Born in July 16, 1799, in Westmoreland County, New Hampshire. His early education was acquired in the common schools. In 1829, he came to Galena, Illinois, and engaged in lead mining. He enlisted in the army and served under General Henry Dodge in the Black Hawk War. After the war he located at Dubuque and was appointed by the Governor of Michigan Territory Chief Justice of Dubuque County, which was then in that jurisdiction. Mr. Wheeler married Miss Susan Roe Harrison on February 8, 1839, in Dubuque County. When the Territory of Wisconsin was created Mr. Wheeler was elected a member of the House of the First Legislative Assembly from Dubuque County which then embraced half of the present State of Iowa as well as a portion of Minnesota. He also served as a member of the Second Legislative Assembly of Iowa in 1839-40. In 1841, he removed to De Witt, in Clinton County and, after Iowa became a State Mr. Wheeler was elected to the Senate of the First General Assembly, representing Scott and Clinton counties, where he served four years. He was a Whig in politics until 1856 when he helped to organize the Republican Party, with which he was affiliated until his death. He had been a prominent official and citizen of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa when they were Territories and was an intimate friend of George Catlin the famous historian and portrait painter of notable Indians of those times. Mr. Wheeler died at De Witt on January 26, 1889, at nearly ninety years of age.
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