The Descendants of John Heywood of Concord, Massachusetts

Page 569

WHEELER is an interior town lying northeast of the centre of the county, and is bounded north by Prattsburgh, east by Urbana, south by Bath and west by Avoca. It was formed from Bath and Prattsburgh, February 25, 1820, and was named in honor of Capt. Silas Wheeler. A part of Avoca was taken off in 1843, and a part of Urbana in 1839. Its surface is a high, rolling upland, broken by the valleys of Five Mile and Ten Mile creeks. The soil is a shaly and clayey loam, well adapted to grazing and tillage. The principal streams are the creeks above named and some lateral tributaries.

The population of the town of Wheeler in 1890 was 1,283.

Settlement -- The first permanent settler in the town was Capt. Silas Wheeler, in honor of whom the town was named. He was originally from Rhode Island, but came to this town from Albany county, N.Y. Captain Wheeler was a soldier of the revolution, and was with Benedict Arnold in his perilous march through the forests of Maine, and at the assault of Quebec stood near Montgomery when he fell. He was taken prisoner by the British four times, twice by land and twice upon the high seas as a roving privateersman. After his second capture upon the coast of Great Britain he was confined in jail at Kinsale, Ireland, and condemned to be hanged as a pirate. He escaped by the aid of a friendly Irishman and of the distinguished orator and statesman, Henry Grattan. Mr. Grattan procured for him a passport, protected him from press-gangs and the police, and secured for him a passage to France, whence he returned to America.

Captain Wheeler settled in this town - then the town of Bath - in 1799. He came in the spring and put crops which he remained to secure before he returned for his family. He came on with them the following winter, making the journey with ox teams and sleds. Reaching Pleasant Valley, they were obliged to halt on account of the great depth of snow. They sojourned for some time with Judge Baker in the valley, and again proceeded. When they reached Mitchellsville hill they again became stalled. A road had previously been cut through from this point to the place afterward settled by Uriel Chapin, above the property selected by Captain Wheeler. Wheeler and Chapin took up three hundred and fifty acres each. Captain Wheeler was a soldier in the war of 1812 also. Nathan Rose and William Holmes, sons-in-law of Captain Wheeler, accompanied him. Rose, in 1804, settled upon that part of the O.F. Marshall farm formerly known as the Rose farm, on the west side of the creek.

History of Steuben County, New York, by Prof. W. W. Clayton, Lewis, Peck & Co, Philadelphia, 1879

Page 440

Capt. Silas Wheeler, in honor of whom the town was named, was the first permanent settler. He was a native of Rhode Island, but then recently from Albany Co., N.Y. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was with Benedict Arnold in his perilous march through the forests of Maine, and at the assault of Quebec stood near Montgomery when he fell. He was four times taken prisoner, - twice by land and twice upon the high-seas as a roving privateersman. After his second capture upon the coast of Great Britain he was confined in jail at Kinsale, Ireland, and condemned to be hanged as a pirate. He escaped by the aid of a friendly Irishman and of the distinguished orator and statesman, Henry Grattan.

Mr. Grattan procured for him a passport, protected him from press-gangs and the police, and secured for him a passage to France, whence he returned to America. He settled in the town of Wheeler (then included in Bath) in 1799.

Capt. Wheeler's first trip to mill is worthy of record, as it gives an insight into the hardships and privations of the new settler. There were at this time three mills in the neighboring towns, viz., at the Friends' settlement, at Naples, and at Bath. The mill at Bath was not running for want of something to grind. Capt. Wheeler's first business was to make a cart, which he did after the most primitive style; the wheels were sawn from the end of a log of curly maple, the box was made to correspond, and with a yoke of oxen attached to this vehicle he started for Naples. Two pioneers went before with axes to clear the road, while the captain with his bovine vehicle, bounding over logs and stumps, and floundering through the bushes, followed. The first day's march was six miles, the second brought them to their destination. Capt. Wheeler was famous throughout all the land for his anecdotes, and many an otherwise weary hour has been beguiled by listening to his adventures. He died in 1828, aged seventy-eight, with his son Grattan H. Wheeler on the property now owned by his grandson, G.H. Wheeler. The Gulf road to Bath was opened by Capt. Wheeler, and the Kennedyville road was opened a year or two afterwards. His children were two twin daughters, Ruth and Sarah, and a son, Grattan H. Wheeler.

Page 441

Capt. Silas and Grattan H. Wheeler built a saw-mill in the south part of the town, on the farm now owned by J. Butts, about 1809. They afterwards sold to Gen. George McClure, and he sold to Dugald Cameron, and Cameron to Geo. W. Taylor, his brother-in-law, who established there a grist-mill, distillery, and ashcry, and operated for some considerable time with success. Taylor was a man of much enterprise. He w;is at one time a prominent merchant of Bath.

from LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY
by Hon. Harlo Hakes, 1896

Pages B-38-41

The first settlement in the town of Wheeler was made by Captain Silas Wheeler in the year 1800, and the town is named after him. He was a descendent of Captain Timothy Wheeler, who was born in England in 1604, and was a nephew of Governor Brooks of Massachusetts.

