Obituary for Elisha
Pearl Wheeler (February 5, 1807-March 31, 1876)
Transcription of Obituary for Elisha Pearl Wheeler by Linda Sue Hollingsworth
Littlejohn Robbins, wife of Kenneth Charles Robbins, great-great-grandson of Elisha Pearl Wheeler, through
Kenneth’s father William Augustus Robbins, his mother Pauline Wheeler Robbins,
her father James Wheeler, and his father Elisha Pearl Wheeler.
Note: An explanation of a word or term inserted by Linda S.
Robbins will be enclosed in brackets.
Received from Peter Laskaris, Middletown, New York Town
Historian on three 8 ½” x 11” sheets of paper copied from the Middletown
Daily Press, Saturday, April 1, 1876 [page numbers not given]
Middletown Daily Press, Saturday, April 1, 1876
____________________
OBITUARY
ELISHA P. [PEARL] WHEELER
Our village [Village of Middletown, Orange County, New York
from 1848-1888] was startled last evening [Friday, March 31, 1876] by the
announcement of the death of Mr.
Elisha P. Wheeler, well and widely known as one of the most prominent
citizens and business men of Middletown. He died at a quarter before nine
o’clock [8:45 P.M.] at his residence on South Street, in this village, from a
stroke of apoplexy 1..
He had entered upon his seventieth year [February 5, 1807]. Although his health
had not been the best for a year or more, his death was very sudden and
entirely unexpected. The intelligence of his disease spread rapidly over the
village and was received everywhere, as it will be wherever he is known, with
expressions of surprise and regret. The words “MR. WHEELER IS DEAD,” passed from mouth to mouth and
were pronounced with the inflections which men us when they speak of death in
their own families. No death has ever occurred in Middletown which was
calculated to make a more profound impression:
It will still be a satisfaction to know that
HIS LAST HOURS
were peaceful. He died without a struggle or a moan. His
beloved and faithful wife [Phebe Sears Wheeler] and eldest daughter, Mrs.
Mosher [Emeline Wheeler Mosher], were with him in the room at the last moment.
His demise was so unlooked for that there was no time from the first warning to
call any one [anyone] else to the scene.
Mr. Wheeler had only been confined to the house thirty hours previous to
his death. He had been suffering for some weeks with a severe cold, but was
about every day, and attended to his duties in connection with the Orange
County Foundry as usual, until Thursday [March 30, 1876] afternoon. He
complained that morning of feeling unwell, but spent the forenoon at the
foundry office. Although persuaded by
his family to remain at home, he went to the office again after dinner to
attend to some business, and returned to the house after an hour, leaving word
on his way home for a physician to call. He was quite lame and walked with
considerable difficulty. He remarked on coming in that he did not feel as well
as he had been, and went to bed. He complained of soreness and pains for which
his family applied the usual external remedies until the physician, Dr. Darwin
Everett arrived, late in the afternoon. He prescribed for him but the medicines
were of little avail as the patient could not retain them, which condition
continued until he died. The first part of Thursday night he spent very
comfortably, but at about two o’clock [A.M.] he became restless and complained
of pains in his left side. Hyperdermic [Hypodermic] injections of morphine were
made to lessen the pain. Friday he was
confined to his bed, and was not able to leave or return to it except with
increased pain and without help. Late in the afternoon he appeared to be
better, and apprehensions of immediate danger were entertained. In the evening
he gave his daughter instructions in regard to the marketing, and talked in his
usual cheerful manner. He evidently had no premonition of his approaching
dissolution; at least if he did he said nothing of it. At about eight o’clock
[P.M.] he was assisted out of bed by his wife, but returned without help,
saying he felt better. Those were his last words. Turning over upon his side in
the bed, he apparently went to sleep, and from that sleep he never awakened.
His wife was called from the next room a few moments after by a noise of hard
breathing, and going to his side she found him with his head thrown back and
evidently dying. She called her daughter, Mrs. Mosher, who reached the room
just in time to see him breath [breathe] his last breath, which was a slight
gasp, and he was dead.
