Cumberland Valley Railroad Employee: Alexander Wilt

When Alexander Wilt of Newville died in 1902, he was the longest serving employee of the Cumberland Valley Railroad. His services for them having covered more than sixty years.¹ In 1902 a friend wrote that Alexander “…has been on the pay roll of the company since he was twenty-one years old. Some years ago, he was retired on half pay, which he still receives.”²

The Cumberland Valley Railroad Company was incorporated in April 1831. The railroad was to be built from Carlisle to the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. The charter expired, but it was renewed in 1835 allowing the railroad to extend to Chambersburg.³

In May of 1836, the Carlisle Weekly Herald reported that the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company “are pushing on their work toward completion with great energy. A large force is now busily engaged on the different sections of the line…It is expected that by the commencement of the winter season the road between this place and Harrisburg will be ready for the use of cars.”⁴

In August 1837, the first train ran from Carlisle to within a mile and a half of Harrisburg. Work on the portion from Carlisle to Newville was going full steam ahead. Dr. John P. Geddes of Newville wrote a letter to his sister-in-law in August of that year with news of the railroad.

“Our village is full of bustle all summer. The Railroad will be completed to the Big Spring from the River early in October and in November to Chambersburg. They have a loco-motive and two or three passenger cars at Carlisle which they are running up and down for pleasure over a distance of about (20) miles. We have about 80 wild Irish at work on the railroad within two miles of town.” ⁵ Although not one of the “80 wild Irish” workers, Alexander Wilt was also working on the railroad.

Fast forward to the 150^th anniversary celebration of Carlisle and “Old Mother Cumberland” that was held in Carlisle on Wednesday and Thursday, October 23 and 24, 1901. Stores and buildings in Carlisle were draped with flags and bunting. The Cumberland Valley depot was thronged with arriving visitors and people participating in the parades and events.

Reporting on the parade, the Carlisle Evening Herald mentioned Alexander Wilt. “There is one of the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company’s old employees who was unable to march in Wednesday’s parade in this place. It is Mr. Alexander Wilt, of Newville who is 86 years of age, and remembers when the first train ran over the road. Mr. Wilt, for many years has been an employee of the company and is still on the pay roll although his duties this late in life consist only in keeping in order the passenger station at Newville.” ⁶

In the summer of 1902, Alexander “suffered a slight paralytic stroke and his few surviving relatives thought it better that he should go to the County Home where he could have constant kindly care and attention.” ⁷ As a result of gangrene of the foot, Alexander died there on Sunday morning September 29, 1902. He was brought “to Newville on Sabbath morning and the funeral was held from the home of his brother Joseph. Interment was made in the Presbyterian graveyard, of which he was in charge for so many years.” ⁸

We know something of the life of Alexander Wilt as an employee of the Cumberland Valley Railroad from several items in the newspaper and two obituaries, but much more is revealed about him from a letter written by J. T. R. in 1902 and published on the front page of Newville’s Valley Times-Star newspaper. The headline in the paper ran: “The Ancient Steward of “God’s” Acre. He Covered the Remains of Most of Those Who Sleep in the Presbyterian Graveyard.”

“As far back as my memory extends, Mr. Wilt has been a highly respected and useful citizen of Newville…For years…Mr. and Mrs. Wilt…lived in the frame house, the first house next to the Presbyterian graveyard, opposite the schoolhouse…one of the cleanest, neatest, and most comfortable in the town. And they owned it too.”⁹

“Mr. Wilt was in the employ of the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company for many years, both as a foreman of a body of white men, as well as having worked for a number of years prior thereto, under the foremanship of that faithful servitor of the same company, old Mr. Brown…whom Mr. Wilt succeeded. The fact that a colored man was foreman over a number of white men, provoked no comment, or caused any dissatisfaction, any more than Mr. Wilt’s color or that of his wife created any comment. Neither one suffered the slightest indignation from a single person in the community by reason of their alliance.”

“Mr. Wilt was also for a number of years in charge of the Big Spring Presbyterian church, and the graveyard adjoining…Many a grave he has dug…perhaps the majority of them, and tenderly has he lowered and covered the remains….At the approach of the funeral he would toll the old church bell, and then hasten to open the new-made grave to be the first on hand when the tearful, mournful procession arrived.”¹⁰

Alexander Wilt was the son of Thomas Wilt, a free person of color, and his wife Mary.¹¹ A search of the U. S. Census records for 1850 through 1880 gives varying ages for Alexander, but the most reliable information about him was obtained from the 1900 census taken in Newville two years before his death. It recorded his age as 85, his birthplace as Maryland in August 1815, and his race as “black.” His occupation was listed as “foreman R.R;” he owned his own home, and he could read and write.¹²

Alexander’s obituary stated that he was interred in the graveyard at Big Spring Presbyterian Church. There was no marker standing when the stones were copied in the first decade of the 1900s, and again in 2004. The stone for Alexander’s wife reads ‘Hannah H. Wilt, d. 5 Sept. 1887; 75 yrs. wo wife of A. Wilt.” She is buried in Section X, Lot 717 as well as Alexander’s brother Joseph and his wife Barbara, and a memorial to Alexander’s parents, Thomas and Mary Wilt.