The parents of Silas Wheeler, Jonas Wheeler and Percis Brooks, both natives of Concord, Mass., were married October 13, 1743, and Silas Wheeler was born March 7, 1752 at Concord, Mass. He was married in Providence County, R.I., to Sarah Gardner, and they remained there nearly a year with the bride's parents. Before the year ended the famous fight at Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, took place, in which battle many kinsmen of Silas Wheeler took part in defense of their homes. An "army of observation," consisting of three regiments, was at once organized in Rhode Island, and in a few weeks marched to Prospect Hill near Boston. General Nathaniel Green was commander of one of the regiments raised in Providence, and Silas Wheeler was a private in that regiment. These three regiments formed what was known as the "Rhode Island Brigade," and were present at the battle of Bunker Hill. After Washington assumed command of the troops before Boston, a body of eleven hundred men was selected from his army to make a descent upon Quebec. This body was intended to co-operate with General Montgomery's army, which had set out for Quebec by the way of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River. Washington selected Benedict Arnold to command the eleven hundred men, with the orders to march through the Maine woods. Among the first to volunteer in this body was Silas Wheeler, who was appointed 3d corporal in Captain Simeon Thayer's Company. On September 13, 1775, Arnold started with his men from Cambridge, and on November 3 they reached Sertigan in Canada, in a state of starvation. For several days this little army had been without provisions of any kind.

Caleb Haskel, in his journal of the expedition recorded at the time, says: "November 1, 1775, set out weak and faint, having nothing to eat; the ground covered with snow; traveled fifteen miles and encamped. Eat part of a hind quarter of a dog for supper; we are in a pitiable condition. November 2, set out early this morning very much discouraged, having nothing to eat or no prospect of anything; we are so weak and faint we can scarcely walk, obliged to lighten our packs, have been upon short allowance for sixteen days. November 3, about two o'clock we espied a house, then we gave three huzzas, for we have not seen a house before for thirty days. The village is called Sertigan, the people are all French and Indians."

The day before the army reached Sertigan Captain Dearborn, afterward Major-General Dearborn, gave his Newfoundland dog to the men, and although the dog had been a great favorite with all the command, he was at once killed and eaten without bread or salt.

Judge Henry, of Pennsylvania, in his journal, says: "One spoonful of the dog stew was quite enough for me," but Captain Wheeler often said that nothing ever tasted better to him than this meal eaten as it was after a fast of five days. Many men of this little army died of hunger, some in four or five minutes after making their last effort and lying down. Corporal Wheeler had with him fifty golden guineas, and in his fight for life he threw them away, in order to lighten his load, and a comrade picked them up and carried them until he fell from exhaustion.

December 1, Arnold reached Quebec, but it was not until the night of Dec. 31 that the assault was made. Corporal Wheeler's company was in the assault, took one barrier of the fort, and captured 130 prisoners, but were unable to reach the second barrier, or to retreat. Meantime Montgomery had fallen and Arnold was sounded; and after holding their position for four hours, his men were captured and taken to the Dauphine Prison in Quebec. This prison was burned down in 1810. The American prisoners were kindly treated by Sir Guy Carlton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, the "savior of Canada;" but smallpox broke out in the prison,and great suffering ensued, and in March an attempt was made to escape but failed through the treachery of John Hall. The prisoners were placed in irons and so kept for two months. Corporal Wheeler was treated with exceptional severity, because it was reported that he had taken part in the capture and burning of the British armed sloop "Gaspe."