ELISHA PEARL WHEELER
was the only son of Lemuel and Hannah Pearl Wheeler, and was
born February 5, 1807, at Hampton, Windham Co., Conn., where he lived until he
was twelve years of age. His family then removed to Red Hook, Dutchess Co.,
N.Y. where they remained until Elisha
was about twenty years of age, when they again removed to Saugerties, Ulster
Co. [, N.Y.] He went to the district school at Hampton, Conn., and finished
HIS EDUCATION
At Red Hook Academy, which was thorough as far as it went.
He had a good command of language, wrote well and to the point, and was a very
accurate accountant.
At Saugerties he was engaged for a few years in a rolling
mill and furnace located there.
ENGAGES IN BUSINESS
At the age of twenty-three he went into the employ of
Charles Sanford, who married his sister, and was in the stove and tin business
at Rhinebeck. He remained in the employ of his brother-in-law in the same
business at Rhinebeck and Catskill until 1830, when they came to Orange County
as partners in the same business at Montgomery. The firm was Sanford & Wheeler. For awhile, Mr. W. [Wheeler] managed a
branch store at Walden, which was afterwards removed to Newburgh. They remained
in business together—Mr.
Wheeler at Montgomery and Mr. Sanford at Newburgh—until the latter [Mr.
Sanford] died in 1832 2..
He then went into partnership with Jonah F. France, and
built a furnace. The firm of Wheeler
& France was engaged in the business of making castings, stoves, &c.3., and in the tin trade,
until 1842, when they sold out. Mr. Wheeler
FIRST CAME TO
MIDDLETOWN
In the spring of 1843. He commenced in business here with
Jonah F. France, Edward M. Madden, and Joseph Lemon. Mr. Madden had been an
apprentice with Wheeler
& France in Montgomery, and had been in the tin business in Middletown from
1840. Mr. Lemon had been their foreman
at Montgomery, and came to Middletown in the fall of 1843, and erected for the
buildings for the Osage County Furnace. The new firm started in the spring of 1843,
under the firm name of Wheeler,
France & Co., in the tin business, with a store on North Street. The
foundry business gave Mr.
Wheeler his first favored start in Middletown. He was connected with it
as a part owner until 1854, when he sold out and it was in other hands until
1863, when he became and has since been its sole owner.
Since 1853 he has been connected with many of the principal
manufacturing enterprises which have given Middletown its chief growth and
prominence. In the year mentioned [1853] the “Monhagen Saw Works” were started,
of which he was one of the original owners. The firm was first Wheeler, Madden &
Bakewell, and afterwards, in 1860, Wheeler, Madden & Clemson. The factory was one of the first in
the country, and it is now one of the largest [1876]. Its business increased so
that in 1862 the firm started the Monhagen Steel Works and Rolling Mills, under
the firm name of E. M. Madden & Co., for the manufacture of their own
steel. In 1863 the firm became largely interested in the Eagle File Works. The
firm name was Wheeler,
Clemson & Co. In 1866-7 Wheeler,
Madden, & Clemson, with others, started the Middletown Forged Horse Nail
Works. A few years ago, the firm became a stock company, under the incorporated
title of The Wheeler,
Madden & Clemson Manufacturing Company, and Mr. Wheeler was its President.
In 1866, Mr.
Wheeler began to make connections with new
RAILROAD ENTERPRISES
which promised to be beneficial to Middletown, and not
unprofitable to those who should engage.
He has been a director of the Middletown & Unionville
Railroad since its organization, and its President till 1875, He broke ground
for that enterprise, throwing the first shovelful of dirt in 1866. He was among
the earliest of those who were enlisted in the Midland Railroad enterprise, and
drove the last spike at its completion. Unfortunately he was among the most
severely punished of its victims. He was an original director and the First
Vice-President of the New York & Oswego Midland from 1868 until 1872. He
was a director of the N. [New] J. [Jersey] Midland [Railroad] from its organization in
1870 till 1874. He was also an original Director of the Middletown &
Crawford Railroad in 1870.
He has been from the first a Director of the M. U. & W.
G. Telegraph Co, also of the Middletown and Wurtsboro Turnpike Co. He was also
Director of its of predecessor, the Middletown & Bloomingburgh Plank Road
Co., and of the Middletown & Unionville Plank Road Co.
