•  With his family Melvin appears in the 1850 census of Pottawattamie County, Iowa.  His young son Joseph D. died while crossing the plains.  Melvin was re-baptized in the Salt Lake Stake on 17 October 1852.  His name first appears in the records of the Utah Territorial Militia in April 1854 as "M. Wilber."  At the time of the 1856 Utah Territorial Census he was living in the Salt Lake 7th Ward.  In some sources his surname is spelled "Wilbor."

Allen Weeks Company (1852)

• Age at Departure: 50
• Head of Household

Sources

• 1850 Iowa Census, Pottawattamie County.
• 1856 Utah census, Great Salt Lake County.
• "21st Company of 50 report, 1852 July 10." In Brigham Young office emigrating companies reports 1850-1862, Reports 1850-1852. (CR 1234 5, Box 1, Fd. 23)
• Evan M. Greene diaries, 1833-1852.
• Salt Lake Stake Record of Members, 1848-1917.
• Utah, Territorial Militia Records, 1849-1877.
• Wilbur, Elisha, [Interview], in "Utah Pioneer Biographies," 44 vols., 30:5-8.