Harry Wilder signed the petition to form the township of Grant, Mecosta Co., MI. He belonged to the Grant church. His first wife, Melinda, was the first white person to die (April 21, 1866) in the township and is buried in the old Grant Cemetery across the road from the current church. Her stone was readable in the mid-60s. One of his brothers is also buried there, having died when a tree fell on him when they were cutting it down.

Harry was a farmer, and was elected a Road Commissioner of Mecosta County, as well as other minor offices. He was a Union soldier and achieved the rank of Cpl. He was wounded in the war, and was an active member of the G.A.R.

He had 2 children by his first wife: Donald, b. 31 March 1866, who was immediately given to a neighbor family to raise. Descendants of Donald are still in the county, children and grandchildren of his daughter Lottie, as members of the Tetzlaff family. Grandchildren of his son Lester are all in Kent County, as members of the Ebenstein and Wilson families. An unknown daughter, who was 2-3 years older than Donald, was let out for adoption after the death of her mother.

By his second wife, he had two more children - Del and Deos. His wife Lydia was a school teacher in the area. When the boys were young, they moved to "The Dells", in Oregon. Sometime around 1890, he left his wife and family returning to Michigan. He applied for a Civil War pension, and one of the items of interest in his file is a letter from Lydia's lawyer requesting a widow's pension after his death, and giving the details on his desertion of her and her children and her subsequent divorce in absentia from him. We have no further information on these two boys.

His third wife died sometime before he did, aparently in Ionia County, MI.

Harry ended his life in the Veteran's Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is buried in the cemetery there.