He was a Trustee of the Middletown Gas Light Co., and of the
Orange Co. Milk Association. He was one of the originators and first life
members of the Middletown Lyceum. He was a Director the Middletown Bank from
1850 to 1857. He was one of the originators of the Wallkill Bank, and its first
President for a few years, and a director until it closed. He was a member of
the Board of Trustees in the year 1868, and has been a member of the Board of
Education every year except one since 1867. He was its first President.
He was largely influential in getting the N. Y. State
Homeopathic Insane Asylum located here. He gave $2,000 towards it, and was one
of the Trustees from the first until by act of the legislature last winter
[December-February 1875-1876] reducing the membership of the Board, he was
legislated out of office.
He was one of the originators of Grace Episcopal church
[Church], and has been one of its chief supporters. He built the south transept
4. entirely at his own
expense. He was a Warden 5.
from the first to his death. Mr.
Wheeler, E. M. Madden and William M. Graham erected in 1852, Gothic
Hall, which the PRESS [Middletown Whig Press newspaper] now occupies [1876]. It was then the first hall for public
assemblages except the churches in all Middletown. Mr. Wheeler was one of ten citizens who
assisted Mr. John W. Hasbrouck to establish the WHIG PRESS [newspaper], which
was the predecessor of the ORANGE COUNTRY PRESS [newspaper] and MIDDLETOWN
DAILY PRESS [newspaper].
He became an Odd Fellow at Newburgh while living at
Montgomery, and a Mason shortly after the re-organization of Hoffman Lodge, No.
412 F. A. M. [Free & Accepted Masons] of this village. He was a member of
Midland Chapter, No. 240 R. A. M. [Royal Arch Masons] of this place. He will
probably be buried with Masonic honors.
As trustee, guardian and executor of the estates of deceased
persons, probably more trusts were confided to him than to any other man in
Middleton, and every trust was discharged with the utmost fidelity.
The last few years of his life were clouded by anxieties and
troubles, brought upon him by the acts of those in whom he trusted.
He was also subjected to several trials in the loss of his
property, which was the result of his connection with the Midland railroad and
the Nes Silicon Steel Co. These he bore manfully, and the transfer of his
property was made with an honesty that in these times is as uncommon as it is
remarkable.
Mr. Wheeler
was a man of simple, correct habits, frugal ways of living, unostentatious
manners, and lived a pure life. In him the poor of Middletown had a friend,
generous and liberal to a fault.
There are all sorts of rumors as regards the amount of
insurance on his life, but as this is a matter which concerns his own family
alone, we deem it best to ignore these rumors, simply adding that Mrs. W. [Wheeler] will have
sufficient to make her comfortable.
In this hurried sketch we can
hardily [hardly] hope to do his memory justice, but it certainly speaks well
for him that they who knew him best loved and trusted most. He had his
peculiarities, (and who of us have not?) but dishonesty was
not one of them, as the last two years of his life abundantly testify. We have
it from the lips of one who has been with him from boyhood and who has enjoyed
his confidence fully, that when he saw the accumulations of a life time melting
away—mainly through the machinations 6. of others—he had no words of reproach for any
save himself, and freely surrendered all his property, even including his
furniture, for the benefit of his creditors, and in these days when almost
every hour is bringing to light some new corruption, it is gratifying to be
able to write of one whom we have so long known he was an
honest man.
____________________
MASONIC NOTICE.
Members of Hoffman Lodge are requested to meet at their
rooms on Monday at 1 P.M. to attend the funeral of their late brother E. [Elisha] P. [Pearl] Wheeler.
By Order of the W. M. [Worthy Master]
____________________
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Adjourned Meeting.
FRIDAY EVENING, March 31. [1876]—Board met at 7:30 pursuant 7. to adjournment. All present. President Pronk in the chair. The
minutes of last meeting were read and approved….
…The Board were engaged on the list of appropriations to be
asked for this year, when word was received of the demise of Mr. Elisha P. Wheeler,
formerly a member and ex-President of the Board, and President Pronk
communicated the sad intelligence in a few appropriate and feeling remarks. It
was then moved by Mr. Clark that a committee of three be appointed to report
such action as they shall deem fitting for this Board to adopt. The President
and Messers [Misters] Clark and Royce were named as the Committee.
