Albert Wheelon Biogrpahy


	This biography appears on pages 833-834 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	ALBERT WHEELON, an honored veteran of the Civil war, and at the 
present time incumbent of the office of register of the United States 
land office in Pierre, being also engaged in the real-estate business, 
is a native of Elizabethtown, Ontario, Canada, where he was born on the 
14th of March, 1844, being a scion of sterling old families and a son 
of Charles and Mary (Marshall) Wheelon, natives respectively of Canada 
and New York state. The father of the subject was engaged in farming in 
Canada until 1857, when he removed with his family to McHenry county, 
Illinois, becoming a pioneer of that state, where he was engaged in 
farming until his death, in 1888, at the age of sixty eight years; his 
wife is still living. They became the parents of eight children, of 
whom six are living. The subject was reared to maturity in Illinois, 
where he secured his educational discipline in the common schools of 
McHenry county, and he continued to assist his father until there came 
the call to a higher duty, when the integrity of the Union was placed 
in jeopardy through armed rebellion. In 1862, at the age of eighteen 
years, Mr. Wheelon enlisted as a private in Company E, Ninety-fifth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, the 
regiment being assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. He participated 
in many important battles and was wounded in the siege of Vicksburg, 
and was incapacitated for further service in the field, being attached 
to the headquarters of the regiment thereafter until the expiration of 
his term of service, three years, when he received his honorable 
discharge, having acted as postmaster and clerk at headquarters after 
being wounded, until the close of the war, receiving his discharge at 
Springfield, Illinois, in August, 1865. He continues to take a deep 
interest in his old comrades in arms and perpetuates the memories of 
his army days by retaining membership in Sully Post No. 13, Grand Army 
of the Republic, in Pierre, of which he is past commander.  

	After the close of the war Mr. Wheelon passed one year in 
Illinois and then, in the autumn of 1866, went to Iowa, engaging in 
agricultural pursuits in Butler and Clay counties and being numbered 
among the pioneers of that state. In 1868 he was elected sheriff of 
Clay county, an office which he acceptably filled for two terms, and he 
continued to reside in the Hawkeye state until 1877, when he disposed 
of his interests there and came to the Black Hills district of Dakota. 
where he engaged in prospecting and in contracting. A year later he 
went to the mining regions of Colorado. where he continued to reside 
until 1889, having been there engaged in mining. In the year mentioned 
he took up his abode in Pierre and established himself in the real-
estate business, in which he has since continued, having built up a 
prosperous enterprise. In 1892 he was appointed deputy auditor of the 
county holding this office four years, and in 1896 he was elected 
county auditor, in which he served four years, having been reelected 
for a second term in 1898. On the 1st of January, 1900. President 
McKinley conferred upon him the appointment of register of the United 
States land office in Pierre, and he has since continued in tenure of 
this position. He has always been an active worker in the cause of the 
Republican party, with which he identified himself upon attaining his 
legal majority, having cast his first presidential vote for U. S. 
Grant. Fraternally, he belongs to Lodge No.444  Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks, and to the Modern Woodmen of America.  

	On the 22d of February, 1866, Mr. Wheelon was united in marriage 
to Miss Susan Weeks, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arvice A. Weeks, at 
that time resident of Woodstock, Illinois, and of this union were born 
two children, Dr. Charles A., who is a successful physician and surgeon 
in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nellie, who is the wife of John D. 
Buroughs, of Denver, being employed as cashier in the offices of the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company. On the 17th day of May, 1886, the 
subject married Miss Gertrude E. Farrington, of Newark, New York, who 
died on the 10th of August, 1897, having borne one child, which died in 
infancy, while 1895 she and her husband adopted a daughter, Myrna 
Rebecca. On the 21st of June, 1900, Mr. Wheelon consummated a third 
marriage, being then united to Miss Minnie Weischedel, of El Reno, 
Oklahoma, and they have one child, Lena Minnie.