V4 *> 35 NORTH WEST TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84150 Descendants of THOMAS WHEELER, Sr Who Were in Breckinridge County, Kentucky and Perry County, Indiana
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-f/ llHw^ei-L v Ui: ft iwhOnUncU 4 / _:llij4 fa g_ FtCHE # CAU # ZL18 USCAN 6 o o 7 n ? « 3 B [ISO 1 Descendants of ^^BMBMMi^MfflHB ... ^,.-:_X. Thomas Wheeler, Sr who^nere in Bi%ckinridge yountj^Bentucky and 1 i Perry County, Indiana v,y;U- •'••-;. 3s'.. • Compiled by SB. =s v—' :->r-" •••- Ronalt M.Moore, MIX 20 Sepflmber 2003 mB2mB8ttl&B& fM Volume I (Library Version) < FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY _V4 *> 35 NORTH WEST TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84150 Descendants of THOMAS WHEELER, Sr who were in Breckinridge County, Kentucky and Perry County, Indiana EONALD M. MOORE, M.D. P.O. Box 386 Friant CA 93626 Compiled by Ronald M. Moore, MD 20 September 2003 Descendants of Thomas Wheeler, Sr who were in Breckinridge County, Kentucky and Perry County, Indiana Compiled by Ronald M. Moore, MD 20 September 2003 , Preface Compiling a book on the Wheeler families of Breckinridge Co, Kentucky and Perry Co, Indiana is a project I have wanted to do since I started research on this family in about 1973. Work on this project has been intermittent due to time constraints related to my work. When I went into full retirement in 2002, the time restraints were gone and this allowed me to start the project in earnest. Initially it had been noticed that there were many Wheeler families in these two counties, which were separated from each other only by the Ohio River. It seemed that many of them were obviously related but the proof was difficult to find. It was not until about 1996 when another Wheeler researcher by the name of Betty Faith Flener of New Albany, Indiana sent me a large court document that was dated in 1887 and was found at the court house in Breckinridge Co, Kentucky. It had been located and copied by Troy Adkins, another avid Wheeler researcher who lives in Owensville, Daviess Co, Kentucky. This Paper has been called the James Perry Wheeler 1887 Court Document of Breckinridge Co, Kentucky. This bit of evidence which was created nearly 90 years after Thomas Wheeler, Sr first settled in Breckinridge Co, Kentucky, documented the head of each family line that were living at that time. It also noted those who had deceased. In the cases of those who had died it listed the next of kin that were alive in 1887. It is believed that in most cases, those who were mentioned in the document were living at least until 1887, with the exception of those who were clearly marked as deceased. The reason for this document, which contained about ninety-nine names of living descendants of Thomas Wheeler, Sr, in 1887, might seem to us to be of little importance. Although research on who owned the original property has not yet been done, it is presumed it may have belonged at one time to Thomas Wheeler, Sr. The property itself is located in Grayson County, Kentucky and probably borders on Breckinridge Co, Kentucky. It is believed to be near the town of Litchfield since Litchfield Road is mentioned in the deed. This document had to be drawn up so that the new owner who had obtained the property, Michael Meyer, could obtain a free title. He did not appear to be related to any Wheelers and it is still uncertain who he obtained the property from or how he got it, but he paid only $100 for it on 21 Feb 1887. Someone then either had a great deal of genealogical information in order to draw up this document or a large amount of research must have gone into it. In going over the document carefully, I believe there are only a few enors and most of these are minor ones and maybe one or two major enors. In a separate file, which is enclosed, a summary of each name has been made with an analysis of who their parents were and the name of a spouse when known. I want to thank a number of Wheeler researchers for assistance with this project and especially those who were very helpful in sharing their information. Foremost of course is Troy Adkins since the extent of this project would not have been possible without his locating this document and sharing it. Other very helpful Wheeler researchers were Betty Faith Flener, Brenda Wheeler and Jeff Groves. Others with Ancestry.com web pages that had very helpful information included Arlana Juarez and Jeff Groves. Laurie-Ann Curry has done an excellent job sorting out the various Connor families in Perry Co, Indiana. I was not able to contact her with the web address given on the page, but a few of the Wheelers were intermarried with