Charles A Wheeler

WHEELER

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 6/1/2010 at 18:53:43

There are many representatives of railway interests in Boone, which is a division point on the Chicago & Northwestern. This company Charles A Wheeler now represents as passenger engineer. He has been in its service for the past thirty-eight years, or since 1876, entering railway circles as a brakeman, while subsequently he was advanced, having for the past thirty years been in the engineering department. Illinois numbers him among her natives sons, his birth having occurred in Oregon, Ogle county, October 21, 1856. He is a son of Silas F and Athelia (Mathewson) Wheeler, both of whom were natives of Wheelock, Vermont, where they were reared and married. In the early 50’s they removed westward to Illinois and the father, who was a photographer by profession, conducted a studio at Rochelle for a number of years, there residing until 1862, when he removed to Lyons, Clinton county, Iowa. At that place he made his home until he returned to Vermont, in which state his wife died on April 25, 1873, when forty-two years of age. The father afterward came to Iowa and passed away in Toledo, this state, in 1895, at the age of sixty-three years. The grater part of his life was devoted to photography. Mrs Wheeler was a member of the Freewill Baptist church.
In the family were seven children, of whom three sons reached adult age, the brothers of Charles A Wheeler being Orley T and Merton A, both of whom became firemen on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and died in Boone in early manhood. Charles A Wheeler spent his boyhood days in the Green Mountain state and attended school at Omaha and other points, but his educational opportunities were somewhat limited, for he was the oldest in the family and began to work when quite young, since which time he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources, so that whatever success he has achieved is the merited reward of his labor. For some years he worked upon a farm in the east and then turned his attention to railroading in 1876. He has since followed that pursuit and after working for some time as a brakeman he became a fireman and later was promoted to the position of engineer, in which capacity he has served for thirty years, acting as engineer in passenger service for fifteen years. Throughout this entire time there has been no accident occasioned through any fault or negligence on his part.
In 1878 Mr Wheeler was united in marriage to Miss Mary Windett, who died in 1890, leaving a daughter, Mary A who is the wife of Graham Ray of Berkeley, California. For his second wife Mr Wheeler chose Bertha Kail, whom he wedded in 1892, and they have become parents of two children, Charles and Lois, both of whom are in school. Mrs Wheeler was born in Wayne county, Iowa, but in young womanhood came with her parents to Boone, where she has since made her home. She belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and the family attend its services. Politically Mr Wheeler is a progressive republican. He cast his first presidential vote for James G Blaine in 1884 and gave stalwart support to the party until, believing that the progressive movement was a step in advance, he became identified therewith. He belongs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and is the present secretary and treasurer of the local organization. He is identified with both the subordinate lodge and the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias, and his wife is a member of the ladies’ auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and also the Pythian Sisters. In these organizations both Mr and Mrs Wheeler have gained many warm friends.

1914 Boone County History Book