Simeon Wheeler 1761-after 1845 (Low Cemetery)

Simeon Wheeler

Born 10 Jan 1761 in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticut. He was a farmer and Low Cemetery’s only Revolutionary War veteran.

According to his pension application, he was drafted in the army of the United States about the year AD 1777 under Capt. Basil Munson and was under him about four months as a private, and five months as orderly Sergeant, he further says that he was in the service and on duty when the British attacked New Haven and that his place of residence at the time he first entered the service was Bethany, afterwards called
Woodbridge, and about twelve miles from New Haven. He was drafted into and done actual service as a soldier and minute man for more than three & not to exceed four years-

On 19 Sep 1782 in Cheshire, Con. he married Anna Sanford. In the spring of either 1802 or 1803, Simeon and Anna and their six children traveled by ox-cart through New York and Pennsylvania, crossing the Allegheny Mountains to reach Vienna Twp, Trumbull County, OH, part of the Western Reserve, where he had received a grant of land due to his being a Revolutionary War veteran. He planted the first orchard in the Township on their 187-acre farm.

The family moved to Brookfield Twp. in the same county in 1815 to farm 316 acres. His wife died unexpectedly in 1836. By December 1840, Wheeler moved to LaPorte County, Indiana, where he lived with his daughter Jane Wheeler Bentley.

Simeon’s exact date of death is unknown, but it was after Feb. 1845 when he filed a final application for an increase in his pension.

Information on Simeon Wheeler came from his Revolutionary War Pension Records, available online and from a well-sourced website called Viennapedia under the auspices of the Vienna Historical Society.

Researched and presented by Dorothy Germain Palmer, 6/11/2013