In August, 1776, the prisoners were paroled, and on August 12 Corporal Wheeler's company left Quebec for New York and arrived there September 12, but finding New York in the posession of the British, they proceeded to Elizabethtown, N.J. Captain Thayer, in his journal, says that he landed at Elizabethtown on September 20, with nine rank and file, one lieutenant - all that returned of the eighty-seven men of his company who left Cambridge a year before. From Elizabethtown Corporal Wheeler went to Rhode Island to join his young wife, and was soon exchanged as a prisoner. He at once re-enlisted in the "Rhode Island Brigade," in Colonel John Popham's regiment. This brigade served three years in the Continental Army. Many of the Rhode Island troops were permitted to volunteer for service on the sea, and under this permission Silas Wheeler went on board a privateer which was captured by a British man-of-war. The prisoners were treated as pirates, were taken to Ireland and confined in prison at Kinsale for more than a year. Henry Grattan, the great Irish orator and patriot, was in deep sympathy with the Americans in their struggle for freedom, and in some way Silas Wheeler was placed in communication with him, and was assured that if he could escape from prison, shelter and aid would be furnished by Lord Grattan. Wheeler planned and made his escape over the walls of the prison; and amid a shower of bullets aimed at him by the guards, he made his way to Grattan, and the latter gave him clothing and money, and secured his passage to France, and when asked how he could be repaid, answered: "If you should have a son, give him my name, and bring him up to love liberty and his fellow man." Soon after Captain Wheeler took passage for America, and lost no time in making his way to Rhode Island to his wife, who for nearly two years had not heard from him and had supposed him dead.
It was during his service with the Rhode Island Brigade and before he went on the privateer that he was made a captain. He remained in Rhode Island until the close of the war; and on August 25, 1783, his only son was born, and to him the name of Grattan Henry was given. Soon after the close of the war Captain Wheeler moved to Albany county,then in 1798 to Steuben county. He was a man of great energy and perseverance, but liberal and generous and never a money maker. His son, Grattan H. Wheeler, who came with him to Wheeler, was a man of great business ability, and largely through his efforts and good judgement, the great Wheeler farm of 5,000 acres was secured and improved; upon that farm Captain Wheeler lived until his death in 1828. He never forgot his early sufferings from hunger, and at his house everyone who came was invited to eat and drink. He planted fruit trees by the roadside, and raised tobacco for the free use of the wayfarer. He had three children, two twin girls born during the Revolutionary war, both of whom lived and died in Wheeler, Ruth as the wife of Nathan Rose and Sarah as the wife of William Holmes.
Captain Wheeler was induced to settle in Steuben county by a Mr. Preston from Westerloo, who had purchased township 6; and upon his return to Albany county, had spread the most glowing accounts of the fertility of the Conhocton Valley. The captain located on the Wheeler farm, so many years occupied by him and his son, Grattan H.
His first trip to mill is worthy of record. There were at the time when he had occasion to go to mill but three institutions in the neighborhood where grinding was done: At the Friends' Settlement at Dresden, at Bath and at Naples. The mill at Bath had suspended operations. Captain Wheeler made a cart, the wheels of which were sawed from the end of a curly maple log; the box was in keeping. He started for Naples with a yoke of oxen attached to this cart. The young men went before them with axes and chopped a road; and the clumsy chariot came floundering through the bushes, bouncing over logs and scrubbing the tree stumps. The first day they reached a point near where Prattsburg now is - six miles, and on the second day reached the mill at Naples.

From HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK
by Guy H. McMaster

Pages 130-132

The first permanent settler in this town was Capt. Silas Wheeler, a native of Rhode Island, who emigrated from Albany County, in the state of New York, in the year 1790 or 1800. Capt. Joel Pratt made a purchase of several thousand acres in this town, in the year previous, and had made a clearing of one hundred and ten acres, and raised a crop of wheat from it, on what is now known as the "Mitchell farm." Capt. Pratt was permitted, by Capt. Williamsson, to exchange this for a tract in the town of Prattsburgh, where he removed in 1804, or about that time.

Capt. Wheeler had been a man of adventure. He was one of Benedict Arnold's men in the perilous march thorugh the forests of Maine, and at the assault of Quebec stood near Montgomery when he fell. He was four times taken prisoner in the revolutionary war - twice on land, and twice when roving the high seas as a privateer's man. From his first captivity, he was soon released by exchange. After another capture, he lay in prison more than a year. Being taken a second time on one of the daring privateers that tormented the British coast, he was confined in the Jail of Kinsale, in Ireland, and condemned to be hung as a pirate - or at least was very rudely treated, and threatened with hanging by powers that had the authority to make good their threats. He escaped this disagreeable fate by the assistance of a friendly Irishman, and of the distinguished orator and statesman Henry Grattan. Mr. Grattan procured for him a passport, protected him from press-gangs and the police, and secured for him a passage to Dunkirk, in France.

Capt. Wheeler was induced to settle in Steuben County by Preston, the Surveyor, who, on his return to Westerlo, spread the most glowing accounts of the fertility and prospects of the Conhocton Country. Capt. Wheeler's settlement was made at the place now occupied by his grand-son, Mr. Grattan H. Wheeler.

Capt. Wheeler's first trip to mill, is worthy of record. There were, at the time when he had occasion to "go to mill," three institutions in the neighborhood where grinding was done - at the Friend's settlement, at Bath, and at Naples. The mill-stones of Bath had suspended operations - there being nothing there to grind, as was reported. Capt. Wheeler made a cart, of which the wheels were sawn from the end of a log of curly-maple; the box was of corresponding architecture. He started for Naples with two oxen attached to this vehicle. Two young men went before the oxen with axes and chopped a road, and the clumsy chariot came floundering through the bushes behind - bouncing over the logs, and snubbing the stumps, like a ship working through an ice-field. The first day they reached a point a little beyond the present village of Prattsburgh - a distance of six miles from their starting point - and on the second, moored triumphantly at the mill of Naples.

Capt. Wheeler was a man famous for anecdotes throughout all the land. Not one of the multitude of Captains, who flourished in our country in early days, earned his military title more fairly. He died in 1828, aged 78. Hon. Grattan H. Wheeler, son of Capt. Wheeler, died in 1852. He had been a prominent citizen of the county many years, and had served in the State and National Legislature.