Individual Details
Sgt Ephraim Wheeler
(Bef 16 Mar 1619 - Bef 18 Oct 1670)
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Ephraim Wheeler (bef. 1619 - bef. 1670)
Sgt.
Ephraim
Wheeler
Born before 16 Mar 1619
in Bourne End, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England
ANCESTORS Son of Thomas Wheeler and Rebecca (Unknown) WheelerBrother of Thomas Wheeler [half], Priscilla Wheeler [half], Ann (Wheeler) Halsey [half], John Wheeler [half], Deborah Wheeler [half], Elizabeth (Wheeler) Bread, Timothy Wheeler, Susanna Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler, Abiah Wheeler, Mary (Wheeler) Dodd and Thomas WheelerHusband of Ann (Unknown) Wheeler
— married before 1638 in Concord, MADESCENDANTS Father of Isaac Wheeler, Mary Wheeler, Ruth (Wheeler) Treadwell, Hannah (Wheeler) Smedley, Rebecca (Wheeler) Gregory, Timothy Wheeler, Abigail (Wheeler) Welles, Ephraim Wheeler, Samuel Wheeler and Judith (Wheeler) CoeDied before 28 Oct 1670
in Fairfield, Connecticut
Profile managers: Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message] and Jenn Howe [send private message]Profile last modified 11 Mar 2021 | Created 7 Feb 2011This page has been accessed 5,050 times.
Ephraim Wheeler migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: PGM
Biography
Ephraim, son of Thomas Wheeler and Rebecca _______ was baptised 16 March 1618/19 in Cranfield, Befordshire.[1]
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."[2][3]
On March 13 1638/9, within about a year of the land transaction, Ephraim became a freeman in Massachusetts. [4][5] This places a fairly tight window on when Ephraim emigrated to the New World.
The Unknown Date and Place of Ephraim Wheeler's Marriage
Clarence Almon Torrey says that Ephraim Wheeler and Ann _____ married "bef. 1638."[6] 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.[7] 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 when he 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 children is 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. This may or may not be true."[8]
Ephraim settled first in Concord, but soon discovered that the land they were able to acquire was unsuitable for farming.
"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 in this 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. "[9]
The Colony granted this, requiring they improve the land within two years.[10] 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.[11] In the words of Savage: He was "bless. with plenty of est. and ch."[12]
Children:[13]
Isaac b. 23 Dec 1642 at Concord,
Mary,
Ruth,
Hannah,
Rebecca,
Judith,
Abigail,
Samuel b. about 1658,
Timothy b. about 1660,
Ephraim.Sources
↑ The parish register of Cranfield 1600-1812 Bedfordshire County Record Office 1943 [1]
↑ Raymond David Wheeler, The Wheeler Genealogy, (1994), 1:67-68.
↑ John Insley Coddington, "Wheelers of Bedfordshire," in The American Genealogist, 28 (1952):259 [https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11864/259/0 Link at AmericanAncestors ($)]
↑ "List of Freemen," in The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, (1849), vol 3, p. 96
↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature.Vol 1 1628-1641 (Boston: Press of William White, 1853) [https://archive.org/details/recordsofgoverno01mass/page/374/mode/2up p. 375
↑ Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages before 1700
↑ John Farmer, A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, (1829), p. 311
↑ Edward Everett Hale, Jr., ed., Note-Book of Thomas Lechford, Esq., (1885), p. 305
↑ Latting, John J. "The Latting Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 2:8
↑ Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: Vol II 1642-1649 p. 51
↑ A.G. Wheeler, Jr., The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America, (1914), p. 491 Internet Archive Link
↑ James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, (1862), 4:496
↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, (1930), 1:665-66
See also:
Brainard, Homer W. "Thomas Wheeler and Some of His Descendants" The American Genealogist 12:5 Link at AmericanAncestors ($) 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 Link at AmericanAncestors ($). Article has copy of Thomas, the father's, will.
Parke, Nathan Grier Parke, 1884-, and Donald Lines Jacobus. 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
Ephraim Wheeler (bef. 1619 - bef. 1670)
Sgt.
