Henry Dudley Wiltse

H. D. Wiltse Dies At Newcastle Sunday

Word has been received by Lusk friends of the death of H. D. Wiltse, at the Newcastle hospital, at 12:20 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 4. Services were held in Newcastle on Tuesday and burial was made in the cemetery there.

Mr. Wiltse has been connected with the oil industry most of his life and came to Lusk as one of the first drillers when the first wildcat wells were drilled north of Lusk, before the discovery of the Lance Creek field.

Mr. and Mrs. Wiltse and family moved to Osage some 20 years ago and he had been connected with the oil fields there until moving into Newcastle during the past year.

He is survived by his wife and two children, Mrs. Mary Ertle of Newcastle and son Kirk, in the service.

The Lusk Herald
November 29, 1945
PIONEER OIL MAN, H. D. WILTSE, DIES AT NEWCASTLE

H. D. Wiltse, 77, died at the Newcastle Hospital November 4 and funeral services were held from the Methodist church Tuesday, Nov. 6 with music being furnished by the choir. Interment was made in the Greenwood cemetery in Newcastle.

Henry Dudley Wiltse was born in Riceville, Cataragaus County, New York, Oct. 11, 1889. He was the son of Anson and Lydia Dodge Wiltse and one of four children, all of whom have preceded him in death.

He attended thc public school at Delavan, N. Y. and at McKean County, Pa. In 1888 he engaged in oil field work and followed this line of employment in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois until 1913.

In 1904 Mr. Wiltse was married to Grace Watson at Geneva, Ind., and they were the parents of one daughter, Mary Agnes. His wife died March, 1908.

He was married to Martha A. Kirk in June 1910 at the farm home of the bride's parents, near Robinson, Ill. One son, Dudley Kirk was born to them.

In September of 1913 Mr. Wiltse moved his family from Waterloo, Iowa to Lusk at which time he put the first Standard Rig on the Lance Creek Oil Structure. Since that time he was engaged in contracting at Lance Creek and drilling in the Big Muddy, Salt Creek and Osage oil fields.

His family moved from their home in Lusk to the Argonaut Oil Company Lease in the Osage field in January 1926. In 1936 he moved into Osage and from there to Newcastle in October of 1943, where they have since resided.

H.D. Wiltse was a member of Newcastle Lodge No. 13, A.F. & A.M. and Newcastle Chapter No. 30, Order of the Eastern Star and was a chapter member of the Robinson, Ill., Lodge, B.P.O. Elks.

Besides his wife Martha, he is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Ertle, son Kirk and three grandchildren, Dudley Kirk, Jr., James Emory, Ellen Jeanette.

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