908, and Ethel D., also unmarried, who is now making her home at Selma. Following the death of the mother of these children Marion Wildman, in 1885, married Almeda M. Johnson, who had been reared in the household of her grandfather, Moses Walton, at Spring Valley, and to that union was born one child, a daughter, Olive M, who is living with her mother at Richmond.
Arthur Edward Wildman was about five years of age when his parents took up their residence on the farm on which he is now living and which he owns and he consequently grew up there. His early schooling was obtained in the "College Corner" district school and he supplemented that course by attendance at Earlhain College, Richmond, Indiana, from which institution he was graduated in 1891. Upon leaving college Mr. Wildman went to Chandlerville, in Cass county, Illinois, where he was for a year engaged in teaching school, and then returned home and resumed his place on the farm, after his father's retirement he and his brother Howard taking the management of the place, an association which was continued for eight years. In the division of the estate following the father's death Mr. Wildman received one hundred and forty-three acres, including the residence site, and after his marriage in the fall of 1904 he continued his residence there and has since made the place his home, managing also the interests held by his sisters in the place, thus operating in all a tract of five hundred and seventy-five acres. In addition to his general farming Mr. Wildman feeds about four car loads of cattle each year. In 1915 he remodeled the old farm bouse along modern lines. He and his wife are members of the Friends church at Selma.
On October 20, 1904, Arthur E. Wildman was united in marriage to Clara Augusta White and to this union four children have been born, namely: Elizabeth J., born on August 19, 1905: Marion W., January 4, 1907; Ruth A., September 18, 1908, and Robert Walton, March 27, 1910. Mrs. Wildman was born on August 7, 1875, on a farm in the vicinity of Raysville, in Henry county. Indiana, a daughter of James and Jemima D. (Henley) White, the latter of whom was born at Carthage, in Rush county, Indiana, and is still living, now in the eighty-fourth year of her age, a resident of Guilford College, North Carolina. James White was born in Perquimans county, North Carolina, in 1826 and was eight years of age wlien he came west with his parents, Caleb and Mary White, in 1834, the family settling in the Raysville settlement in Henry county, Indiana. There James White grew to manhood, married and established his home on a farm and spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1902, he then being seventy-six years of age. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Wildman was the last-born, the others being Mary E., now living at Guilford College, North Carolina, widow of George W. White; Elias H., an attorney-at-law at Philadelphia; George E.. who went to the state of Washington, where he is now the proprietor of a great orchard; Nercus, who died in the days of his youth; Caleb, who also died in the days of his boyhood; Sibyl, wife of William T. Raine, of Indianapolis; Margaret and Miles, twins, who died in childhood, and Francis C, now a resident of Chicago.
From Portrait and Biographical Album of Clark and Greene Counties, Chapman Bros., Chicago, published 1890