Ephraim Wheeler Sr.

• BIRTH 16 Mar 1619 Wharley End, Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority, Bedfordshire, England
• DEATH 11 Nov 1670 (aged 51) Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• BURIAL Plainfield Cemetery, Plainfield, Windham County, Connecticut, USA
• BURIAL Old Town Cemetery, Plainfield, CT (CT Cemetery #15) Contributor: Gerilynn M Campbell June 8, 2020
• MEMORIAL ID 125699250

Ephraim, son of Thomas Wheeler and Rebecca Sayre was baptized 16 March 1618/19 in Cranfield, Befordshire, Eng.[12] He came to New England by 1639, settled at Concord. The last record of Ephraim Wheeler in England occurs in a land transaction: "In a deed dated 19 February 1637/8, Timothy, Joseph and Ephraim Wheeler, yeomen, of Cranfield, sold two and one half acres of 'Ferry Field' to Edward Odell of The Ash at Cranfield, for 12 pounds". This places a fairly tight window on when Ephraim emigrated to the New World. On March 13or15 1638/9, within about a year of the land transaction, Ephraim became a freeman in Massachusetts and Thomas his brother April 17 ,1639. They were definitely there by 1639 as they state this in court records requesting enlargement of their land in 1643 and moved to Fairfield in 1644 and married Ann Turney in 1638 in Concord, Mass.

Clarence Almon Torrey says that Ephraim Wheeler and Ann _____ married "bef. 1638."<ref>Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages before1700</ref> I have been unable to locate any record to support the "bef. 1638" date other than the statement in John Farmer's Genealogical Register, written in 1829, that Ephraim had a son Isaac b. 1638.<ref>John Farmer, A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, (1829), p. 311</ref> If primary source data existed to support the claim, it is now lost. Such is the esteem for John Farmer, the founder of American Genealogy, (who insisted on primary source evidence rather than "tradition" to establish claims), that many of the best genealogists of the last few generations, including Torrey, have assumed that Farmer had something credible to support his claim. If we accept Farmer's claim, then Ephraim Wheeler must have been married in England, before he came to Massachusetts. We know he was in England in early 1638, and there wouldn't be time for him to sail across the Atlantic, settle in Concord, meet, court, and marry Ann, and then have a child with her, all before the end of 1638. On the other hand, if we do not accept Farmer's claim, then it seems most likely that Ephraim married in Concord. He was not yet twenty whenhe came to Massachusetts (Farmer would not have known this as his book was published before the English origins of Ephraim Wheeler were known), and the earliest birthdate that we know of for his other childrenis for his first surviving child, Isaac, born 23 Dec 1642. In the end, we are left in the middle with Edward Everett Hale, Jr., who, in his editor's notes for Lechford's Notebook says: "Savage, following Farmer, says that [Ephraim Wheeler] had a son Isaac b. 1638. Thismay or may not be true."<ref>Edward Everett Hale, Jr., ed., Note-Book of Thomas Lechford, Esq., (1885), p. 305</ref>

"Whereas your humble petitioners came into this country about 4 years agoe, and have since then lived at Concord, where we were forced to buy what now we have, or the most of it, the convenience of the town being before given out: your petitioners having been brought up, in husbandry, of children, finding the lands about the town very barren and the meadows very wet and unuseful, especially those we now have interest in; and knowing it is your desire the lands might be subdued, have taken pains to search out a place on the north west of our town, where we do desire some reasonable quantitie of land may be granted unto us, which we hope many in time be joined to the farms already laid out there to make a village; and so, desiring God to guide you inthis and all other your weighty occasions, we rest your humble petitioners. Dated Sept. 7, 1643. Signed Thomas Wheeler, Timothy Wheeler, Ephraim Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler, Jr., Roger Draper, Richard Lettin. "<ref>Latting, John J. "The Latting Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 2:8</ref>

