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1. Henry H. Wheeler and Mary Ann Sawyer
2.----Amanda Wheeler and James Avery Thomas
3.------Francis Marion Thomas and Susan Barbara Mullen
4.--------Susie Cornelia Thomas and Lee Harrison Sandel
5.----------Charles Edward Sandel and Ella Frances Hutt
6.------------Charlotte Elaine Sandel and Robert Walter Beck
7.--------------Sandra S Beck, Michael R Beck, Wendy L. Beck, Randall
J Beck
8.----------------Cory Thomas Porter, Jesica Nicole Porter
Wheeler families were among the earliest settlers in America.
It is a difficult family to
trace because of their great number. Every state had many Wheelers.
It was necessary to
begin with our known ancestor, Amanda Wheeler, and work her family
back into time.
*HENRY H. WHEELER was born about 1800 in Georgia. There was a
Henry Wheeler in
the home of Benjamin Wheeler of Warren County, Georgia about 1810.
Henry married
*MARY ANN SAWYER in Baldwin County, Georgia on 29 August 1822.
Baldwin
County is located near the center of the state, near Warren County.
Two of Henry and
Mary Ann's known children are *Amanda, born 1827 in Georgia, and John,
born about
1823 in Georgia.
Because families and neighbors often immigrated to new territory together,
clues to Henry's
movement might be found linked to the movements of other family members.
The state of
Georgia offered land in various parts of the state to encourage settlement
of what had once
been Indian lands. In 1827, Henry's name was drawn to receive
land in Muscogee County,
which is located next to the Alabama line, halfway down the border
between the two
states.
The 1830 census for Marengo County, Alabama lists the family of
HENRY WHEELER.
Near his entry is a listing for the family of *JOHN THOMAS.
John Thomas appears to
have lived in Warren County, Georgia before moving to Alabama.
Henry's daughter
Amanda later married John Thomas' son, *James Avery Thomas.
The Thomas family moved to the Mexican territory of Texas, joining Stephen
F. Austin's
colony of 300 people in 1835. They settled in Montgomery County.
The Wheeler family
followed them a few years later, arriving before 1842. Montgomery County
was divided to
form part of Walker and Grimes County in 1860.
**JAMES AVERY THOMAS married AMANDA WHEELER in Montgomery County on
28
April 1842. They settled in Mustang Prarie, Texas. Their
family is detailed in the
THOMAS chapter. James died in 1865 and Amanda died in 1896, both
in Mustang Prarie,
both are buried at Red Top Cemetery. Photo
of Amanda Wheeler Thomas
Henry's son, John Wheeler, sometimes called Joe, also lived
in Grimes county, near the
home of his sister Amanda. John's wife was Elizabeth Landrum,
daughter of Joseph
Landrum and Mary Boon. John denied paternity of their daughter Mary
Ann so the girl
lived with her grandfather, Henry, in the home of her aunt, Amanda
Wheeler Thomas, as
shown in the 1850 Texas Census. In the 1860 census, John's wife,
Elizabeth, is living with
her sister-in-law, Amanda. Elizabeth is designated as "Insane"
and "Pauper". Henry
Wheeler is no longer listed on any census, probably having died between
1850 and 1860.
John, on a nearby farm, lists his occupation as "none".
John had a son born in 1852
whom he named James Avery Wheeler, a namesake of John's brother-in-law,
*JAMES
AVERY THOMAS.
James Avery Wheeler married Mary Ann Mullens, daughter of *MATTHEW SIMPSON
MULLENS and *MARY ANN McCLANAHAN EDWARDS and sister to our ancestor
*SUSAN BARBARA MULLENS, wife of *FRANCIS MARION THOMAS. The marriage
made the families in-laws as well as cousins.
The ancestry of the Thomas and Wheeler families before coming to Alabama,
then Texas is
still undiscovered with any certainty. Future research will surely
find them in the state of
Georgia.
CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, ANCESTRAL FILE, Amanda Wheeler
CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, I.G.I., GA, WHEELER p. 12525
THE WHEELER FAMILY IN AMERICA
Pedigree Chart, Robert Lee Goodman, Houston, Texas
INDEX TO GA Wills, p. 161
Automated Archives, Library of Michigan, "Baldwin County, GA, Marriage Record"
37,000 EARLY GEORGIA MARRIAGES, p. 11
1820 GA CENSUS INDEX, Wheeler names in Baldwin County:
Asberry, p. 024
Jesse, p, 028
Rebecca, p. 030
1850 TEXAS CENSUS INDEX, Wheeler, H. H., Grimes
Co p. 386
Wheeler, John, Grimes Co p. 386, 371
Wheeler, Mary, Grimes Co p. 371
1850 TEXAS CENSUS, H. H. Wheeler in home of son-in-law James Thomas
