4 September 1996 - My name is Sheralyn Suzanne Wheeler Storr. I live at
1415 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505)988-2139, e-mail
This property is a very important part of my identity. Since getting
interested in the genealogy work begun by my Mother and carried on by my
brother (William Clarence Wheeler, born 31 Dec 1938), I've often
wondered how many Wheeler descendants would live in EGP if no one had
moved away. This would include all of the descendants of James Richard
and Martha Emaline Owens Wheeler except for three Marko children who
stayed in Nebraska when their parents died. The number is yet to be
determined since we don't know all of the living members of the family at this
time. Three of my cousins (Harold, Larry, & Jerry Hobson, sons of
Evelyn Wheeler Hobson) are married and live in EGP. Harold and his wife
Floy live in the house built by Glen and Alta WHEELER. Larry and his
wife Judy live a mere 30 yards from the location of a two story white
clapboard house built by John Marshall and Dora Piper WHEELER. Jerry and
his wife Vicky, along with their children Levi and Whitney, live a mile
south of the other two locations. I've been trying to tell them how
crowded the farm land would be if we all had stayed put.
As background for understanding the connection between Dorothy and
the stories told by James Stonewall of his ancestors, I'll start with Dorothy's
story. Dorothy and Clarence were married 10 Oct 1937 and built their
house just west of Glen and Alta and about 1/2 mile east of JS. Eva
died 20 Jul 1936. JS died 13 Feb 1946. During this almost ten year
time period, JS lived in his house until he sold his farm and then lived
with Glen and Alta before spending some time in a nursing home before his
death. He spent many long afternoons in the home of Clarence and Dorothy
visiting with Dorothy's father - WC VAN DOREN (born 22 Dec 1870).
Dorothy must have done a lot of ironing - she remembers specific
statements made while she was ironing. WC would say, "Now, Dorothy, you
must write this down." Naturally she didn't do the writing at that time
- she was ironing - hence this current project of mine. I wanted to have
more details proven before writing it down, but the proof will have to come
later. The time to write is now.
Dorothy B.(born 15 Dec 1918) was the daughter of William Chester VAN
DOREN and Kiney Elizabeth HUGHES VAN DOREN. Kiney was a nurse and they
had a farm a little over two miles north of James Stonewall WHEELER and
Eva C. ROSS WHEELER. Dorothy can remember going to the Wheeler farm on a
regular basis beginning at the age of four. Kiney administered some sort
of shot to Eva. When Dorothy was four years old, her earliest memory of
this property was sitting in the yard on a platform swing with two bench
seats. Once she was sitting down, her legs didn't reach the platform and
she couldn't make the swing go. Along comes a very tall child in a
handsome white suit who has no trouble making the swing perform. This
tall child just happened to be Glen Clarence WHEELER, Jr. The swing was
still in the yard when I was growing up, and cousins of my HOBSON cousins
lived on that farm. (Frank PETERS and wife Sweetie HOBSON PETERS) Sweetie
now lives in Tinnie, NM, in the Hondo Valley and the swing was moved to
that property.
Dorothy's visits to the JS WHEELER farm were then routine and often. JS
would tell her a story most of the times she was there. He didn't repeat
himself often, but she had favorite stories that he would repeat. There
was a fascinating feature to their house that she remembers well. The
living room had a high shelf running around several walls. On the
shelves were jars of bugs in formaldahyde. JS and Eva had five sons and
we don't know who was responsible for the bug collection. Eva often said
"Now, Jim, don't you fill that child's head with nonsense." When JS
would relate the stories of his family, Eva saw this as bragging and she
would ask for proof. There were stories of the Wheelers that Eva would
prefer not be known by her sons. She was not too pleased that her father-
in-law had left his family for more than seven years. JS was not known to
repeat too many of his family stories in front of Eva, so it's not
surprising that so many were told after her death.
JS learned the story of the Wheelers from his grandmother Sarah. He
lived with Joshua and Sarah for seven years while his father, James
Richard was in California. (a combination of avoiding the Civil War
where his neighbors were fighting his relatives in Kentucky, and the
California Gold Rush with it's excitement) James Richard returned to
Illinois with a shoe box full of gold that he made by running a general
store - selling eggs to the miners.