The Colony granted this, requiring they improve the land within two years.<ref>Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: Vol II 1642-1649 p. 51</ref> However, Ephraim joined instead in the settling of Fairfield, Connecticut. Ephraim removed to Fairfield with the Rev. John Jones in 1644 and was granted a 3 acre home lot at the Pequonnock settlement near his brothers Thomas Wheeler (Sr) and Thomas Wheeler (Jr.). He became a large landowner and a leading citizen, and was one of the wealthiest citizens of Fairfield County. He made his will 22 Sep 1669, naming wife Ann; sons Isaac, Samuel, Timothy and Ephraim; daughters Mary, Ruth, Hannah, Rebeca, Judith, and Abigail; and cousin John Wheeler. His will was proved 1 Nov 1670; his inventory of 28 Oct 1670 was £1,026.<ref>A.G. Wheeler, Jr., The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America, (1914), p. 491 Internet Archive Link</ref> In the words of Savage: He was "bless. with plenty of est. and ch."<ref>James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, (1862), 4:496</ref> Children:<ref>Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, (1930), 1:665-66</ref>

Parents
Thomas "the Elder" Wheeler 1563–1634/5
Rebecca Sayre Wheeler 1572–1653 2nd wife

Spouse
Ann Turney Wheeler 1622–1708 m. 1638/41

Siblings
Thomas Wheeler Sr 1589–1654
Capt Timothy Wheeler 1601–1687
Elizabeth Wheeler Breed 1602–1637
George Wheeler 1605–1687
Susannah Wheeler 1607–1649
Joseph Wheeler 1610–1681
Capt. Thomas Wheeler Jr 1620–1676

Half Siblings
Thomas Wheeler 1602–1686
Richard Wheeler 1614–1675
Ephraim Wheeler – unknown

Children b. in Concord, M
Isaac Wheeler 12/13or23/1642–1712
Mary Wheeler abt. 1644-
Ruth Wheeler 1646–1719
Rebecca Wheeler Gregory 1648–1703
Hannah Wheeler Perry/Smedley abt.1649– unknown
Judith Wheeler abt.1652-
Abigail Wheeler abt. 1654-
Samuel Wheeler abt.1656/8
Ephraim Wheeler Jr. abt.1660
Timothy Wheeler abt.1660–1730

Notes

Married in 1638 per Torey stands along with Colonial & DAR records per our ancestors. If primary source documents can not be recovered they may have been lost in war and the hand me down records stands per other resources.

ERROR: The Wheelers probably came with Rev. John Bulkeley and according to Savage, Bulkeley came over in the "Susan and Ellen" which landed at Cambridge in 1635.

References

1. Donald Lines Jacobus, (N.G. Parke, Woodstock, VT, 1960).

2. The genealogy of the Wheeler family : genealogy of some of the descendants of Thomas Wheeler of Concord, Massachusetts, 1639, and Fairfield, Connecticut, 1644 by Wheeler, William D. (William Downing)

3. The genealogy of the Wheeler family : genealogy of some of the descendants of Thomas Wheeler of Concord, Massachusetts, 1639, and Fairfield, Connecticut, 1644 by Wheeler, William D. (William Downing) page 3

4. http://www.smokykin.com/ged/f001/f22/a0012252.htm

5. http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr02/rr02_171.html#P41506

6. http://trees.wmgs.org/getperson.php?personID=I41503&tree=Schirado

7. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofwheel00whee/page/n39 Page 41

8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125699250/ephraim-wheeler

9. *Brainard, Homer W. "Thomas Wheeler and Some of His Descendants" The American Genealogist 12:5 Link at AmericanAncestors ($) Text: Ephraim, son of Thomas bpt Cranfield 19 Mar 1618/9' m. Ann___; freeman Concord 1639; died Fairfield 1670.*"The Father of the Concord Wheelers," in The American Genealogist, 14 (1937):1-4

10. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11881/1/0 Link at AmericanAncestors ($)]. Article has copy of Thomas, the father's, will.*Parke, Nathan Grier Parke, 1884-, and Donald Lines Jacobus.

