John H. Wheeler & Abigail Parmenter

Minnesota  National Guard  at Weseca in 1886

John H. Wheeler, father of Sarah wheeler and my wife's 3rd great grandfather was born in New York (likely in Galen) about 1811.  In 1855 he relocated from Galen, NY to Iosco, Waseca county, Minnesota.  He was one of three men who were the first settlers of Weseca.  Here is an excerpt from a history of the early pioneers of Waseca by James Childs:

*****When Waseca County was first organized, in 1857, the territory now called Iosco was, together with about all of Janesville, known as the precinct of Empire; and at the first election, which took place in June 1857, the polling place was fixed at the hotel of John H. Wheeler, in the village of Empire. N.E. Strong, C.R. Miller and James Haynes were the judges of election. M.S. Green was the first justice of the peace.

The pioneer settlers in what is now Iosco township, were Luke Osgood, Daniel McDaniels and John H. Wheeler. These gentlemen came to Waseca County early in the summer of 1855. In July of that year Mr. Osgood, who had his family with him, erected the first shanty in the town. It was made of rough logs and covered with shakes; a doorway was cut, but no door was swung in the opening, nor where there any windows or floor. His family resided in this until fall, and having lived in a canvas-covered wagon, found it a very comfortable change. Before cold weather set in, however, he put up a better cabin, into which he moved. He sold out some years afterward and moved back east, where he died about 1883. Daniel McDaniels removed to the State of Missouri, where he is now living.

 John H. Wheeler is a resident of Nebraska, whither he removed in the year 1886. His first settlement was on section 29, and there he resided until he sold out, as above stated to Julius Mittelstadt.*****

Abigail Parmenter was born in 1825, also in New York.  She married John Wheeler in about 1840 and had 4 of their 5 children while living in Galen, NY.  The children were Sarah, Truman, William, and Charles.  Evaline was born last while they lived in Minnesota.

John was a farmer, hotel owner, and seemed to get into trouble often.  What follows is an excerpt from Child's History describing John being named as an accomplish in the first murder in Waseca County in 1857:

*****This first general election, October 13, 1857, was the occasion of the first, as well as of the most unprovoked, murder ever committed in this county. Jacob Hagadorn and family and Peter Farrell and family lived neighbors to one another in the town of Iosco, near the village of Empire, where the fall election was held. So far as known, at least, these men were not only neighbors, but friendly toward each other. They both attended the election at Empire, and the testimony showed that Hagadorn did not drink much, but that Farrell was crazy drunk. The testimony taken before the grand jury the next day or two after the murder showed that there were two rival hotels, or public houses, in the village, and that each kept a bar well stocked with whisky. Whisky was cheap in those good old days, 25 cents a gallon --too cheap to be drugged--and yet men got drunk in those days the same as they do nowadays, and stabbed each other to the heart without any other cause than that they were intoxicated. It was at the time charged that one of the hotel men had plied Farrell and one or two others with liquor, during the afternoon, with the intention of getting up a drunken affray in the evening in which the other hotel man was to have been killed by accident. Whether there was any foundation for that theory or not, the fact was that a quarrel took place, and during the row Farrell killed Hagadorn with a large knife.

Hon. Charles E. Flandreau, then associate justice of the Territorial supreme court, was then holding the first term of the district court for this county, and the grand jury, then in session, found indictments against Peter Farrell, as principal, and John H. Wheeler and Richard Toner, as accessories. Farrell was arrested and taken to Stillwater to be held for trial, but soon after made his escape and has never been brought to trial. It is said by some that he and his family are residents of Chicago, living under an assumed name.

After the excitement was over and the facts and circumstances were more coolly considered, it was generally admitted that there was not evidence upon which to convict Wheeler or Toner, and after some two years they were discharged.

There can be no doubt that that sad and bloody tragedy was the unpremeditated result of insane drunkeness on the part of Farrell and others that were equally drunk.

