Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of JOSEPH S. WHEAT This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. 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 WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 419-420 JOSEPH S. WHEAT was representative from Morgan County in the First and Second Legislatures of West Vir- ginia. He was born in the Village of Berkeley Springs, March 31, 1803, a son of William and Elizabeth (Shaw) Wheat, the latter a native of Virginia, while William Wheat came from England. William Wheat at one time kept a hotel at Berkeley Springs. Joseph Wheat acquired a good education, became a civil engineer, and was too old for service as a soldier in the Civil war, but was an active Union man. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates and confined at Richmond for three months until exchanged. He was elected in 1863 to the House of Delegates as representa- tive of Morgan County. While in the Legislature he was instrumental in the passage of the law establishing a free school system in the state. He also served several years as justice of the peace. Joseph S. Wheat died May 6, 1872. He married Miranda Grove, a native of Frederick County, Virginia, and daughter of John and Eleanor (Newbaugh) Grove. Her father was a farmer and local Methodist minister and died at the age of eighty-one, his wife dying ten years later at the same age. Mrs. Joseph S. Wheat died December 17, 1890. She reared six children: Harriet, Henry, Mary, James, John and Alfred. The daughter Harriet, became the wife of John Hunter and reared seven children namely, Raymond, Carrie, Bailey, Jessie, Leslie, Helen and Albert. A second daughter Mary, married Edward Bechtol, a son of Aaron Bechtol. Edward Bechtol was well educated, for many years was in the tannery industry and was a life-long resident of Berkeley Springs where he died at the age of seventy-two. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bechtol reared seven children: Edward Ford, Eugene Leroy, Nellie, Harry F., William Guy, Maud S., and Florence May.