11. The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley & His Wife Emma Arabella Bosworth. Woodstock, Vt: The Elm Tree Press, 1960. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062958764&view=1up&seq=96 pp 52-56

12. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari27bedf/page/1/mode/3uplink]</ref> The parish register of Cranfield 1600-1812 Bedfordshire County Record Office 1943

13. Raymond David Wheeler, The WheelerGenealogy, (1994)

John Insley Coddington, "Wheelers of Bedfordshire," in The American Genealogist, 28 (1952):259 Link at AmericanAncestors ($)</ref> <ref>"List of Freemen," in

TheNew England Historic and Genealogical Register, (1849), vol 3, p. 96</ref><ref>Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the governorand company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by orderof the legislature.Vol 1 1628-1641 (Boston: Press of William White,1853) [https://archive.org/details/recordsofgoverno01mass/page/374/mode/2up p. 375</ref>

GEDCOM Note

Cranfield, Bedfordshire Category: Wheeler Name Study Puritan Great Migration

Additional Data
Ephraim, son of Wheeler-195| Thomas Wheeler and Sayre-34| Rebecca _______ was baptised 16 March 1618/19 in Cranfield, Befordshire.<ref>The parish register of Cranfield 1600-1812 Bedfordshire County Record Office 1943 [https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari27bedf/page/1/mode/3uplink]</ref>
The last record of Ephraim Wheeler in England occurs in a land transaction: "In a deed dated 19 February 1637/8, Wheeler-1034|Timothy, Wheeler-1037|Joseph and Ephraim Wheeler, yeomen, of Cranfield, sold two and one half acres of 'Ferry Field' to Edward Odell of The Ash at Cranfield, for 12 pounds."<ref>Raymond David Wheeler, The WheelerGenealogy, (1994), 1:67-68.</ref><ref>John Insley Coddington, "Wheelers of Bedfordshire," in The American Genealogist, 28 (1952):259 Link at AmericanAncestors ($)</ref> On March 13 1638/9, within about a year of the land transaction, Ephraim became a freeman in Massachusetts. <ref>"List of Freemen," in TheNew England Historic and Genealogical Register, (1849), vol 3, p. 96</ref><ref>Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the governorand company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by orderof the legislature.Vol 1 1628-1641 (Boston: Press of William White,1853)

"Whereas your humble petitioners came into this country about 4 years agoe, and have since then lived at Concord, where we were forced to buy what now we have, or the most of it, the convenience of the town being before given out: your petitioners having been brought up, in husbandry, of children, finding the lands about the town very barren and the meadows very wet and unuseful, especially those we now have interest in; and knowing it is your desire the lands might be subdued, have taken pains to search out a place on the north west of our town, where we do desire some reasonable quantitie of land may be granted unto us, which we hope many in time be joined to the farms already laid out there to make a village; and so, desiring God to guide you inthis and all other your weighty occasions, we rest your humble petitioners. Dated Sept. 7, 1643. Signed Thomas Wheeler, Timothy Wheeler, Ephraim Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler, Jr., Roger Draper, Richard Lettin. "<ref>Latting, John J. "The Latting Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 2:8</ref>

The Colony granted this, requiring they improve the land within two years.<ref>Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: Vol II 1642-1649 p. 51</ref> However, Ephraim joined instead in the settling of Fairfield, Connecticut. Ephraim removed to Fairfield with the Rev. John Jones in 1644 and was granted a 3 acre home lot at the Pequonnock settlement near his brothers Thomas Wheeler (Sr) and Thomas Wheeler (Jr.). He became a large landowner and a leading citizen, and was one of the wealthiest citizens of Fairfield County. He made his will 22 Sep 1669, naming wife Ann; sons Isaac, Samuel, Timothy and Ephraim; daughters Mary, Ruth, Hannah, Rebeca, Judith, and Abigail; and cousin John Wheeler. His will was proved 1 Nov 1670; his inventory of 28 Oct 1670 was £1,026.<ref>A.G. Wheeler, Jr., The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America, (1914), p. 491 Internet Archive Link</ref> In the words of Savage: He was "bless. with plenty of est. and ch."<ref>James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, (1862), 4:496</ref> Children:<ref>Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, (1930), 1:665-66</ref>