JAMES H. WHEELER

James H.. To the memory of our loved dead we erect costly statues and lofty monuments; we chisel beautiful epitaphs upon their marble tombs; we sing in verse of their virtues, or in stately prose narrate their valorous deeds. But far more enduring than chiseled monument or gently-flowing rhyme, is the memory of a lofty, noble life, spent in doing good to others. Such was the life of James H. Wheeler, who, dying, left to his children the heritage of an untarnished name and spotless life. Now "after life’s fitful fever he sleeps well." Though he reached the age of more than three score and ten years, yet in the demise those who survive him are reminded that

"The battle of life is brief;
The alarm, the struggle, the relief,-
Then sleep we side by side."

Born in New York State, July 27, 1820, our subject was the son of Moses and Lucy Wheeler, both of whom died when James was small. He had the advantage of the schools of his section of New York, and worked for a time on a farm belonging to Mr. Little, the gentleman with whom he lived after the death of his parents. At the age of twenty-two, he moved from New York to Michigan and taught three terms of school in the city of Jackson. Then, returning to New York, he sojourned in the state for a year, after which he came to Ottawa County, Mich. Purchasing property here, he at once commenced the work of clearing the land and cultivating the soil. As the years passed by, he gained a large measure of success, and was recognized as one of the most progressive agriculturist of Tallmadge Township. At the time of his death, March 12, 1891, he had more than one hundred and sixty acres of choice land under cultivation.

The lady who became the wife of Mr. Wheeler in October, 1845, and who still survives to mourn his loss, bore the maiden name of Elizabeth L. McKee. Her parents, James and Lucinda (Decker) McKee, were natives of New York State, who remove to Michigan when Elizabeth was a girl of eight, and settled In Jackson, where Mr. McKee is still living (1893) at the advanced age of ninety years. Mrs. McKee died a few years ago, aged eighty-three. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were the parents of three children, two of whom are living. Mortimer L. married miss Maggie Con, and resides in Michigan; Aurella L. became the wife of James Cary, and lives with her mother.

While Mr. Wheeler never became prominent in politics, he was firm in his allegiance to the Republican Party, the principals of which he supported from the time of its organization until the date of his death. During the late war his sympathies were on the side of the Union, and he enlisted in the army in 1863, serving valiantly until the close of the conflict, when he was honorably discharged. He was Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and also occupied other positions of prominence.