Notes |
- Wheeler was born April 10, 1750. In 1771, he married Martha Rathbone, daughter of Rev. John Rathbone and settled in Stephentown NY. In 1780 he removed to Albany, where, in company with a cousin named Wheeler, a nephew of his mother's, he opened a store, and for several years continued in business, the firm name being Douglas & Wheeler. About 1798 his property in Albany was destroyed by fire, and he made a journey to Brantford, California, where he remained about a year with Captain Joseph Brant, the famous chief of the Six Nations of Indians. In 1799, he removed with his family to Canada, and settled on the Grand River, in the midst of the Indians, where the city of Brantford now stands. After a few years he removed about eight miles to the west, where he took up a tract of about 500 acres, receiving his lease from Captain Brant. There he carved out a home in the wilderness, and was able to spend his later years in comparative comfort, leaving the homestead to his son Stephen Van Rensselaer Douglas. Wheeler and his wife were staunch Methodists, and their house was the home of the early intinerant preachers. His son Stephen, at the age of 19, brought into this home in 1809, the daughter of an old and prominent intinerent minister, who was only 16 years old, and for sixty years they dispensed the same generous hospitality that had been found when the older ones had control of the family mansion. For many years preaching was held in their house, and several of their children were named after the preachers and their wives. Wheeler Douglas died at the home of his daughter Harriet in Smithville, in January, 1829; and his wife Martha at the same place on November 28, 1837 at the age of 84.
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