Frank L. Wheeler Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1140-1143 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				FRANK L. WHEELER. 

	Frank L. Wheeler, a grain dealer of Scotland, Bon Homme county, 
is a native of the lake country of New York, a region famous for its 
beauty. His birth occurred May 20, 1859, in Seneca county, south of 
Seneca Falls, on the old Wheeler homestead situated on the west shore 
of Cayuga lake. His parents, Jonathan and Harriet (Ogden) Wheeler, were 
natives of the Empire state and the mother, who has now reached the 
advanced age of eighty-five years, is still a resident of that state, 
making her home in Geneva, at the foot of Seneca lake. 

	Mr. Wheeler of this review migrated west in the spring of 1880 
and remained for a year at Winona, Minnesota, but on the 17th of May, 
1881, he came to Huron, South Dakota, on the first train that made the 
trip with its own engine. Owing to a stretch of marshy ground transfers 
had to be made until a firmer track could be built and even this at 
places sank below the surface, the water rising behind the train as it 
proceeded on its way. Shortly after his arrival in South Dakota Mr. 
Wheeler opened a lumberyard in Hitchcock near where he took up a 
homestead, a pre-emption and a timber claim, remaining there until 
1893. He was then for two years in business at Viborg and for three 
years at Howard, after which time, in 1898, he came to Scotland and 
entered the grain business, in which he has continued to the present 
time. He has a large elevator and is well equipped for handling all 
kinds of grain and farm produce. He also has elevators at Blaha and 
Plumba. His careful study of commercial and agricultural conditions and 
his systematic methods of carrying on his business are the causes of 
his gratifying success. In addition to his grain business he has other 
interests, including a controlling interest in the Peoples Telephone 
Company of Scotland. 

	Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage in Scotland in 1891 to Miss 
Ida Shaw, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Eckert) Shaw, who came to South 
Dakota in 1886. Mr. and MIS. Wheeler have become parents of five 
children: Mary, a teacher in the Scotland schools; Floyd, who is 
associated in business with his father; Henry, who is now taking an 
engineering course at Vermillion; Frank and Harriet. 

	Upon coming to Scotland to reside Mr. Wheeler purchased the house 
in which he had been previously married. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and has served as worshipful master and high priest. He 
fortunately escaped the blizzard of January 12, 1888, as he was on a 
visit in New York at the time. However, he had occasion to worry 
because of the great storm, as on his ranch at Hitchcock was a 
considerable herd of cattle in charge of a brother. In a little over 
one year from that time his farm was in the track of the worst prairie 
fire the Dakotas have ever known. On the 2d of April, 1889, the flames 
swept with appalling speed across the wide plains and at times leaped 
across half a mile of fire guard. The barn upon Mr. Wheeler's place was 
burned, but he considered himself fortunate to escape so well. With the 
usual American thrift and energy he has succeeded in business and is 
accounted one of Scotland's respected and prosperous citizens. He is a 
democrat in politics and is a member of the school board, having served 
as its president for ten years.