|
|
|
 |
Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 195 - 196 |
|
PORTER WHEELER
|
Fifty or sixty years ago, in the region that had been known as the Northwest territory, out of which the five great states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were carved there was a very little other than farming for the average man of limited means to turn for employment and support. There were few shops, scarcely any railroads and no factories worthy of the name. Hence, the early settlers were all agriculturists. Of course they had to be woodmen first, for the clearing of the land was a prerequisite to the planting of a crop. The subject of this review, Porter Wheeler, was born in Ohio more than fifty-six years ago, was reared in that locality and therefore was bred to the calling of a tiller of the soil. It is an honorable and independent avocation and, although circumscribed in its opportunities for amassing much material wealth, the securing of civic honors or the acquisition of fame, there is more genuine contentment and real happiness to the square inch in the rural districts of the country than there is to the square mile in the towns and cities of the land. The farmer has no occasion for envying any one, but people in other walks of life have many reasons and ample justification for envying him. Porter Wheeler is a native of Ohio, born near Wellington, Lorain county, February 4, 1846. His parents were Volorus and Charity (Pomeroy) Wheeler, both natives of Massachusetts, where they were reared and married. Early in wedded life they left the east, which was already showing signs of congestion, and came west to Ohio to better their condition. They settled near Wellington, Lorain county, on a tract of woodland, which by hard labor they converted into a farm. There they remained, rearing and educating a noble family of boys and girls, until each of his parents was visited by death. The mother was the first to pass to the great hereafter, expiring when a little more than seventy years old. Her husband survived her a few days, passing away when in the seventy-ninth year of his age. They were the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, four of whom grew to maturity and have acted well the part assigned to them upon the stage of life. Porter Wheeler was the oldest child of the family. He was reared upon his father's farm in Lorain county, attending school in the winter seasons and devoting the other seasons of the year to the labor on the farm. His industry was noticeable in both places and even at that early day he gave promise of the good and useful life he has since led and is now leading, a life that has been most beneficial not only to himself and to his immediate family, but to every community in which he has resided. Early in the summer of 1864, when not yet eighteen years of age, Porter Wheeler enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Most of his war record was guard duty on Johnson's Island. He faithfully performed his duty and was so fortunate as to never be confined to hospital on account of injury received in battle. He served until peace was declared, when he returned home to Lorain county, Ohio. One of the most commendable characteristics of the American is the ease and facility with which he turns from one avocation to another diametrically its opposite. In the case of Porter Wheeler, the dashing young soldier was transformed into the patient, plodding, contented agriculturist and during the next three years he devoted himself to that pursuit. At Wellington, Lorain county, Ohio, October 8, 1868, Porter Wheeler was united in marriage to Miss Emma Breckenridge, a native of Ohio, born in Lorain county, February 17, 1851. She is a lady richly endowed by nature with many physical graces and much mental strength, which natural gifts have been supplemented by education and training. There are few among the early pioneers of any new country possessed of the grace and accomplishments of her who is the devoted wife of the subject of this review. Her parents were Lewis and Mary Ann (Munson) Breckenridge, he a native of Vermont and she of Canada. They were married in the east and sought the west to find a home and build up a fortune. They located in Lorain county, Ohio, where six children, one son and five daughters, were born to them, and there these offspring were reared to industry and schooled in morality and virtue as well as knowledge. Mrs. Wheeler was the fourth child of the family. At the time of his death Mr. Breckenridge was seventy years of age. His widow is now a resident of Wellington, aged seventyeight years. She is a member of the Disciple church. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Porter Vhlleeler continued to reside in their native county for the next three years. The high prices of the years of the war had greatly enhanced the value of land in the well-settled states, Ohio among that number, so that a desirable farm was beyond the reach of so slender a purse as that possessed by Porter Wheeler. People who had land to rent were independent and exacting. Like most landlords, they absorbed the most of the crop. To them the lion's share went, while to the man through whose sweat the plowing, planting, cultivating and gathering was done, only a paltry pittance went to remunerate him for his services. A thoughtless, indolent man might have missed his grievances and made the best of these unfortunate conditions. Not so with Porter Wheeler. He knew that there is no wrong for which a remedy may not be found and he was not long in finding the true remedy for dear land. Arranging his affairs in Ohio as speedily as possible and disposing of such belongings as he did not choose to take with him, he and his family came to Wexford county, Michigan, early in the spring of 1871, and entered upon a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, in Cherry Grove township, a part of section 6, upon which he built a home and installed his family, which then consisted of his wife and little daughter. There they lived until 1883, when they transferred their residence to section 18, in the same township. The family were not the earliest settlers of Cherry Grove township, but they were the first settlers within its borders to own a team of horses, and their second little daughter, Minnie May, now the wife of Merrick Stocking, was the first white child born in the township. Porter Wheeler is now the owner of three hundred and twenty-eight acres, one hundred of which are well improved and under cultivation. Good, substantial buildings adorn and add to the comfort, convenience and value of the place. The home is a most pleasant one, all that could be desired, and the family is one of the happiest a person could desire to meet. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, viz. Edith Lillian, Minnie May, Fred Lewis. Arthur Earl and Etta Pearl. Edith Lillian became the wife of William Lynn, but her matrimonial career was sadly brief, she dying at the early age of eighteen years. Minnie May is the wife of Merrick Stocking, as has been heretofore mentioned. She was for five years a successful teacher in Wexford county, and is now a member of the Congregational church at Cadillac. |