Source:
History of Litchfield County, Connecticut with Illustrations and 
Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers……
Published: Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co.,  1881.

JOHN S. WHEELER

John S. Wheeler, youngest son of Philander Wheeler, Esq., was born in 
Salisbury, March 5, 1830.  His father practiced law at the Litchfield 
County bar for a period of thirty years or thereabouts, when he 
abandoned this profession to give his attention to mercantile pursuits, 
landed interests, and other business operations.  John S. was educated in 
the common and more advanced schools of his native town, and 
subsequently enjoyed the benefits, for a term of years, of private 
instructions from Rev. Jonathan Lee, of Salisbury, since deceased, and 
still later, for a more brief period, from Rev. George H. Nicholls, then of 
Salisbury, now of Hoosic Falls, N.Y.  He had two brothers – Daniel P., 
who now resides in the village of Washington Hollow, Dutchess County, 
N.Y., and Benjamin H., who died in Salisbury in April, 1858.  He has 
two sisters – Sally A., now residing in Salisbury, and Irene J., widow of 
Ensign Church, Esq., late of North Canaan, whose home is in New York 
City, but who spends most of her time in foreign and domestic travel.  
His mother died when he was about two years old.  A second marriage 
on the part of his father secured to him one of the best step-mothers, and 
the faithful, gentle, and affectionate ministrations of his eldest sister in 
his extreme youth are the basis of a debt of gratitude to her which he can 
never repay.  He took sole charge of his father’s store in Salisbury in 
1845, and remained in this position till the spring of 1850, when he 
removed to Cornwall Bridge, to care for and manage certain property 
owned by his father in and near that village, and, in connection with 
other affairs, he opened a store, which was conducted, in the name and 
style of “P. Wheeler & Son,” during a term of nearly six years.  His 
father’s death occurring in December, 1855, he was associated one year 
with his brother, Benjamin H., in closing the estate, and in October, 
1857, he located in Colebrook, where he now resides.  His business in 
this latter location has been that of general merchandising, at the stand 
long known as “the Alpha Sage place,” situated midway between the 
villages of Colebrook Centre and North Colebrook.  He continued in this 
occupation till 1875, when poor health forced him to withdraw.  A 
murderous assault, made on him one October evening in 1869 by a 
Southern negro for purposes of robbery, and from which Mr. Wheeler 
barely escaped with life, was a severe shock to a naturally frail 
organization, and no doubt contributed materially, in its ultimate results, 
to bring about a serious and long-continued attack of nervous 
prostration, the severity of which could only be mitigated by absolute 
quiet and rest.  Happily, he is now in much improved health, and 
anticipates, with no small degree of satisfaction, a renewed lease of 
strength, which may be devoted, at a day not far distant, to the 
prosecution of some pleasant, fairly remunerative, and enjoyable 
business avocation.  Mr. Wheeler never seeks official station.  A man of 
a fair measure of intelligence and ability, he has received from the good 
people of his adopted town repeated expressions of confidence and 
good-will, always without solicitation on his part, and he has endeavored 
to discharge the trusts confided to him conscientiously.  He represented 
Colebrook in the Legislature in the year 1869, and again in 1879.  He is 
now serving as town treasurer for his seventh year, and as town clerk for 
his fifth year.  He holds other minor offices, and served for a long term 
of years as a justice of the peace, till he peremptorily declined to serve in 
this capacity longer.  As town clerk and town treasurer he is the 
successor of Hon. Reuben Rockwell, a gentleman of opposite political 
affiliations, a very superior man, and an exceptionally good officer.  This 
result Mr. Wheeler does not ascribe to his personal popularity, nor to any 
special merit of his own, but rather to changes in the relative strength of 
the political parties in the town – changes which he acknowledges he has 
helped to foster and promote, in his feeble way, as best he could.  Once 
freed from the cares belonging to his town, he will try to find what virtue 
there may be in “otium cum dignitate.”  In politics he is a Democrat 
without alloy.  When electoral commissions are under consideration, he 
is a firm believer in the gospel of “glorious old Bill Eaton.”  He 
condemns unsparingly the GREAT FRAUD of 1876, and the 
unwarrantable, inexcusable defections and disaffections among 
Democrats in the State of New York which culminated in the defeat of 
Gen. Hancock in 1880; but, possessing a buoyant, elastic temperament, 
he looks forward to coming years and coming general elections, and 
remembers that “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

Mr. Wheeler married, May 5, 1855, Elizabeth, daughter of Philo 
Kellogg, Esq., of Cornwall.  They have no children.

Submitted by:  Linda Pingel