JS knew the names of his WHEELER ancestors in this country and the names
of each of their wives. Dorothy remembers Martha Emaline OWENS, Sarah
ADAMS, Catherine NEAL, Elizabeth MORRIS, and ? FITZHUGH. Neil Saunders
WHEELER was named for Catherine "Neal".
The men are easier to remember because Sarah made up a poem about them.
During the years that JS lived with Joshua and Sarah, he entered a
contest to name the most ancestors from Virginia. This poem may have
been part of the contest entry. He won a wrist watch for his efforts.
(And in 1996 I am holding out hope of finding the organization and the
entry - preferably in the handwriting of JS, she says with a grin.)
In trying to "prove" this poem and other stories known by JS, Dorothy has
found evidence of WHEELERS by these names living in legitimate locations.
John WHEELER came from England to Virginia in 1635 on the ship called
"Assurance De Lo". He was born about 1612 and died after 1650. William
was born before 1650 and died after 1683. In 1672 he was the executor for
the estate of Captain Morrison. James lived in Spotsylvania County
(may have been born in Rappahanock County) and in 1727 leased land from
Henry Fitzhugh for 530 pounds of tobacco. James is thought to have been
married to a Fitzhugh and was the father of John, William, and James, Jr.
The fifth WHEELER to be in the Colonies was John, born in 1724 and died
in 1792 in Spotsylvania County. He married Elizabeth MORRIS, the daughter
of Thomas MORRIS, and was the father of Moses and John. He served in the
Revolutionary War and received a pension. He lived in Spotsylvania
County on the west side of the Rappahannock River. George Washington
lived on the east side of the river, and JS thought that the two
families were friends. JS believed that John Wheeler was a spy for
George Washington and would report on British troop movements that he
observed while "driving a wagon to market". One afternoon while
ironing Dorothy heard JS tell WC that John's commanding officers in the
Revolution were named Sherrell and Lynn. Dorothy thought these were
pretty names and that's how I got my first name - Sheralyn. John's
brother William went to Kentucky and bought land in both of their names.
William stayed in Kentucky in what was then Jefferson County, now Oldham
County.
The sixth WHEELER in our line is John, born in Spotsylvania County in
1767. He was too young to fight in the Revolution, but he joined the Army
and fought the Indians in Kanawha County, (now West Virginia). It is
believed that he lived with his uncle, John Morris. He was taken
prisoner by the Indians on 16 Oct 1792 and was tortured. JS knew
details of this indian captivity - straws were stuck various places on
his body and lit on fire. His graphic recollection of the event caused
some jealousy from WC VAN DOREN. WC knew all about his family, but he
didn't have such interesting stories. John married Catherine NEAL on
15 Sep 1796 in Madison County, Kentucky. Madison was one of the first
three counties in the state of Kentucky. Catherine was born in 1780 and died
in 1797 in Jefferson County when William was three days old. Following
her death, John took William on an "indian cart" and along with a negro
wet nurse, returned east to his family. We don't know if that means
Kanawha County or Spotsylvania County or elsewhere. The "indian cart"
was described as two poles on either side of a horse connected by a piece
of tarp with the ends of the poles dragging on the trail.
William married Sarah (Sally) ADAMS on 7 Apr 1817 in Madison County, KY.
The surety was provided by William Richardson, a probable brother to
Sarah 's mother, Nancy. Wm Richardson is shown in Louisville, Jefferson
County, KY in the census of 1820. William Richardson was probably
responsible for arranging the marriage of Sarah Adams and William.
JS knew that Sarah was born on 21 Feb 1800 in Tennessee and her mother
ran from their cabin with Sarah in her arms as Indians attacked, burned
the cabin and apparantly killed Sarah's father, Richard ADAMS. Sarah's
mother, Nancy RICHARDSON ADAMS, returned to Virginia with Sarah. Nancy
then married George JACKSON in 1814 and moved to Zanesville, Ohio. We
don't know if Sarah went with them to Ohio.
JS knew that William left Kentucky because he disagreed with his father
John over a slavery issue. John died at least ten years before William
left for Illinois.
JS knew that William's father provided him with cash and he did not have
to work while he was in Kentucky. Sarah explained to JS when he was
quite small that he had two grandfathers - Joshua whom he knew and his
real grandfather, William, who had died by his wagon. My brother William
Clarence remembers JS telling him about being named for his grandfather.
