NameHarry Packer Wilbur
Birth30 Nov 1875, Bethlehem, PA
Death19 Jul 1951, Rockport, Ontario, CA
MotherStella Mercer Abbott (1839-1920)
Misc. Notes
Harry Packer Wilbur was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on November 30th, 1875. His father was Elisha Packer Wilbur and his mother was Stella Mercer Abbott. The Wilbur family tree traces back to Samuel Wildbore who came to America in 1633.
E. P. Wilbur, his father, was a nephew of Asa Packer who founded the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University. E. P. Wilbur became President of the railroad and ran it for many years. He was also a trustee of the University and of St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and a director or major stockholder of many companies including Bethlehem Steel, Jefferson Coal Company, Packer Coal Company, Wilbur Coal and Coke Company. E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, Lehigh Valley National Bank, and others. E. P. Wilbur and Stella Mercer Abbott had eight sons and one daughter.
Harry P. Wilbur was a graduate of Lehigh University in the class of 1898 and prepared for Lehigh with Professor William “Billy” Ulrich and at the Ossining Military Academy. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Artillery in the U. S. Army in July, 1898. We remember being told that he was enrolled at Yale in the Law School but can’t find any record of this. Possibly he was accepted into the law school but went into the Army instead.
In the Army he graduated from the Coast Artillery School and the Field Officers Course. He became a Lt. Colonel in 1920 and, in the same year, had a recess appointment to full Colonel. On January 21, 1921 he earned his permanent appointment to full Colonel. He served in the Spanish- American War and in World War I. He retired from the Army in 1922, at the age of 47, with the notation “disability in line of duty.” We think he suffered from an ulcer at that time. His period of active duty service was 24 years. It is noteworthy that he became a full (“bird”) Colonel at 45. After retirement, he ran and taught in ROTC programs at high schools in Cleveland, Ohio and New Bedford, Massachusetts.
After his Army service, he was President of the Sayre Land and Water Company. Sayre, Pennsylvania was established in 1870 adjacent to a railroad roundhouse and at the terminus of several railroads. The formation of the town and of the land company is an interesting story of its own.
He was married to Mary Cornwall Widdifield of Honolulu, Hawaii November 4, 1903 at Fort Banks in Boston. She was known to her family and friends as "Mamie.” The wedding was a few days before his birthday on the 30th and his promotion to Captain came on November 28th so it was quite a month for the new couple.
His children were Harry Packer Wilbur, Jr., who married Alice Jane Kovanda and had one son, Harry Packer Wilbur III; Mary Stella Wilbur (Wood) who married Alexander Thomas Wood and had two children, Mary Margaret Wood (Little), and Thomas Alexander Wood; and Elisha Packer Wilbur, III who married Elizabeth Mixter Wells and had three children, Elisha Packer Wilbur IV (who does not use the suffix), Frederic Wells Wilbur, and Elizabeth Wells Wilbur (Miner).
In the mid 1920’s, the Wilburs purchased Reveille Island comprising about two or three acres fronting on the main Canadian shipping channel of the St. Lawrence River in the area known as “1000 Islands,” near Rockport, Ontario. At the time of the purchase, the island was known as “Hog Island” so we can understand why they changed the name. During Harry’s youth, his family owned and summered at Sport Island a few miles away on the American side of the river. Sport Island, owned by his father E. P. Wilbur, was a very substantial establishment with more than 30 full time servants and many boats of various sizes including a large steam yacht called “Sport.”
Reveille Island was a more manageable establishment with an airy and light main house with five bedrooms and a large porch extending around three sides of the house. Down a wooded path from the house was a boathouse with another bedroom upstairs above the slip. Colonel Wilbur’s three children would have been in their teens when the island was purchased. Transportation was provided by a fast twenty-six foot long, black, gasoline powered runabout with a white waterline stripe and red bottom which was acquired in 1926. The boat was christened “Welakahao” after a Hawaiian cheer. We remember that it had burned and was purchased and rebuilt for use at Reveille. It had previously been named “Lucky Strike” which was also the name of a popular brand of cigarettes. Possibly this had something to do with the fire. There was also a fourteen foot long outboard called “The Whale” which was built by D. N. Kelley & Son Shipyard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. It was one of a series of very successful Baby Whale racing hulls made of spruce and Philippine mahogany and designed for competition on the national outboard racing circuit. Other boats included a St. Lawrence rowing skiff and a sailing dinghy. The Wilburs spent their summers at the Island and stayed at The Royal Palm Hotel in Fort Myers, Florida and in Jamaica during the winter.
We remember Colonel Wilbur as a tall, very straight and imposing presence with impeccable manners and an interest in everyone. He was highly regarded by those who lived and worked along the River and was always referred to as “the Colonel.” He was an outdoor person with a great interest in fishing and was always very tan; with his curved profile and darkly tanned face, he looked like an American Indian. He must have been between 5 feet ten inches and six feet in height and a lean 150 to 160 pounds in weight.
In Florida and in Jamaica he did a great deal of fishing, often casting for Tarpon with a salt water fly fishing rig. The Wilburs enjoyed traveling and drove long distances on what were then very rudimentary roads. They liked advanced and powerful cars; we remember stories about a sixteen cylinder Cadillac “V16” they owned in the early 1930’s.
Colonel Wilbur died of a stroke on July 28, 1951, at the age of 74, on the island. He had been in excellent and vigorous health right up to his death which came as a great shock to his family. His wife, Mary W. Wilbur suffered a stroke of her own shortly after his death and had great difficulty learning to walk again. She never regained the ability to speak and she lived with her daughter Mary and, later, with her son Packer for the rest of her life. She died in January of 1967 at the age of 87.
Spouses
1Mary “Mamie” Cornwell Widdiefield
Birth22 Jun 1879
Death20 Jan 1967
FatherJohn W. Widdiefield (1838-1880)
MotherMary Elizabeth Cornwall (1852-)
ChildrenHarry Packer (1904-2004)
Mary Stella (1906-1960)
Elisha Packer (1910-1990)