Albert Wheelon Biography This biography appears on pages 304-307 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm ALBERT WHEELON. Varied and interesting have been the experiences which constitute the life record of Albert Wheelon, now extensively and successfully engaged in the real-estate and insurance business at Pierre. He was born at Elizabethtown, Ontario, Canada, March 14, 1844, a son of Charles and Mary (Marshall) Wheelon, natives respectively of Brockville, Ontario, and Syracuse. New York. The Wheelon family is of Scotch-Irish origin, the ancestors of our subject residing in the north of Ireland, but the paternal great-grandfather settled in Canada before the war by which the United States gained its independence. In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wheelon removed with their family to Middlesex county, Ontario, and there the father secured a tract of government land of one hundred acres. He died in 1885, but his wife survived until 1912, passing away at the advanced age of ninety-three years Albert Wheelon remained upon the homestead until thirteen years of age and then left home and made his way to Marengo, Illinois, after which he was employed at farm work in McHenry county, Illinois, until August 11, 1862, when aroused by the spirit of patriotism, he enlisted at Marengo as a private of Company E, Ninety-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served with that command until mustered out, August 17, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, and participated in many hotly contested engagements. He went all through the Vicksburg campaign and was in the first charge made against that city on the 19th of June, 1863. He was then detailed as a sharp shooter and so served until June 22, 1863, when he was wounded in the left shoulder by a bullet from the enemy's gun. While making his way from the field he was struck on the left hand by a piece of shell which carried away all of the fingers on that hand. Sent to a floating hospital at the mouth of the Yazoo river, three days later he was stricken with typhoid fever. After two or three weeks there passed he was sent to the Union Hospital at Memphis, where he remained for three months. This was his only hospital experience. As he was barely convalescent when he left the Union Hospital, he was refused permission to return to the front. He took advantage of a boat passing down the river and thus made his way to Vicksburg, where he expected to find his regiment. This was in October, 1863. Reaching Vicksburg, he found his regiment had gone to Natchez. Mr. Wheelon reported to the provost marshal at Vicksburg and remained there for three or tour days, after which he went to Natchez, where he reported to his company. As he was still unfit for duty no special tasks were assigned him for two months, at the end of which time his colonel detailed him as regimental postmaster, in which position he continued for five or six months. At the end of that time his colonel was promoted to the command of a brigade and Mr. Wheelon was made postmaster of the Fourth Brigade, Sixteenth Army Corps, thus serving until just after the battle of Nashville, when he was made divisional postmaster and remained at headquarters of the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, until mustered out. In spite of his maimed condition he participated in the battle of Guntown, Mississippi. . After being mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Wheelon went to Marengo, where his father and family had located some time before. There he resumed farming and in February, 1866, was married in McHenry county, Illinois, to Susan M. Weeks. In the succeeding fall they removed to a farm in Butler county, Iowa, where Mr. Wheelon purchased a quarter section and there remained until the spring of 1869, when they removed to Clay county, Iowa. In that district he secured a homestead and began the development of his land. In 1870 he was elected sheriff of Clay county and filled the position for two terms, or four years. He had continued his farming while holding office and remained in close connection with agricultural pursuits there until January, 1877, when he left his wife upon the farm and went to the Black Hills. In the fall of that year he made his way to Colorado Springs, Colorado. While in the Black Hills in the summer of 1877 he and three companions started for the Big Horn country in Wyoming on a prospecting trip, and had some exciting experiences with hostile Sioux Indians of the band under Crazy Horse. It was subsequently that he went to Colorado Springs and there became foreman of a sheep ranch, upon which he remained for two years. He next went to the Leadville country, prospecting, and was so engaged until 1889 with fairly good success. In the fall of that year he came to Pierre, where he established a real- estate office. He has since conducted the purchase and sale of property and has negotiated many important realty transfers. He is thoroughly conversant with real-estate values, knows the property that is upon the market and has gained a large and distinctively representative clientele. In 1893 he was made deputy county auditor for Hughes county and served for four years. This was but the beginning of important official service in which he still continues. In 1894 Mr. Wheelon was elected to the city council of Pierre and remained continuously in office to 1904, serving on that body for a longer continuous period than any other incumbent before or since. He was elected county auditor and served for two terms, or four years, and in January, 1901, he was appointed register of the United States land office at Pierre, occupying that position for eight years and two months. Over his official record there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil, as he has ever been most faithful and loyal to the duties devolving upon him. Aside from his official service and his real-estate business, he is known in financial circles as the vice president and one of the directors of the American Exchange Bank and as a director and treasurer of the First National Life Insurance Company, of which he was one of the original incorporators. Mr. Wheelon was married February 21, 1866, to Susan M. Weeks and had two children by that union — Dr. Charles A. Wheelon, now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nellie May, the wife of John Burroughs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. At Newark, New York, May 22, 1887, Mr. Wheelon wedded Gertie E. Farrington, who died August 10, 1897. No children of that marriage survive. They adopted a daughter, Myrna A. Mr. Wheelon was married the third time June 26, 1900, at El Reno, Oklahoma, the lady of his choice being Minnie Weischedel, and they became the parents of two children — Lena M., born February 25, 1902, and Orville A., born June 12, 1906. Mr. Wheelon belongs to Sully Post, G. A. R., of Pierre, of which he is Past Commander. He also has membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in the Christian Science church In politics he has ever been a stalwart republican, inflexible in his support of the party and its principles. Both his father and his grandfather were born in Canada and the great- grandfather in Ireland. All were Protestants of the Scotch-Irish strain and Mr. Wheelon displays many of the sterling characteristics of his Scotch-Irish ancestry. However, it is individual worth that counts and it has been through personal effort, capability and fidelity to trust that Albert Wheelon has attained the position of respect and high regard which he occupies in Pierre and wherever he is known throughout the state.