JS knew that Sarah was the mother of twelve children. JS knew that
William's stepmother "raked up" lots of money for them before they left
Kentucky. As a young child, Dorothy was fascinated with this image of
raking up money.
One of the stories told by JS that he couldn't "prove" was a little ditty
about Dolly Madison. This was taught to JS by his Grandmother Sarah. He
couldn't "prove" it to be true because he didn't know all of the names of
the principal characters. It's quite obvious that Dolly Madison was no
relation to JS, but this was just a silly little poem to show the
connection. It becomes very important to prove the name and identity of
JS's grandmother.
JS knew that "Dolly Madison was my Grandmother's Step-father's
Daughter-in-law's sister."
Dorothy ran across these connections of names quite by accident while
looking for other information. JS didn't know the name "George"
Jackson, but knew Sarah's stepfather was a Jackson because of his own
name "Stonewall". If you think about it, you would need a powerfully
important connection to name a baby Stonewall in Illinois in 1862, when
Stonewall Jackson was already a very well known Southern hero.
When William and Sarah left by wagon from Kentucky to Illinois, several,
if not all of their children were left in Kentucky. JS thought the children
were supposed to go to Illinois after William and Sarah were
settled. The spring that they chose to travel (probably 1830) was the
wettest in memory, and the trail was a real "quagmire". (Dorothy remembers
the word since she didn't know what it meant.) JS knew that William died
by his wagon from pneumonia. Eva was heard to say "He just drank himself
to death." If he had pneumonia he probably did drink a bit of alcohol
before dieng. He was buried where the Wabash meets the Ohio River. Years
later, James Richard searched this area on horseback and could not find a
marked grave. JS knew that Joshua Wheeler was on the same wagon train and
might have "married" Sarah on the trail by a circuit rider preacher.
The Wheeler men down through JS and Glen, visited "cousins" half a
country away. There's every reason to think that Joshua and William were
in some way cousins.
The children of William and Sarah left behind in Kentucky could have been
Washington, Holladay, James Richard, Mary Ann, John H., and Fielding.
Marshall Love would only have been a year old and it seems likely that
he travelled with Sarah and William. The 1850 census lists Marshall L
and makes it appear that he is the child of Joshua and Sarah. Fielding
is listed at the end of the family, an indication that he is not the
child of these two parents. JS had only a little to say about Joshua.
"Joshua was a good man, a quiet man. I guess he didn't have much to say."
My take on this is that Joshua was indeed a very good man to assume
responsibility for at least part of William's family. I doubt that
Sarah would make an issue of "the true fatherhood" of a child that was
raised by Joshua. Of course, Sarah was not exactly a charity case since
she had enough money with her to buy land in Illinois. By adding the
children of Joshua and Sarah as listed by Marshall R. WHEELER, the total
comes to twelve.
JS knew that James Richard outlived three wives and that he went broke as
a druggist and turned to farming. The same can be said of WC VAN DOREN and
JS and WC talked of these similarities. The 1850 census in Oldham
County shows a James WHEELER with a Sallie as a druggist. Not too far
away is a John H WHEELER , age 24, a druggist. Marshall R. WHEELER'S book
speaks of JR marrying Martha Emaline Owens in 1848 in Illinois. If
both of these are true, JR is fulfilling his questionable reputation by
having two wives - at least they're in different states. Obviously we
have some work ahead of us to solve this dilema.
Martha Emaline OWENS married James Richard WHEELER and were the parents
of Mary Jane, John Marshall, Martha A. (Mattie), James Stonewall, and Elizabeth
Maude. Martha died 5 Jul 1886 in Adams Township, Gage Co, NE.
JR married again and moved to Goodland, Sherman Co., Kansas, with JS and
Eva. Earl and Glen both knew that JR had a third wife. They all lived
in a sod house before building a two story house. I remember a picture
of JS, Eva, Earl, and Glen in a buggy in front of a two story house.
Glen was born 5 Oct 1892 and he went to school in Kansas. Years later
he was attempting to get a social security card, and he travelled to
Goodland to see if school records could verify his age. (In 1996 we
shot holes in this story, since we know that a NM birth certificate can
be established by a mother at any point during a lifetime. Eva lived
down the road from Glen in EGP when he went to Kansas. We don't doubt
that he went to Kansas for a birth record, we just wonder why he didn't
use the family Bible.)
