WHEELER, Morris

This section of a 1942 topographical map of Readfield
shows the general area of lot #221 in Winthrop where
Mary Wheeler and her son James settled on the west shore
of Lake Maranacook. Their lot would have been in the
vicinity that lies across the reach from present day Tallwood.

Morris Wheeler was born in Ireland and a veteran of the French and Indian War. He enlisted in 1754 with Capt. James Howard to help garrison Fort Western on the Kennebec River in Hallowell (now Augusta), Maine. Wheeler was granted lot # 31 on the west side of the Kennebec River in Hallowell October 12, 1763.[i] His wife was Mary and they had a (name unknown) daughter and a son whose name was James. Morris Wheeler later settled in the northeasterly section of Winthrop / Readfield;[ii]  then in 1783 he bought 45 acres - part of lot #221 from Ephraim Stevens of Winthrop.[iii]  This land was finally deeded (for payment of $300) to his wife Mary, “labourer”, by Ephraim and Sibbel Stevens (then from) Litchfield, ME in 1803.[iv] Lot #221 bordered on the west shore of Lake Maranacook (then called Chandlers Pond) very near the Readfield / Winthrop town line.[v] According to Winthrop historian Everett Stackpole, Morris Wheeler surrendered his farm to his wife Mary. This is corroborated by a deposition given in 1814 (upon request of David and Pamela Atkins) by a neighbor, John Gray[vi] in which he testified the following:

                I John Gray of Kingsville (Troy), Maine in the county of Kennebec of lawful age do testify and say that about twenty-nine years ago when I lived in the town of Winthrop in the country of Lincoln now Kennebec, Mary Wheeler, wife of Morris Wheeler, applied to me to assist her in purchasing a piece of land and I at her request went and agreed with Ephraim Stevens for a certain piece of land which is the same land that David Atkins now lives on in said Winthrop, and the said Mary Wheeler a short time afterwards went down with me to said Stevens in order to close the bargain with him for land, her husband being absent, she carried with her a quantity of clothing principally women’s wearing apparel, which she delivered to said Stevens in partial  payment for said land, which then had a small dwelling house on the premises into  which she the said Mary Wheeler and her daughter immediately moved and lived for about five or six weeks when her husband Morris Wheeler came to Winthrop and lived on said place with her for about eighteen months when he came to my house and told me he was about to leave his wife and that he would live with her no longer and wished for me to purchase some of his tools, he at that time sold all his tools, crops and other movables and left the town and returned again in about six months apparently very poor. I was then at the house where they lived and heard said Morris Wheeler tell his wife that if she would finish paying for said land that she might have it and take a deed in her name and he would have nothing to do with it and that she might have it for herself and heirs as she had done so well in taking care of the property in his absence and furthermore your deponent sayeth not.

Morris Wheeler went to live with relatives in Readfield and died there in 1817. His descendants claim that he lived to the unusually old age of 115 years.[vii]

James Wheeler, the only son of Morris and Mary Wheeler, was a seaman in his youth. Every winter he went to Harpswell, ME for a load of fish and clams then peddled them out on the way back home to Winthrop. He married Hannah __?__.  Children:[viii]

1)      Emeline b.1808 d.1816; 2) Caroline b.1811; 3) Hannah b.1813 d.1824; 4) Sarah Partridge b.1814 d. 1887; 5) Lorinda b.1815; 6) Samuel Wood b. 1817; 7) Emily b. 1819 m. 1854 to James Rice of Waterville; 8) George Washington b. 1820; 9) Morris b. 1822 He was a sailor and was lost at sea; 10) Susan b.1824; 11) Angeline b.1826; 12) Enoch Wood b.1829; 13) Rosanna b.1832 m. 1853 Luther Wentworth.

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[i] North, James H; History of Augusta, ME pub. 1870; Reprint by The New England History Press, Somersworth, NH in 1981; page 100

[ii] Stackpole, Everett; History of Winthrop, Maine with Genealogical Notes by David & Elizabeth Keene; Heritage Books, Inc. Bowie, MD 1994; page 657 In 1791 this section became Readfield then in 1850 it was set off to Manchester.

[iii] Stackpole page 657

[iv] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds; Book 5 Page 1 4/5/1803

[v] 1771 Jones surveyors plan of Winthrop. In 2013 this lot is the first one across the Winthrop / Readfield town line on the west shore of Lake Maranacook.

[vi] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds; Book 18 Page 343 3/14/1814

[vii] Stackpole page 657 and North page 100

[viii] Stackpole page 658