- GUY WHEELER. One of the old and prominent citizens of La
Prairie township, Rock County,
- whose name stands for solidity of character, who has witnessed
and contributed materially to the growth of Rock County, his
place of residence for almost threescore years, and who is today
honored for his most honorable career, is Guy WHEELER, the subject
of this sketch.
- Mr. WHEELER was born in Chili, Monroe Co., N.Y., Oct. 24,
1820, son of Justus P. and Lucy
- (CULVER) WHEELER, natives of Massachusetts. Our subject's
grandfather, who also was named Justus WHEELER, was a native
of Massachusetts, of Welsh descent, and lived to the age of ninety-nine
years. He had six children. The maternal grandfather, Porter
CULVER, was a carpenter. The father of our subject was well educated,
read law, and was admitted to the Bar. Believing that Western
lands would be a fortunate investment, he in 1840 took a trip
to Wisconsin, and purchased 640 acres of land in what are now
La Prairie and Harmony townships, Rock County. Two years later
he brought his family to this property, upon which he continued
to reside until his death, which occurred in October, 1872, when
he was aged eighty-nine years. His wife survived him several
years, passing away at the age of ninety-two. Both were members
of the M. E. Church. Justus P. WHEELER was a man of prominence
and held various elective offices. He was a soldier in the war
of 1812. He was the first highway commissioner in the township,
and was also chairman of the board of supervisors. To Justus
P. and Lucy WHEELER, were born ten children, six sons and four
daughters, of whom five are now living: Guy, our subject; Samuel,
of Portland, Oregon; Charles, of Janesville; Cornelia, widow
of Archibald G. BENEDICT, of Ionia, Mich.; and Sarah, wife of
Isaac HOWLAND, of Crown Point, Indiana.
- Guy WHEELER, our subject, was educated for the most part
in New York state. He attended
- the common schools, then took a course at Lima Seminary,
in that State, and completed his education at Mount Morris (Ill.)
Seminary under Prof. Pinckney. He was nearly twenty-two years
of age when he came to Wisconsin with his father, in 1842. He
entered 160 acres of government land in Section 5, La Prairie
township, his present home, where since 1842 he has continued
to live. He has added eighty acres to his property, and now has
a fertile and well-tilled farm of 240 acres, except a right of
way through a part of the farm, which he recently sold to the
Janesville & Southeastern Railway Co. Mr. WHEELER has also
followed stock raising in addition to farming, raising a fine
breed of horses, many of which have been shipped to Europe.
- Mr. WHEELER married, Oct. 9, 1844, Miss Ann L. SNELL, daughter
of Asa F. and Louisa
- (EATON) SNELL, and to this marriage four children have been
born, Marion W., Cordelia A., William G. and Ralph H. Marion
W. married Augustus C. DOW, and now lives in Chicago. Cordelia
A. died at the age of thirteen years. William G. is a prominent
lawyer of Janesville; he married Miss Jessie JACKMAN. Ralph H.,
a very successful practicing physician of Chicago, married Joan
McDONALD, and has two children, Marie and Ralph.
- In politics Mr. WHEELER is a Republican. He was the first
town clerk of La Prairie township,
- and for two terms has been school inspector. In 1864 he was
a member of the Wisconsin Legislature. He is popular, a man of
great force of character, and one of the representative citizens
of Rock County.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 46-47.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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