Getting to Know Horatio Wildman, Former Mayor of Sandusky

Horatio Wildman was born in 1828 in Fairfield County, Connecticut, to Frederick Seymour Wildman, and his wife the former Julia Ann Starr. Horatio’s grandfather was Zalmon Wildman, one of the proprietors of the city of Sandusky. When addressing the Firelands Historical Society at its fall meeting on October 10, 1895, Horatio Wildman recalled his grandfather’s connection to the city of Sandusky. He said about Sandusky, that “Zalmon Wildman said the Almighty meant this location for a town. As a natural location it is unsurpassed by any in Northern Ohio.”  

Horatio Wildman was a graduate of Yale University. After studying law in Connecticut, he moved to Sandusky in 1848. By 1851, Mr. Wildman was the Mayor of Sandusky. In the 1870s, he served as the city solicitor. 

In the 1860 Sandusky City Directory listed Horatio Wildman and his wife Emma (sometimes listed as Emily) as boarding at the Townsend House, along with their two young sons Horatio and Augustus. Soon a third son, Seymour was born.

Eventually the family moved to a home at the northwest corner of Washington and Lawrence Streets in Sandusky. 

After suffering serious health issues, Horatio Wildman died on May 16, 1909. An obituary appeared in the Obituary Record of the Graduates of Yale University.

A lengthy obituary also appeared in the Sandusky Register of May 20, 1909. The article reported that the funeral was held at the family residence at the corner of Lawrence and Washington Streets, with the Ref. W. Ashton Thompson of Grace Church officiating. Members of the Erie County Bar Association attended as a body. Honorary pallbearers included Judge Thomas M. Sloane, E.B. King, Malcom Kelly, U.T. Curran, C. Webb Sadler, T.B. Hoxey, and Hewson L. Peeke. John T. Beecher, an honorary pallbearer, could not be present. Active pallbearers were George C. Beis, W.J. Feisinger, C.H. Cramer and R.B. Fisher. There were numerous floral tributes. A circular wreath was given by the Bar Association. The B and O Railway Office sent a star and crescent tribute. Horatio Wildman was buried in Block 57 of Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Wildman passed away in 1915, and she too is buried at Oakland.