ALPHEUS WILT (1814 - 1896) & Mary Fulmer Wilt (1815 - 1896)

Owner/Proprietor of Alpheus Wilt & Sons

Alpheus Wilt was born in 1814 and died in 1896. He was the son of William Wilt and Matilda Dungan. Alpheus' father, William Wilt, was a blacksmith, from Lower Dublin Township, then in Philadelphia County, but apparently he was more of a drunkard then a blacksmith. Alpheus' mother, who was born in Pennsylvania, divorced his father in 1828. One descendant of Wilt, whose uncle was a son of Alpheus Wilt, has stated that Alpheus' father was a drunkard. When asked about his father, Alpheus is known to have only said that "He was no good." Available records seem to back this up. Alpheus's father died in 1865, but previously, in the 1860 Federal Census, he was found to be enumerated at the Philadelphia Alms House, Men's Medical Ward, and was listed as a pauper with no real estate or personal property. It would seem that Alpheus, who was apprenticed out at the early age of 11 years old, had his mother divorce his father when he was 14, and went through life without much formal education, but still went on to become a truly self-made man through his own hard work and industry, and established one of the finest firms in his field in the State of Pennsylvania.

Alpheus Wilt married Anne Maria Fulmer, also known as Mary, on March 16th, 1837, at First Presbyterian Church, Kensington. Mary Wilt was the daughter of John Fulmer and Catharine Day. The Day family was a well-known Kensington family with one member, Michael Day, becoming one of the commissioners of the District of Kensington, amongst other titles. The Day family was active at First Presbyterian Church and today their name survives with a small street in Fishtown named after them, which I might add the Wilt family also has a small street named after them in Fishtown.

Alpheus Wilt was considered a devoted leader to the church. His name was listed on the "roll of members" on March 26th, 1839. He served on the board of trustees and while serving acted as the treasurer at one point. He also was on the building committee for the new church. His son, Charles H. Wilt, was also a one time elder. Charles H. Wilt served on the committee that was appointed to consider the installing of the Rev. Albert Barnes Henry as pastor of the church. Alpheus was not only an active member of the church, but also a vocal one too! In a bit of controversy, Wilt along with John Clouds, a long time elder, trustee, and for some time President of the Board of Trustees, and a stain glass window honoree, resigned from the Board of Trustees. The controversy centered on their unwillingness to continue to proceed to fund some missionary work, the mission that would eventually become Beacon Presbyterian Church. Wilt and Clouds felt that the church being in debt at the time, could not afford the expense of the missionary work. Apparently Wilt and Clouds were under the assumption that the final vote of the congregation for funding the mission was suppose to come in January of 1871, but another meeting was called before the January one and the decision was made to fund the mission against their objections.

The Wilts were prominent sash manufacturers as well as famous for their wood planning. They were prominent enough to be listed in Boyd's Blue Book in the early 1880's, a precursor to the Social Register. They were listed as living at 1114 Hanover, otherwise known as Columbia Avenue. John F. Wilt, the eldest son, had moved from the neighborhood at this point and was listed in the Blue Books at 1417 N. 15th Street, a new and up and coming wealthy neighborhood west of Broad Street and north of Girard Avenue. This North Broad Street neighborhood was a place where many of the prominent Kensingtonians moved to once they acqured wealth. When he first moved out on his own, John F. Wilt lived at 326 Richmond Street and later moved west of Broad Street. Another son of Alpheus, Charles H. Wilt, made his home at 1016 Marlborough and Elmer D. Wilt lived with his parents at the 1114 Hanover (Columbia) Street address.

In the 1880 Federal Census, Alpheus Wilt was described as a moulding manufacturer. His wife Mary was keeping house and his daughter Mary F. Wilt was at home. Elmer D. Wilt, his son, was listed as a clerk in their moulding mill. Also enumerated with them was a Prussian servant by the name of Edda Buege who was only 16 years old. Wilt and his sons all worked for the family business, It was listed as a door manufactory in the 1880 census, which would appear somewhat accurate in that they did doors, but they did much more as well!

Alpheus Wilt & Sons was located at 711 to 725 North Front Street. They also had a planning mill at 714 Beach Street. The Beach street mill was the scene of a horrific accident in 1879. A terrible boiler explosion demolished the two-story brick wing of the mill and a small wooden dwelling across the street from the mill. A large piece of metal was thrown through the walls of the mill across Beach Street crashing into the home of the McAvoy family who lived in the wooden dwelling. Three members of the family were killed.

A. Wilt & Sons had many facets to their business including; cabinet and mill work, turning, planning, working wainscot, as well as always having on hand for sale an assortment of No.1 Stock Mill Work. They specialized in the manufacture of cabinet and millwork for churches, banks, stores, offices, and railroad station fixtures. In 1906, they were considered the oldest firm in this line in Philadelphia. Thomas G. Cogill established the business in 1844. In 1855 Thomas G. Cogill and Alpheus Wilt formed the partnership of Cogill and Wilt, Wilt apparently having worked with Cogill previously. In 1864 the firm became A. Wilt & Son when Wilt took over the firm and brought his eldest son into the business. In 1885 the firm became A. Wilt & Sons when two other sons joined the firm. When Alpheus Wilt died in 1896, the firm continued on as A. Wilt & Sons. The individual members of the firm at the time of Alpheus Wilt's death were John F. Wilt, born 1840, Charles. H. Wilt, born in 1847, and Elmer D. Wilt, born in 1856. All of Alpheus' sons had been born in Philadelphia.

The company was very well known and furnished the work for many notable buildings and dwellings in Philadelphia and vicinity, some of which are Lafayette College, Easton, PA, the dwellings for E. Burgess Warren, which stood at 20th & Walnut Sts., the Presbyterian Board of Publication Building in Phila., the Roman Catholic Church & College Buildings at Villanova, PA., the Drexel Building in Phila., the Church of Our lady of Mercy in Phila, Arcade Office Building and the Church of St. Thomas, both in Phila., Trinity College in Washington, DC, the Perry Building and the Majestic Apartment Hotel, both in Phila., St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, PA, and the State Capital Building in Harrisburg, PA, including the fitting up of the House & Senate Chambers, the Supreme & Superior Court Rooms, the House & Senate Caucus Rooms, the Treasury Department Room, and many of the rooms of the Heads of Departments all in Mahogany, also the Grand Executive Reception Room in English Oak.

While the horrific boiler explosion and the deaths it caused must have been terrible for the Wilt family to endure, a more personal manner superceded it. Previous to his father's death, George Alpheus Wilt, the second eldest son of Alpheus Wilt, committed suicide. George A. Wilt had gone into business on his own and was not a partner in the family business. Apparently, after a number of bad business dealings, he slit his throat on a train while traveling westward in Ohio. While the newspapers reported it as a suicide, after the body was brought back to Philadelphia the family put a different spine on the story and stated that the coroner in Lima, Ohio, stated that only the hand of a skillful surgeon could have caused the death of George A. Wilt, and therefore it must have been murder!!!

Alpheus Wilt died of old age on April 7th, 1896, at the ripe age of 82 years old. He was buried at Cedar Hills Cemetery, in Philadelphia. Wilt's wife, Mary Wilt, died later the same year on December 23rd, 1896. She may have died while visiting her daughter in Minneapolis, MN, but she was buried along side her husband at Cedar Hills Cemetery. After the death of Alpheus Wilt, the family business continued to flourish under the direction of his eldest son John F. Wilt
until his death in 1919.