Connors. When not able to locate the information being searched for using census records, maniage records and other available resources, the large database at Ancestty.com was often helpful in locating families. An extremely helpful resource was the 1880 US census, which is on-line by the LDS Church at familysearch.org, and searchable free. This was especially helpful since the 1887 document mentioned above, listed those who were alive then and most of these were no doubt also living in 1880. The value of this tool has recently been enhanced with their collaboration with Ancestry.com to show the actual census script when there may be questions that the information was copied conectly. I personally have found this to be a highly accurate resource. My personal attachment to this large Wheeler family is through Thomas Wheeler, Jr and wife Sarah Stapleton. Their son, James Wheeler, married to Elizabeth Vest were my great great grandparents. Their son, John Vest Wheeler, who also served in the Civil War for the North, married Mary Mock and were my great grandparents. Their daughter, Clara (Wheelerl (Wagner) Arens was my grandmother. As a lad, I loved to hear my grandmother tell of their move from Perry County, Indiana to Sheridan County, Wyoming. They traveled by ox-cart and on the way, they lost many of their belongings as they crossed the Mississippi River. Grandmother walked most of the way. She manied her first husband, William Wagner who was a Pennsylvania Dutch farmer and cattleman, in 1898. The reader is refened to the appendix at the back of this book for a copy of the original 1887 Wheeler document refened to here. Also enclosed is a semi-edited version of the text of this document which has been translated and finally a summary of each name noted in the document, in the order they were mentioned, giving the name of the parents and spouse when known. I would welcome comments from those who may have additional information to be added to a later update of this book as well as any conection of enors, which are bound to turn up. There is documentation for most of the information presented and in those cases where it was not completely clear, we have gone by the preponderance of evidence and I have used my best personal judgement in making a decision. I have tried to exclude information on living persons in the version of this book going to libraries and other public resources. My address is: Ronald M. Moore MD P.O. Box 386 Friant, CA 93626 Descendants of Thomas WHEELER 23 Oct 1805 Thomas Wheeler appointed to jury in case of William Kelso v. William Hardin, Jr. 24 Oct 1805 Daniel Waid v. Thomas Wheeler, by mutual consent, matter dismissed at defendant's cost. 22 Apr 1806 Thomas Wheeler served on jury for case Commonwealth v. John Shoemaker, an indictment. 25 Apr 1806 Thomas Wheeler served on jury in case of Commonweatlh v. Anthony Sermon. An indictment for assault and battery against Timothy Cummings. 20 Oct 1807 Nancy Wheeler, Administrator of Thomas Wheeler, deceased v. Jacob Yocum and George Marks, on debt. Isaac Thomas posted bail for defendants. 20 Oct 1807 Thomas Wheeler appointed to jury in case of Commonweatlth v. Jacob Bruner. [this would probably be Thomas Wheeler, Jr at this point since he would now be about 21 years of age and still living in Breckinridge Co, KY] 22 Oct 1807 Nancy Wheeler, administratrix of Thomas Wheeler, deceased, v. Jacob Yocom and George Marks, on debt Parties appeared by their attorneys, office judgement in the clerk's office was set aside, and Defendant pleaded they had paid the debt. Jury was summoned but plea was then withdrawn, Court ruled plaintiff to recover 9 pounds 16 shillings, and costs, but judgement to be discharged by payment of 4 pounds and 18 shillings with 6% interest since 22 Nov 1802. 2 Oct 1807 Thomas Wheeler appointed to jury in case of Joseph Huston v. William Pate. [Again this is probalby Thomas Wheeler, Jr since Thomas Wheeler, Sr has already deceased according to court records. 6 Aug 1809 Thomas Wheeler marriage to Sarah Stapleton. Bond by John Stapleton. [this is obviously Thomas Wheeler, Jr] 12 Jun 1835 John W. Whelkel to Nancy Jane Wheeler by James Taylor, [it is uncertain who this Nancy Jane Wheeler was but it could have been the widow of Thomas Wheeler who died in Breckinridge Co, KY in 1807. She was thought to be somewhat younger than Thomas and Thomas is thought to have died somewhat prematurely since he had several young children at home. Nancy Wheeler was in the 1830 US Census of Breckinridge Co, KY and was then fouund to be age 60-70 so if this is her marriage, she would be quite elderly. We have so far found no other Nancy Wheeler to account for this marriage.