Farrell, with great frankness, apparent sincerity, and unaffected sorrow declared that he had no cause for killing Hagadorn, that he never intended to injure him, and that he had not the faintest recollection of committing the crime with which he was charged and which he did actually commit in the presence of many eye-witnesses.

This murder was a sad lesson for Waseca county in more ways than one. It kept the district court in session several days, piled up large bills for witnesses, jurors, and officers at a time which our people were poor and out of money and when there was not a cent in the county treasury. These bills had to be met with borrowed money bearing interest at a rate of from sixty to seventy-two percent per annum. It was a long time before the taxpayers had paid off the last of the expenses of that drunk.****

Here is another episode where he was the alleged victim of Highway robbery (Dec 28, 1870) from the local newspaper:

*****John H. Wheeler, of Iosco, makes the following statement to us of a very singular transaction. he reports in substance as follows:

"On the 10th inst., I went to Waterville with my horse team for a grist which I had previously taken to mill. Early in the evening, I saw Mr. Frank Waters, and asked him if he would take a sack of flour, which I had left at his house, to Dr. Coe of Morristown. At first, he did not answer me. When I asked him the second time, he said he would. He then asked me if I was going home that night? I answered yes. He then said: 'I see the boys are out tonight; and they remember the rope of last sping,' (refering to a transaction which occurred in Waseca last summer.) I replied, 'you ought not to revenge on me, for I said all I decently could in your favor.' He then said, 'that remains to be proven; and others will share the same fate. He then drove off. I then noticed some men near my wagon, which stood some distance off. Mr. Kletsker and I went to the wagon, the men leaving when they heard us coming. Shortly afterwards, I started for home. When about a mile this side of Waterville, near a straw stack, two men on horseback rode around in front of my team, and two men on foot came up behind me. As they came up, they gave a yell, and one of them said 'board him, boys, we'll show him the rope of last spring.' My team got frightened and started at a rapid rate, running past the two horsemen and leaving the footmen behind. At this point, there is a curve in the road around a hill. The horseman on a gray horse rode in ahead of me and tried to stop the team, but failed. After getting nearly around the hill, the horsemen reined out of the road and went to the top of the hill and told the men to hurry up saying 'we'll have him yet.' The two horsemen then followed and nearly overtook me near a deep gully across the road. At this point my horses, being frightened, ran out of the track and upset the wagon, throwing me on the ground and dragging me some distance, and got away. I left the road at once and went to the house of Mr. Roach, some half a mile away, and got him to go with me and search for the horses. We tracked them to the forks of the road, where they turned into a byway and went into old Mr. Miller's yard. We took the horses back, reloaded the flour, and drove to Mr. Roach's where I stopped over night. The next morning I saw the tracks of horses and men in the light snow, where, apparently, they had searched for me in some underbrush near where the wagon upset."

Mr Wheeler thinks that the "gang" at Waterville intended to take his life and rob him. We give the story as he gave it to us, and leave our readers to judge for themselves.*******

On Oct 29, 1878 , his home burned down and was a total loss.

John and Abigail relocated to Nebraska in 1886.  Here is a news article from the Waseca paper on Dec 1, 1886, where John makes news even after moving away:

****Squire Chamberlain in Saturday informs us news from Nebraska is to the effect that our old friend John Wheeler, lately removed to that State, was badly bitten by dogs, in fact nearly killed. The circumstances were that Mr. Wheeler was looking for some lost cattle, and went into a herd guarded by dogs trained to guard the cattle from thieves as well as prevent their scattering, and was attacked by the dogs, pulled down, and if help had not opportunely arrived at the instant, he would have been killed. As it was he was badly lacerated and lay for days out of his mind wildly calling upon Freeman - his son - to "take off the dogs." At last accounts he was improving. "Doggon" bad luck for the old man.*****

Abigail passed away about 1886-1888.  John died on Feb 20, 1889.  I have not positively identfied their gravesites.