Perley Day Wilder
"Perley Day and Peter Franklin went hunting Coon tonight with some fellows, and came back with one so we won't starve yet. Hurrah for the Coon!" - Thanksgiving 1890 entry in The Log Book of the Sailing Craft "Edith"
Perley Day Wilder was born June 13, 1869 near Burke (Franklin County) New York, the youngest child of James Mason Wilder and Angeline Albina Day. He had older sisters Laura (born 1844), Royal (born 1847), Eliza Jane (born 1850), Alice (born 1853), and Almanzo (born 1857). Perley Wilder was not mentioned in Farmer Boy, as he had not been born at the time the story took place.
A year after Perley was born, James and Angeline Wilder decided to move to Spring Valley (Fillmore County) Minnesota, on the recommendation of Mrs. Wilder's brother, George Day. Royal and Eliza Jane remained on the farm in New York for a while, but by the spring of 1872, at least James and Angeline, Perley and Almanzo were already settled in Spring Valley.
Pilot of the Sailing Craft Edith
In 1889, at the age of 20, Perley visited his brothers Almanzo and Royal in De Smet. It is likely that Royal and Perley formed a partnership at this time - Wilder Brothers, Variety and Notions - and that Perley met Peter Ingalls, cousin of his sister-in-law, Laura Wilder. The following year, Peter accompanied Laura and Almanzo when they went to Spring Valley, where they lived with the Wilder family for two years. In October 1890, Perley Wilder and Peter Ingalls, along with Peter's cousin Joseph Quiner Carpenter (son of Charles and Martha Carpenter) launched a small sailboat at Stockholm (Pepin County) Wisconsin, and set sail down the Mississippi River, bound for Florida and to seek their fortunes. Their cargo was a load of trinkets to sell or exchange for provisions along the way.
Their almost four month adventure ended at the Florida panhandle in Holmes County, where Peter Ingalls and Joe Carpenter both decided to stay. Almanzo and Laura Wilder lived nearby until the summer of 1892, then they returned to De Smet. Perley apparently took another trip down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He then took up rice farming in Louisiana.
Married Life, Later Life
In December 1897, Perley Wilder married Elsie Merritt, daughter of John and Elizabeth Merritt of Crowley (Acadia Parish) Louisiana. Earlier that year, Elsie's brother Fred had married Angeline Howard, Perley's cousin (daughter of his sister Laura). Perley and Elsie had six children: James (born 1903), Gladys (born 1905), Harold (born 1909), Perley Jr. (born 1912), Dorothy (born 1914), and John (born and died 1916). Perley ran a general store, was postmaster, and was a rice farmer. He died May 10, 1934 and is buried in Kinder McGill Memorial Cemetery in Kinder (Allen Parish) Louisiana. Elsie Wilder died in June 1948.
Wilder, Perley Day (Almanzo's brother Perley is not mentioned in the "Little House"® books)
