Wilbur S. Wandell was born in 1847 in Michigan, the son of William and Eliza Wandell. His life had barely begun when his father died in 1852. Wilbur’s first marriage was to Callie Norton before 1870 when she was a teenager. Wilbur worked as a carpenter in Kalamazoo, and they had two daughters, Grace and Maude. There is no record of a divorce, but Callie lived with her daughter Grace in Battle Creek, Michigan until her death in 1913, keeping the name Wandell and saying she was married.
Wilbur married Nancy Waugh in Morrow County, Ohio in 1895. They lived in Fairfield County, Ohio in 1900 with their son, Joy. Their daughter Elizabeth was born before they moved to Fresno, California before 1910.
Wilbur was active in facilitating Spiritualist camp meetings in Michigan and Ohio before he moved to Fresno. In 1887, he oversaw the camp meeting at Frazers’ Grove, Vicksburg Michigan “He reports that active efforts are making to render the camp meeting at that place a great success another season.” In 1890 and1891, he was president of the Vicksburg Spiritualists’ Religious Association which had been running Frazer’s grove camp meeting since 1883.
He was known as a meeting “pioneer and ran the religious camp association central department in Ashley, Delaware county Ohio in1890. The Light of Truth, 4 March 1893, published a piece by Samuel Waugh which described a séance in Ashley, Ohio that was attended by Waugh’s family, Mr. W. S. Wandell, the medium’s manager, and Benjamin F. Foster, the medium. In 1897, Wilbur was a delegate when they formed the association of Ohio Spiritualists. By that time, he was living in the Spiritualist community, Summerland Beach in California.
The family was living in Fresno, California in 1910. Wilbur was a plumber, and member of the Spiritualist church, IOOF lodge and Knights of Pythias Lodge. He died in 1928 following an illness of several weeks at age of 79. Nannie was still alive in 1950 and lived with daughter Elizabeth in Fresno.