Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
PETER WHEELER, stock-raiser and
diversified farmer, living six miles from Wenatchee, Chelan county, was
born in Pennsylvania February 16, 1834. His father, Rollin, deceased,
was born in Vermont, and his grandfather, Peter, was massacred by the Indians
in the Wyoming Valley prior to the Revolutionary war. His name, Peter,
is still legible on an old monument erected on the battlefield to commemorate
the heroism of those who there fought and died. The mother of our
subject, Alethia (Bull) Wheeler, was a native of Pennsylvania, of Dutch
ancestry. She died when our subject was two years old.
In 1843 the father and step-mother of our
subject removed to Illinois, and here he was educated in the public schools.
At the opening of the Civil war he attempted to enlist, but was unable
to pass the medical examination. Three years he passed in Iowa.
Going thence to Nebraska he pre-empted land in Platte county, which at
that period was very thinly settled. In 1883 he went to Idaho, remaining
one year, and thence to Washington, where he was engaged in railroad construction.
In 1885 he came to what is known as Wheeler Hill, six miles from Wenatchee,
and settled on a homestead, his son Clarence, doing the same. To
this property he has since added railroad land, and now owns, with his
son, about four thousand acres. They cultivate one hundred acres,
have fifteen acres in orchard, put up one hundred to one hundred and fifty
tons of alfalfa annually, and last season sold two thousand boxes of apples.
Their timothy hay yields four tons to the acre. Much of this property
is fine grazing land, although about a section is broken, and more is tillable.
He winters one hundred head or more of cattle. Mr. Wheeler has two
half brothers living in Iowa, Edward and Rollin.
Mr. Wheeler was married in Carroll county,
Illinois, to Medora Morse, a native of New York. Her parents were
Allen and Clara (Smith) Morse. Mrs. Wheeler died in December, 1902.
When not on the farm, our subject resides in a comfortable house, surrounded
by twenty acres of land, on the river one mile from the postoffice.
He has four sons, Allen, mining in the Black Hills; Clarence; Peter, city
marshal of Wenatchee; and Charles, residing on the Wheeler Hill property.
His four daughters are Della, wife of William Sally, of Oregon; Clara,
wife of Frank Chase, of Seattle; Dora, wife of James Rea, farmer and road
supervisor near Wenatchee; and Julia, wife of Phil Leonard, mentioned elsewhere.
The religious affiliations of Mr. Wheeler are with the Seventh Day Adventists.
Politically he is a Republican.