Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Wheeler, John J. 1848 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 26, 2006, 7:19 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) JOHN J. WHEELER. John J. Wheeler, proprietor and publisher of the Lake County Star at Crown Point, the newspaper known as possessing the best equipment and the largest circulation of any paper in northwestern Indiana, is a representative of the journalistic fraternity whose present prosperous and successful position in life has been won by hard and persevering labor and serious attention to the interests which of his own responsibility he has assumed or which have been intrusted to him through circumstances. His career, like that of many newspaper men, has been varied and concerned with several fields of human activity; and, also, his entire life spent within the bailiwick of Lake county has brought him into most intimate relations with its citizenship and industries,—forming experiences and associations of inestimable value in the conduct of a local journal. The Lake County Star is a conservative journal in that it adheres to the best traditions and policies of the past, whether in political or material affairs, but is also exceedingly progressive in that its point of view broadens with the advance of the decades and it continually advocates the upbuilding of the county and state and a betterment of all the vital conditions of society and the world in general. The Star is an influential organ, contains the best winnowings of the local news, and both as an indicator and director of public opinion its strength has long been felt in Lake county. Mr. Wheeler is a native son of West Creek township, Lake county, and was born in that prosperous agricultural section of the county January 11, 1848. The Wheeler family originally came from Connecticut, and this branch is from the same strain as is General Joe Wheeler, the famous little rebel general, but the political associations of the Lake county Wheelers have always adhered to the Union and Republicanism. Mr. Wheeler's father was John Wheeler, and his mother Ann Wheeler, a daughter of John D. Jones. These parents came from Ohio to Indiana in 1847. The father first engaged in school teaching, later was county surveyor of Lake county, and in 1857 founded the Crown Point Register, which he continued to publish until June, 1861. He then entered the Union army as captain of Company B, Twentieth Indiana Infantry, and in the spring of 1863 he was promoted to colonel of the command. He had been in all the Potomac battles up to that time, and on the second day of the great Gettysburg engagement he was shot from his horse and instantly killed at the "Devil's Den," July 2, 1863. His children are John J., Edgar C, and Alice M., now Mrs. S. S. Cole, of East Brookfield. Their mother died in the seventies. John J. Wheeler received a very meager education in the country schools of this county, nor did his opportunities of school attendance long continue, since he was obliged to make his own way from the time he was fourteen years old. For several years he clerked in a store. He entered the army when he was fifteen years old, and he now possesses two honorable discharges, showing that his youth did not hinder him from performing a full meed of patriotic service to his country. His field of life work has always been in Lake county, and he was twice elected to the office of county surveyor. While in the second term of this office he resigned in order to enter the newspaper business, which he has followed since 1872. He has owned his present fine newspaper plant for twenty-four years, and is among the oldest as he is one of the most successful publishers in northwest Indiana. During Harrison's term of president he served Crown Point as postmaster, and it is needless to state that he has always been a stanch Republican in political faith. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for thirty-three years, and also a Forester, and has been identified with the Grand Army of the Republic since its organization. He is eclectic in his religious views. Mr. Wheeler was married to Miss Belle Holton, October 27, 1870, at Crown Point. She was a granddaughter of Solon Robinson, who figures so prominently in this history as the founder of Crown Point; he was a remarkable man in many other ways, was the author of numerous books, and for many years was agricultural editor of the New York Tribune. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have two sons and two daughters. Harold H., the eldest, is now-serving his second term as county clerk, and when his time expires he will have been connected with that office for twenty-two years, he having been deputy fourteen years. Fred, the second son, is foreman in the Star office. Jennie A., the older daughter, is now Mrs. W. P. Tice, and Josephine C, aged fifteen, is still at home. Mr. Wheeler's career is its own best justification, and he has every reason to be satisfied with the outcome of the battle of life as he has fought it. He is prosperous and a highly esteemed man of affairs in his county, and a conscientious and diligent devotion to the work of the present world makes him content with what his lot will be when he is called upon to cross the great unknown. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/wheeler623gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb