140 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIEXr. 



h*atliug jiomologisLs of Kiirope, to whom liis labors in that science' 

 in this countrv had ni;i«U' his nan)e famiUar. 



In January, l-SdS. Mi-. Wilder succeeded tiie late Hon. John A. 

 Andrew as President of the Massachusetts Historic Genealogical' 

 Society. His electioii was unanimous, anil he has been re-elected" 

 every vear since. The funds for the purchase of the premises on 

 Somersel Street were secured bv his personal effort. At each annual' 

 meeting lie had delivered an interesting address, and in view of his- 

 death so soon after the last was deHvered, we cannot refrain from' 

 quoting the following significant ^xiragraph therefrom : 



"Human life is changing and transitory I A few more days, a few 

 more months, and this tired brain and this languid tongue will have 

 cast otf their threadbare, worn-out covering ;• but the spirit shall con- 

 tinue to praise God for His wonderful works in this Western World^- 

 and the blessings which have flowed from the influence of New Eng.- 

 land character. We shall pass away, and the dust of past and future 

 generations shall be commingled with ours in one common grave. 

 But more and more appreciated for the work it has done and is do- 

 ing, so that the record of our own New England and its families ma}' 

 be perpetuated with historic continuity while the Anglo-Saxon race- 

 shall have a place in the annals of time." 



INTERESTING EVENTS. 



On September 22d, 1877, Col. Wilder completed the 80th year of 

 his life, and the event was made one of very pleasant moment by his- 

 many friends. A banquet was given at the Parker House, ex- Alder- 

 man Chas. H. Breck presiding, and many prominent gentlemen hon- 

 oring the guest by their presence Col. Wilder made a speech full 

 of reminiscence, and was followed^ by Hon. Charles L. P'lint, Charles 

 M. Hover, Esq., Rev. J. H. Means, and a number of others. In 

 1883 a banquet was given in honor of his eighty-fifth birthday, at 

 which a number of ex- Governors of New P^ngland States were pres- 

 ent, and in 1886 his eighty-eighth birthday was celebrated by a. 

 dinner. 



WRnrNGS. 



We have already stated that Col. Wilder has been an industrious-' 

 writer. From 183.3 to the time of his death he published more than 

 sixty pamphlets, mostly addresses which he had delivered on agri- 

 cultural, horticultural, pomological or historical subjects. 