Kansas was not good to the WHEELERS. Glen told me they moved for their
health. This was the middle of the dustbowl and grasshoppers got the crops,
they were in danger of starving to death. They moved back to Gage Co,
NE between the time that Glen went to school and 1898. Sarah died 6 Aug
1894 in Nebraska and was buried in Macoupin Co. Illinois. James Richard
died 9 Feb 1904 in Illinois and was buried in Nebraska. Dorothy thought it
strange that these folks never got buried where they died.
John Marshall moved his family from Nebraska to EGP sometime before the
birth of his youngest son, John Marshall, Jr on 26 Jun 1907. He built a
wonderful white clapboard two story house. When I was a child, this house
had lightening arrestors on several of the top peaks. These were the only
lightening arrestors I was aware of and I couldn't figure out why that
house was particularly attractive to lightening. I wouldn't have stayed
in that house during a storm for anything on earth - my illogical brain
said it was likely to be struck by lightening if it had those sticks to
attract it. Russell and Agnes Smith lived in that house; their daughter
Beverly was in my brother's first first grade class. Another member of my
brother's class in the first few grades had the last name of Piper. I remember
a picture of him in a goofy costume for a school play. (I think my
brother was a tree) Anyway, this Piper child was related to John
Marshall's wife, Dora Piper WHEELER.
John Marshall had a "handshake" agreement with the bank for the purchase
of his farm. Dorothy remembers talk of a bank meeting financial
hardship and going broke. According to Earl Wheeler in Colorado
Springs, John Marshall lost the farm and moved to Taos County before the
1920 census.
Newton Evert, born 23 Oct 1888 in Pickrell, married Mary ADAMS on 24 Apr
1912. Mary was born in Missouri. Their oldest daughter, Alice, born 13 Apr
1913, was the flower girl in Glen and Alta's wedding in Chaves County
on 9 May 1917. Newton Evert died 30 Oct 1921 in Red River, Taos Co, NM.
He is buried in a private cemetery near Cerro in Taos Co. Earl was going
to look for the burial site in July 1996 while he was visiting NM. According
to Earl, Mary and her children moved to Colorado following the death of Newton
Evert. John Marshall and the rest of his family moved to California at this time.
The second son of John Marshall was Charles Albert who married Marian
WHITNEY on 4 Oct 1916. The Whitney family farmed in EGP, and Ross and
Ellis were particularly close friends of the WHEELERS. Charles Albert
died in Astoria, Clatsop Co., OR on 26 Oct 1918.
Bertha was born 5 Sep 1891 in Pickrell and married George Earl NACHAND
on 21 Sep 1917 in Chaves County. Bertha and George lived in Roswell and
I remember meeting her several times when she visited Alta. They had no
children.
Katie Adaline was born 30 Mar 1893 in Pickrell, and was never married.
She died 31 Jan 1973 in Yucaipa, San Bernardino Co., CA and is buried in
Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier, CA.
Phoebe born 5 Aug 1894 in Pickerell, married Homer Edward Cage, 8 Jul 1921.
Their oldest child was born in Taos Co., with the second child being
born in Springer, Colfax Co., NM in 1924. Their last three children
were born in Los Angeles Co., CA. Homer died 21 Jan 1961 in Compton,
CA. Dorothy remembers that sometime in the mid 1960's, Ralph Whitney, a
brother to Ross and Ellis, married a daughter of John Marshall's in
California. (Here's another spot for some digging.)
The next child of John and Dora was Verbal Bryan, born 4 Jan 1896 in
Pickrell, who lived to be 92 years old. He married Amy GODDING in CA and
had two children. We've corresponded with and I have met Earl Bryan, who
now lives in Colorado Springs. Earl has three sons and seven grandchildren.
His sister is Carole who lives in CA and has two children.
The youngest child was John Marshall, Jr and he died 8 Apr 1920 in Cerro,
Taos Co., NM. One report said he had scarlet fever and another note said
he was chopping wood and tangled the ax in a clothesline and had a
horrible accident. I wonder if perhaps Newton Evert had scarlet fever.
