WIFE: Wilhelminia B. Norman

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From the Monday November 22, 1915 Poughkeepsie Eagle-News:

MARK WILBER WELL KNOWN HERE

Was Leader in Efforts to Enlist Men for the Civil War – Was Promoter of the P. and E.

GREAT TRAVELER

Hon. Mark D. Wilber, a brief notice of whose death at Darien Ct., was published in Saturday morning's Eagle, was one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Poughkeepsie during the Civil War and until about 1872, when he went to Michigan. He was a leader in the efforts to enlist men for the war and after the 128th and 150th Regiments had been raised endeavored with others to raise a third regiment. Most of the men enlisted went into the 159th Regiment under Colonel, afterwards General, Molineux, with Mr. Wilber as one of the staff officers.

After the war in 1885 and 1866 Mr. Wilber served two terms as Member of Assembly from this district. He was among the leaders in all the enterprises for the upbuilding of Poughkeepsie during the boom period that followed the war.

He was interested with his brother, John D. Wilber, in the Eureka Mower Company, was one of the promoters and first officers of the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad and of the Poughkeepsie City Railroad and was one of the incorporators of the Poughkeepsie bridge in 1871. H. G. Eastman, George P. Pelton and Mark D. Wilber were the three chief promoters of nearly every corporation of the days before the panic of 1873, when they expected to see Poughkeepsie grow rapidly to a city of 50,000. Mr. Wilber long survived the others and lived almost to see the dream realized, though except for a short time in 1887 he has resided continuously away from Poughkeepsie, most of the time in Brooklyn.

Mark D. Wilber was a great traveller and had visited about every country on earth. He had even done what might be called Arctic exploring for he once made a trip down the Mackenzie River in northwestern Canada to the Arctic Ocean. He wrote many interesting letters about his travels, and
sometimes gave lectures about them. Many of his letters were published in the Eagle. He began his travels in boyhood when he went to Washington during the administration of James K. Polk, and attended a reception at the White House. Not long afterwards he went to Cuba. In 1849 he joined the gold seekers in the great rush to California, when he was 20 years of age and he became a member of the California Vigilance Committee. When California became a state in 1850 he had attained considerable prominence and he was on the California electoral ticket in 1852 and was afterward a candidate for Congress. He always declared that he was elected but was counted out.

Later Mr. Wilber returned east.  He was a graduate of the old State and National Law School of Poughkeepsie, and presumably studied there after his return from California. Somewhere about 1872 Mr. Wilber went abroad for three years with his wife, and on his return settled at Allegan, Michigan. There his extraordinary ability brought him at once into prominence and he was elected to the State Senate, was appointed U. S. District Attorney by President Cleveland, and later was again a candidate for Congress. In 1887 he returned to Poughkeepsie for a short time and then went to Brooklyn where he practiced law and engaged in various business enterprises.

Advancing age brought no infirmities to Mr. Wilber and when 80 years old in 1909 he went on a tour of Egypt and the Holy Land, spending more than six months abroad, and in February 1913 he revisited California making the journey alone and remaining several months. For the past twenty years Mr. Wilber had been a resident of Darien, Ct., where some years ago he established a Trust Company. He hunted up all the school children of the neighborhood and gave each of them a bank account of $1.00.

Mr. Wilber was a warm friend of the late John I. Platt and of James B. Platt, and extended his friendship to their successors in the publication of the Eagle. He was a most interesting talker and always visited the Eagle office when in Poughkeepsie to spend an hour or so in reminiscences.

Mark D. Wilber was the last survivor of the four sons of John Wilber of Pleasant Plains. He was born Aug. 12, 1829. One of his brothers, Edwin J. Wilber, with Morris D. Hegeman, published the Poughkeepsie News for several years before its purchase by John O. White. The other brothers were John D. and Daniel, the latter the father of Emmet A. Wilber of the Merchants' Bank.

Mr. Wilber was a Mason of high degree, a member of the G. A. R. and of the Loyal Legion. His body will be brought here today for burial.