Out of respect to the memory of the deceased, the Board then
adjourned to this evening at 7:30 o’clock.
Mr. Wheeler’s Death—Reopening of
Schools Deferred.
As a mark of respect the memory of
Hon. E. P. Wheeler, a
member of the Board of Education, its first President, and always an earnest
friend of our schools, the re-opening of the public schools of Middletown will
be deferred until Tuesday next, April 4th [1876].
The teachers are requested to
attend the funeral in a body.
H. R. SANFORD, Supt., Middletown,
April 1, 1876
____________________
Notes:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoplexy:
Historical meaning of apoplexy. From the late 14th to the late 19th century,
the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that
began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim
died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. The word
"apoplexy" may have been used to describe the symptom of sudden loss
of consciousness immediately preceding death and not a verified disease
process.
2. 1832 is not
the correct date of Charles Sanford according to http://www.oldtowncemetery.org/list.html “The Old Town Burying Ground in Newburgh, Orange County,
New York” 1898 website: “Old Town Cemetery List” http://www.archive.org/details/recordofinscript00emer
“Old Town Cemetery Home”. Note: It is easiest to read the Online
Version.
4. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transept A transept (with 2 semitransepts)
is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of
the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the
nave in a cruciform
("cross-shaped")
building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture.
5. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/churchwarden Warden:
A lay officer in the Anglican Church chosen annually by the vicar or the
congregation to handle the secular and legal affairs of the parish.
mach·i·na·tion noun
\ˌma-kə-ˈnā-shən, ˌma-shə-\
Definition of machination
2: a scheming or crafty action or artful
design intended to accomplish some usually evil end.
Meaning of
pursuant: after or following.
____________________
Addendum:
Elisha Pearl
Wheeler was buried at Hillside Cemetery, Middletown, New York.
Survivors of
Elisha Pearl Wheeler included:
Phebe Sears
Wheeler (1813-1878), his wife of the home
Emeline Wheeler
Mosher (1835-1900), daughter, born in Walden, Orange County, NY who married
Henry Smith Mosher (1825-1902) They had six
children, five sons and one daughter. Five of the children survived their
grandfather. The first son named Elisha Pearl Wheeler Mosher (1855-1860) died
at the age of 4 ½.
James Wheeler
(1836-1893), son, born in Montgomery, Orange County, NY who married Sarah
LaRose (1839-1885), born in Riverhead, Suffolk County, NY. James graduated from
Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and became an attorney in New York
City. His family lived in Newtown, Astoria, Queens, New York by 1870 and moved
to San Francisco, California by the 1880s. Wife Sarah died in 1885 in San
Francisco and husband James died in 1893 in San Francisco. Both bodies were
transported by rail to Middletown, New York where they were buried at Hillside
Cemetery.
James and Sarah Wheeler had two
children, one son and one daughter who survived their grandfather.
Son Bradford
(1863-1930) was born in New York, New York and died in Tucson, Pima County,
Arizona. Bradford married Ruth E. Byrkett (1894-1980), born in Boone, Indiana
and died in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. Bradford was a civil engineer and
worked for railroad companies. Ruth was a teacher in Arizona.
Daughter
Pauline (1864-1940) was born in New York, New York and died in Napa, Napa
County, California where she was buried. She married William Walter Robbins
(1859-1918), born in Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, and died in Babylon,
Suffolk County, New York. He is buried at the Babylon Rural Cemetery. In 1887 they
married in San Francisco, California and had one son, William Augustus Robbins
(1888-1948), my husband’s father. Pauline also had a daughter Ida Pauline
Lockwood (1898-1981), born in San Francisco, California and died in San Mateo,
California.
Hannah Wheeler
(1839-), daughter, born in Orange County and married Charles H. Horton (1832-).
They had one son Gabriel W. Horton (1859-), born in Wallkill, Orange County,
New York.
Lemuel Wheeler
(1841-1873), son passed away before his father passed away in 1876. He married
Louise O. Rush (1840-) and they had two sons, Elisha Pearl Wheeler (1862-1865),
born in Middletown, New York and William B. Wheeler (1866-), born in
Middletown, New York.
