My Genealogy Hound

WILMER HYLAND, a prominent citizen and early settler of Rockport, was born in Cecil County, Md., November 5, 1820, being the youngest of seven children born to the marriage of Jacob Hyland and Elizabeth Thackery, both of whom were natives of Maryland. The father, a soldier of the war of 1812, always resided in his native State, where he followed farming, fishing and merchandising, in which combined pursuits he was reasonably successful. He died when our subject was a lad of about five years old, followed by his widow in Burlington, N. J., in 1843, while on a visit to friends in New York. Wilmer Hyland was raised in his native county to years of maturity, receiving a good business education. In 1844, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, with a Polk delegation, and concluding to remain, embarked in the dry goods trade, at which he continued until 1846. He then took a stock of goods to Mundy’s Landing, Mercer County, Ky., after selling which he came to Rockport, Ind. He here engaged in the dry goods business until 1852, and from that time to May 14, 1884, dealt in hardware, groceries, wooden and willow-ware, and seeds. Mr. Hyland has been an enterprising citizen and a successful merchant. In politics Mr. Hyland is a Democrat. He now owns 400 acres of good land in the county, besides valuable property in Rockport. June 29, 1853, he united in matrimony with Mary S. Mears, a native of Hamilton County, Ohio, and by her is the father of four children, three yet living: Mary M., Kate A., and Wilmer.