The Ancestry of Hattie E. J. Bruce - the George Wheeler Family

THE GEORGE WHEELER FAMILY

GEORGE WHEELER [#994], bap. Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England 23 Mar 1605-6, d. Concord, MA 1687, m. Cranfield 8 Jun 1630 KATHERINE PIN, d. Concord, MA 2 Jan 1684-5.

George Wheeler was baptised in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England on March 23 or 28, 1606. His wife was Katherine Pin, or, perhaps, Penn.[5] She died in Concord, MA on January 2, 1684-5. George survived her but died before June 2, 1687, undoubtedly in Concord.[1/261] Authorities agree that George Wheeler came to Concord about the year 1638 with his wife Katherine and several children.[2]

George Wheeler was obviously an important man in town affairs. His name appears on the Concord town records the first year they were kept and every year thereafter until he died. Walcott in his ÿHistory of Concordÿ asserts that George was one of the few men who "were foremost in the town's business, by virtue of their large estates as well as their integrity and good judgement". He was a man of education and the owner of a large amount of property, his house-lot alone consisting of eleven acres. He possessed lands in every part of the town, at Brook Meadows, Fairhaven Meadow, the Cranfield, by Walden Goose Pond, Flint's Pond, on the White Pond Plain, on the Sudbury line, etc. He held as many positions of trust and was as active in the direction of the town's affairs as any individual in Concord, serving at various times on substantially every committee of consequence, and leading in all manners of moment, as is evidenced by the fact that nearly every town deed and petition of any importance from either the church or the civic community of that time bears his signature.[1]

In Concord George was a selectman in 1660;[4/139] on a committee to divide land in 1654;[4/70] overseer of the south quarter of the town with three others.[4/76] He also owned land jointly with Timothy Wheeler,[4/89] who was, no doubt, a relative. With them sharing land, one could imagine them to be brothers, but it appears they were somewhat distant cousins.

The circumstantial evidence of his having been the brother of Timothy Wheeler is tempting. The English records make it quite clear that George Wheeler had a brother Thomas and a Thomas is clearly proven to have been a brother of Timothy. With Timothy he owned considerable property jointly, and together they were in possession of most of the real estate left by Reverend Peter Bulkely.[1] However refer to the overseas ancestor section for clarification of this point.

George made his will on March 28, 1684 a few week's after his wife's death, but the will was not admitted to probate until June 2, 1687, which establishes the approximate date of death.[2] He left a large estate administered by John, apperntly his only surviving son.

See the overseas ancestors section for George's ancestry.

REF: [1] The Ancestry of Edward Wales Blake - Edith Bartlett Sumner,
         1948 (pgs.261-262)
     [2] History of the Wheeler Family in America - Albert Gallatin
         Wheeler, Jr., 1914 (pgs.17-20)
     [3] Concord Vital Records
     [4] Concord in the Colonial Period - Charles H. Walcott, 1884
     [5] Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their
         Origins - John B. Threlfall, 1990 (pgs.498-499)

Children:

1. William, bap. Cranfield, Eng. 24 Jul 1631, d. Concord, MA
   31 Dec 1683, m. 30 Oct 1659 Hannah Busse, b. 18 Feb 1641
2. Thomas, bap. Cranfield 14 Aug 1633, d. 1687, m. Concord,
   MA 10 Oct 1657 Hannah Harrod
3. Elizabethÿbap. Cranfield, Eng. 3 Jan 1635-6,
   d. Concord, MA 14 Jun 1704, m. Concord 11 Oct 1656 Francis
   Fletcher, b. Concord 1636
4. Ruth, b. abt. 1638, d. 1703, m. Concord, MA 26 Oct 1665 Samuel
   Hartwell, b. Concord 26 Mar 1645
5. Sarah, b. Concord 30 Mar 1640, d. Concord 12 Dec 1713,
   m. 26 Dec 1665 Francis Dudley
6. John, b. Concord 19 Mar 1642-3, d. 27 Sep 1713, m. 25 Mar
   1663 Sarah Larkin, b. 12 Jan 1647, d. 12 Aug 1725
7. Mary, b. Concord 6 Jul 1645, d. Concord 24 Dec 1678, m.
   26 Oct 1665 Eliphalet Fox, d. 15 Aug 1711
8. Hannah, d. Concord 5 Jul 1697, m. Chelmsford, MA abt. 1673
   Samuel Fletcher


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