Dr. Wilson E. Naylor, dentist, Elizabethville, was born at Mt. Rock, Cumberland County, Pennsylania, 6 June 1841, a son of Nelson L. Naylor and Catherine [Bender] Naylor. The ancestors are German, and the name was formerly spelled Neilor.
Rev. George Naylor, the grandfather, was a native of Berks County, and removed to Cumberland County when a young man where he was engaged in farming. His first wife was Miss Cump, whom he married in Berks County. He married his second wife in Cumberland County, and their children were:
Daniel Naylor;
George Naylor;
Samuel Naylor;
Frank Naylor;
Hattie Naylor;
Jane Naylor;
Rebecca Naylor; and
Mary Naylor.
Rev. George Naylor was an Evangelical minister for many years previous to his death, which occurred at Mt. Rock in 1848 when he was ninety-four years of age.
The father, Nelson L. Naylor, was born in Cumberland County in 1810 and was a farmer. He died in 1844, and his wife died in 1887, aged seventy-three years.
Wilson E. Naylor is the only child of his parents, and received his primary education in the common schools of Adams County, where his mother located after his father’s death, when he was three years old. He attended school at Bendersville until 1857, in the summer of which he entered Union Seminary, now Central Pennsylvania College, where he took up Latin, Greek, and other branches of study.
Wilson E. Naylor enlised 21 June 1861, at Harrisburg, in Company K, Seventy-first regiment , Pennsylvania reserves [71st Pennsylvania Infantry], and went at once with his regiment to the front. He participated in the battles of Mechanicsville; in front of Richmond, 26 June 1861; 27 JUne at Gaines’ Mill, Charles CIty Cross Roads; 30 June, Meadow Hill, followed by Second Bull Run, 1 July; South Mountain, 14 September; Antietam, 16 September; Fredericksburg,13 December. At Gettysburg, his left shoulder was pierced by a ball and after a few days in the hospital he was removed to his home at Bendersville, ten miles from Gettysburg, where he remained until completion of convalescence in March 1864. He then re-joined his regiment at Bristow’s Station, and was in the Battle of the WIlderness. His regiment occupied a prominent position during the fight. He was next in the battled of Spottsylvania, COld Harboe, and siege of Petersburg and was discharged at Alington Heights, 2 July 1865.
He then returned home and began the study of dentistry with Dr. Schlosser, at Hagerstown, which he pursued for one year, and the next year was with Dr. Bender, of Shippensburg. The next year he worked with Dr. H. C. Derr, at Hanover, and then located at Littlestown, Adams County, where he practiced five years. The next eleven years he was at Bendersville, and after four years at Hanover, in the spring of 1894, he opened an office in Elizabethville, where he has since practiced. He was married, at Bendersville, 22 January 1866, to Miss Mary Wert, of that town, and there have been born to them four sons:
Galen L. Naylor;
Joseph W. Naylor;
Edward G. Naylor; and
Reynolds Naylor.
Dr. Naylor was formerly a Democrat, but now votes with the Populist party, and has served as an auditor of the township. He was reared in the Evangelical church.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
Findagrave Memorial #38911698. Dr. Wilson E. Naylor died in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on 5 May 1919. He is buried at Bendersville Cemetery, Bendersville, Adams County, Pennsylvania. A biographical sketch and his obituary are included.
For more information on Dr. Wilson E. Naylor‘s Civil War record, see:
71st Pennsylvania Infantry – Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg