EDWARD AND IRENE WILBUR – TRACT #23

Edward Wilbur and Irene Wilbur are signatures #10 and #11 on the 1940 Petition to Incorporate Federal Heights.  The Wilburs owned 77 feet of Tract #29, purchased on September 8, 1937 from Mr. and Mrs. Harry B. Houston, and Tract #23, purchased on October 13, 1937 from Ora E. and Ulysses Stone.

Edward Blaine Wilbur was born May 7, 1894 in Cross Fork, Pennsylvania to Edward Eugene and Agnes Marvin Wilbur.  He was the oldest of five children.

Edward was named after his grandfather and father. His grandfather, Edward A., was a Civil War veteran who mustered out of service on July 20, 1865 as a First Lieutenant. His war record indicates he fought in iconic battles such as Bull Run, Sharpsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. Due to war injuries he sustained, his final years were spent in a Veteran’s home.  He died of accidental drowning in 1911 when the Austin, Pennsylvania dam failed and flooded the town, killing 78 people. Ed’s father, Edward Eugene, worked for a Pennsylvania railroad, retiring as an engineer.  He died on Christmas Eve, 1940.

In March 1907, when Ed was 12 years old, his one and one-half year-old brother, Harold, died of bronchitis.  Eight months later in November, his seven-year-old brother, Royden, died of meningitis.

In the 1910 census, 16-year-old Edward Blaine, like his father, was working for the railroad. The census stated that he was working as a “call boy,” railroad slang for someone responsible for ensuring members of the train crew were present and accounted for.

On June 1, 1917, Ed registered for the WWI draft, a requirement for all men between the ages of 21 and 45, because of the Selective Service Act.  At the time, he lived in Evanston, Wyoming and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a brakeman. Six weeks later, on July 20, 1917, Ed married Bessie Zimmerman in Evanston.  Bessie had been born in Washington state in 1896.  In the 1920 census, the young couple was living in Laramie, Wyoming.  On August 15, 1923, Bessie died during an operation at the age of 27. She was laid to rest at Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie.

Ed remarried about a year later.  His wife, Mary Virginia Irene Harper, was born May 2, 1898 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia to Charles S. Harper and Mamie Ximenia Nickell.  Sometime before 1910, Irene's family moved to Colorado and resided in the Highland area of northwest Denver where her father Charles was employed as a streetcar conductor.  In 1917, Irene was working as a nurse in Denver.

By the 1930 census, Ed and Irene were living in Addison, New York and Ed was working as a switchman for the Erie Railroad.  The family included Ed, Irene, Irene’s son Mason Kenyon, and the couple’s three children – Marion Virginia age five, Patricia Jean age four and Katherine Marie age one.  In November 1930, their son Edward Eugene III was born.

Ed was an elected Adams County Justice of the Peace for Precinct #15 which included the nearly 1,000 residents of the Town of Westminster and the Federal Heights area.  As a Justice of the Peace, Ed was required to reside for one year in the Township, post a $2,000 bond and take an oath of office.

The April, 1940 census recorded the Wibur family living in a home they owned on North Federal. The oldest son, Mason, had joined the Navy and was stationed at Pearl Harbor.  Ed’s occupation was a truck driver for a coal company; the children were attending Westminster schools.  That same month, as a qualified landowner, Edward was one of five people who was appointed as a commissioner for the incorporation election whose duty was to act as election judge and clerk for the incorporation election.  According to Ed's Affidavit of Legal Resident, he had lived in the area proposed to be incorporated for seven years.

Tragedy struck the Wilbur family early on the morning of Thursday, October 16, 1941.  According to one newspaper account, Ed entered the family’s home about 2 a.m. that morning when Mrs. Wilbur shot four shots at him with a .38 caliber revolver as he stepped into the dining room, hitting him with one bullet.  She then turned the gun on herself and fired a fatal shot into her heart.  The couple’s 16-year-old daughter, Jean, one of the children sleeping in the home at the time, called officials who were able to interview Mr. Wilbur briefly before he was transported to the hospital.  Ed died the next day.

According to Navy muster rolls, the oldest son, Mason, who was a Navy Gunner's Mate 3rd Class, was transported from Pearl Harbor, arrived in San Francisco on October 30, 1941 and was given a 35-day leave, possibly due to his family’s tragedy.  He was officially discharged from his duties at Pearl Harbor on November 25, 1941 "with special order for own convenience."  Because of his discharge, Mason was living in the Denver area when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 11 days later on December 7.

There was no inquiry into the deaths of Edward and Irene and the case was closed.  Guardianship for the younger children was awarded to Irene’s youngest brother. 

Ed and Irene are interred next to each other at Crown Hill cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.