Frank Wilcox was born on March 14, 1829, in Summit, New Jersey, to Levi Wilcox and Huldah Crane. The family moved to Indiana in 1837 and purchased a farm north of Covington. His mother died soon afterward. He travelled to Oregon around 1852 to mine for gold, and he took part in the Rogue River Wars against the region’s Native Americans later in the decade.

 

He married Margaret Field in Leavenworth, Kansas, around 1859, and they had at least four children: Harry, born around 1860; Grace, born around 1868; Frank, born around 1878; and Madge, born around 1879. Their first three children all died before the age of ten. By 1860, Wilcox was working in a livery stable in Covington, and he owned $400 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 14, 1862, and mustered in as a captain in Company E of the 63^rd Indiana Infantry on August 30. The regiment spent the next year and a half stationed in Kentucky and Tennessee before taking part in the Atlanta campaign in 1864. He was promoted to major on June 24, 1864, and in the spring of 1865, he became a colonel in the 154^th Indiana Infantry. He mustered out in Winchester, Virginia, on August 4, 1865.

 

Wilcox settled in Champaign, Illinois, after the war and worked as a real estate agent. By 1870, he owned $1,600 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. By 1900, he was working as an abstractor, and he employed at least one white servant. His wife died on December 22, 1915, and he followed on March 31, 1917.

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