Theodore Wilson ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

The following was written by Karyn Hall and posted to the webpage, http://ancestorarchives.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Having been a member of a large, and sometimes penniless family, THEODORE WILSON was forced to make his way on his own from earliest manhood. His father, THOMAS, provided him and his brother, AUGUSTUS, with enough in the way of an education to enable them to earn their living as school teachers. THEODORE continued in this capacity for twenty years, 1860 to 1880, first in Lewisburg, Ohio, later in Howard County, near Kokomo, Indiana.

Through the summers, THEODORE farmed and worked for others. When I (ORAN WILSON) was a boy, he told me of cutting hickory sapling to be used a hogshead hoops. He remembered the fabled flights of passenger pigeons, now extinct, that were so numerous that they literally darkened the sky. At night when roosting, large limbs would suddenly snap and fall from the combined weight of these pigeons. Passenger pigeons were a most welcome addition to the plain fare of that era, and they were trapped by the millions for food. Man with his cunning proved a mortal enemy, so much so that by the early part of this century, not a single passenger pigeon survived.

On 3 February 1861, Theodore Married Margaret WERTS. She was 20 years of age at the time, having been born on 18 September 1841.

Sometime around 1875, THEODORE moved his family to Marion County, Indiana, settling on the outskirts of Indianapolis on Rural Avenue about 1/4 mile south of Troy Ave. They lived in a log house where the last of their eight children were born, Oran and Omer, twins, 17 April 1885.

1880 marks Theodore's last year as a teacher. For the remainder of his long life, he was actively engaged in farming.

In 1887, THEODORE built a new nine room house about 400 feet south of the log house. The first floor contained a kitchen and living room plus a parlor-living room and bedroom that were never used except for visitors. There were four bedrooms on the second floor. Typical of the period, and much admired by the grandchildren, were the brilliant multi-colored stained glass panels set into the front and side doors.

THEODORE WILSON raised produce on his farm. For many years, he served a regular route by wagon, selling produce, butter and eggs to his Indianapolis customers.
Although times have changed, it seems that the farm cats and their kittens were as much a problem then as now. THEODORE used to resort to the practice of secretly delivering kittens along with his farm produce. On one occasion, he took six kittens to town in a burlap bag. At his first stop, he untied the bag and the kittens scattered. His customer, seeing the kittens scampering away, asked about them. Theodore shrugged and in mock dismay answered, "Oh, my kittens got away!" A week later, on his stop there, the customer greeted Theodore with, "We caught all your kittens, Mr. Wilson," and promptly turned them over to him. More than likely, youngsters farther along the route were overjoyed to find six kittens looking for homes in their neighborhood.
In his later years, Theodore raised tomatoes and strawberries, and then finally specialized in strawberries alone. He earned quite a reputation from his success with strawberries. The Indianapolis News once ran a story about him referring to him as "Strawberry" Wilson.

To the best of my knowledge, Theodore was never seriously ill in his life. He farmed actively to within three weeks of his death, passing away at the farmhouse January 30, 1931. He was then 93 years of age.

Theodore's wife, Margaret, preceded him in death by 19 years. She died of a kidney infection, Bright's Disease, on 3 February 1912.

(from genealogy compiled by Oran C. Wilson, Sandusky, Ohio 1958)

His obituary:

NONAGENARIAN GROWER OF FINE STRAWBERRIES IS DEAD AT HOME

Theodore Wilson age ninety-three, former school teacher and widely-known farmer and strawberry grower of Marion County, died Friday at his home near Beech Grove, Rural Route 5.

Born in Preble County, Ohio, July 10, 1837, Mr. Wilson lived in Marion County
53 years. He taught school in Ohio and Indiana from 1860 to 1880 and since that time had been engaged in farming and growing strawberries. His wife, Mrs. Margaret Werts Wilson, died in 1912. He came from a family of eight children, six of whom lived to be more than 80 years old. He was a member of the Beech Grove M. E. church.

Mr. Wilson, with his horse and wagon and boxes filled with strawberries, was for a number of years a familiar figure on the streets of Indianapolis during the strawberry season. Old customers assert that his berries were the largest specimens of the fruit they ever had seen. In latter years Mr. Wilson discontinued his daily peddling activities, but las spring he still personally supervised the cultivation and picking of the strawberry crop.

He often told the story of how he once had had the opportunity of buying a strip of land on the south side of Tenth street, between Emerson Avenue and Gray Street, at $10 an acre but did not buy it because he thought Indianapolis never would grow out that far.

An incident over which Mr. Wilson often chuckled was his unintended contribution of a load of strawberries to Indianapolis police. The story is told that one day the horse ambled away while he was interviewing a customer and was caught by police and taken to police headquarters. The horse and wagon were retrieved later but the berries were gone.

"We were afraid they would spoil," was the explanation given.

Surviving are seven children, HOLLAND and HOWARD WILSON, MRS. ARVILLA BOND,

Indianapolis, VIRGIL WILSON, Seattle, Washington, WALTER WILSON, Columbus,
Ohio, and ORAN and OMER WILSON, Terre Haute. A sister, Mrs. Jane Laired, Los
Angeles, California and 25 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren also
survive.

  Noted events in his life were:

• United States Census: Residence, 1930, Perry Township, Marion County, Indiana, USA.

Theodore married Margaret Werts, daughter of John Wertz and Catherine Griso, on 3 Feb 1861 in Preble County, Ohio, USA. (Margaret Werts was born on 18 Sep 1841 and died on 3 Feb 1912 in Marion County, Indiana, USA.)