Dorothy heard the story of the accident while chopping wood and John's
winter coat was kept for Clarence.
John Marshall and James Stonewall may not have come to EGP at exactly the
same time. Some more of that digging time is indicated. James Stonewall
and Eva C. were in NM in 1908 with their five sons.
Elizabeth Maude WHEELER was the youngest of JR & Martha's children. She
was born 14 May 1870 in Illinois, married Frederick Charles MARKO and
lived in Nebraska. Elizabeth died 17 Sep 1904, and Fred died 5 May 1907,
leaving five children orphaned. According to Flossie, they had a sixth child,
Alta, born in 1903 who lived only 18 days. Zelma and Floyd lived
with their aunt and uncle, Martha and Jim Wiggins in Nebraska. Flossie lived
with the David Graf family in Nebraska. Ethel, the oldest, and Clavera Elizabeth
came to NM and were listed in the 1910 census in Dexter, Chaves Co., NM. Ethel
married Solomon Beaty, lived in California, and had two sons and a daughter.
There are three grandchildren and ten great grandchildren that we know of.
Zelma married and had 2 daughters. Dorothy exchanges Christmas greetings with
one of them, Esther RODD GRANT. Flossie married Walter PLUCKNETT and had six
children and fifteen grandchildren. We know nothing at this time of the later
lives of Floyd or Vera.
We know the most about the descendants of JS and Eva C. but we don't know
it all. I guess this is the time for me to explain about the name - Eva
C. ROSS WHEELER. This is the name that Eva was known by when she lived
in EGP. I have a copy of a typewritten list of births and marriages with dates
and places. The list begins with JS and then comes Claudia Evelyn Ross, Aug. 30,
1865, Quincy, Adams Co, Ill, then her five children and
five grandchildren through 1928 with a niece and nephew added.
There's a space and then a new list starting with George Hawley ROSS, Marinda
Lilian BARBEE, Ellie Claudine ROSS, Wednesday, Jan 2, 1861, Cooker
Co., Missouri, Ada May ROSS, Arthur Oliver ROSS, Kit Clarence ROSS, Edith Floy
ROSS, Buler Winnifred ROSS, and Amber Gene ROSS. Following the list of marriages,
there's a typed copy of the obituary for George H. Ross.
I would guess that this list was typed after the death of Eva and probably by the
person who was taking the original Bibles, (typing all of the information for others).
I have no clue as to who this person would have been. I know that Alta didn't type.
I would draw your attention to the change of name, birthdate, and birthplace for Eva.
Her parents were living in Quincy on her more recent birthdate. The birthdate listed
with her parents names made her a year older than JS. These changes do not surprise me
since there are those living now who have "doctored" their birthdays. This was a rather
independent group of folks. Eva listed her son as Clarence Glen and grandson as Clarence
Glen, Jr. They used Glen C. and Clarence. (Although I got Glen Clarence Wheeler, Junior
on a wedding invitation without a fuss. Actually I don't remember a fuss from my father
over anything.) We have an uncle in my mother's family who changed his name so these things
don't surprise me.
I will let the lists of descendants of JS and Eva speak for themselves.
We hope to have these lists be more complete and are working in that
direction. Two of the far away WHEELER cousins have seen my brother's home page on the internet.
When Dorothy visited JS in the nursing home before his death, he was very
upset that "I am leaving my family history in a terrible mess. Those people in Illinois
just have Sarah's last name all messed up." He originally knew there was a mix-up in the mid
1930's, but didn't know how to "prove" to them that her name was ADAMS.
I started hearing these stories in the late sixties. My "doubting
Thomas" personality sent Dorothy back to the genealogy books. Now in
1996 I'm convinced that what I've written is a true representation of
the WHEELERS of East Grand Plains, as known by James Stonewall WHEELER.
First came John, then William then Will
Then came James who lived on the hill.
Next there was John and his son John,
Then William who died by his wagon.
Now there is James Richardson
And last of all there's me, James Stonewall.
JS's Grandmother = Sarah (Sally) Adams
Sally Adams' step-father = George Jackson
George Jackson's daughter in law = Polley Payne
Polley Payne's sister = Dolly Payne Todd Madison
Please report any bugs or comments to:
Bill Wheeler
wheelerwc@zianet.com