Ephraim
Wheeler
Born before 16 Mar 1619
in Bourne End, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England
ANCESTORS Son of Thomas Wheeler and Rebecca (Unknown) WheelerBrother of Thomas Wheeler [half], Priscilla Wheeler [half], Ann (Wheeler) Halsey [half], John Wheeler [half], Deborah Wheeler [half], Elizabeth (Wheeler) Bread, Timothy Wheeler, Susanna Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler, Abiah Wheeler, Mary (Wheeler) Dodd and Thomas WheelerHusband of Ann (Unknown) Wheeler
— married before 1638 in Concord, MADESCENDANTS Father of Isaac Wheeler, Mary Wheeler, Ruth (Wheeler) Treadwell, Hannah (Wheeler) Smedley, Rebecca (Wheeler) Gregory, Timothy Wheeler, Abigail (Wheeler) Welles, Ephraim Wheeler, Samuel Wheeler and Judith (Wheeler) CoeDied before 28 Oct 1670
in Fairfield, Connecticut
Profile managers: Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message] and Jenn Howe [send private message]Profile last modified 11 Mar 2021 | Created 7 Feb 2011This page has been accessed 5,050 times.
Ephraim Wheeler migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: PGM
Biography
Ephraim, son of Thomas Wheeler and Rebecca _______ was baptised 16 March 1618/19 in Cranfield, Befordshire.[1]
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."[2][3]
On March 13 1638/9, within about a year of the land transaction, Ephraim became a freeman in Massachusetts. [4][5] This places a fairly tight window on when Ephraim emigrated to the New World.
The Unknown Date and Place of Ephraim Wheeler's Marriage
Clarence Almon Torrey says that Ephraim Wheeler and Ann _____ married "bef. 1638."[6] 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.[7] 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 when he 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 children is 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. This may or may not be true."[8]
Ephraim settled first in Concord, but soon discovered that the land they were able to acquire was unsuitable for farming.
"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 in this 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. "[9]
The Colony granted this, requiring they improve the land within two years.[10] 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.[11] In the words of Savage: He was "bless. with plenty of est. and ch."[12]
Children:[13]
Isaac b. 23 Dec 1642 at Concord,
Mary,
Ruth,
Hannah,
Rebecca,
Judith,
Abigail,
Samuel b. about 1658,
Timothy b. about 1660,
Ephraim.Sources
↑ The parish register of Cranfield 1600-1812 Bedfordshire County Record Office 1943 [1]
↑ Raymond David Wheeler, The Wheeler Genealogy, (1994), 1:67-68.
↑ John Insley Coddington, "Wheelers of Bedfordshire," in The American Genealogist, 28 (1952):259 [https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11864/259/0 Link at AmericanAncestors ($)]
↑ "List of Freemen," in The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, (1849), vol 3, p. 96
↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature.Vol 1 1628-1641 (Boston: Press of William White, 1853) [https://archive.org/details/recordsofgoverno01mass/page/374/mode/2up p. 375
↑ Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages before 1700
↑ John Farmer, A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, (1829), p. 311
↑ Edward Everett Hale, Jr., ed., Note-Book of Thomas Lechford, Esq., (1885), p. 305
↑ Latting, John J. "The Latting Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 2:8
↑ Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: Vol II 1642-1649 p. 51
↑ A.G. Wheeler, Jr., The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America, (1914), p. 491 Internet Archive Link
↑ James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, (1862), 4:496
↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, (1930), 1:665-66
See also:
Brainard, Homer W. "Thomas Wheeler and Some of His Descendants" The American Genealogist 12:5 Link at AmericanAncestors ($) Text: Ephraim, son of Thomas bpt Cranfield 19 Mar 1618/9' m. Ann___; freeman Concord 1639; died Fairfield 1670.
"The Father of the Concord Wheelers," in The American Genealogist, 14 (1937):1-4 Link at AmericanAncestors ($). Article has copy of Thomas, the father's, will.
Parke, Nathan Grier Parke, 1884-, and Donald Lines Jacobus. 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
Events
| Birth | Bef 16 Mar 1619 | Bourne End, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England | |||
| Death | Bef 18 Oct 1670 | Fairfield, River, CT, British America | |||
| Marriage | Ann Unknown |
Families
| Spouse | Ann Unknown ( - ) |
| Child | Hannah Wheeler (1648 - 1690) |
| Father | Thomas Wheeler (1561 - 1635) |
| Mother | Unknown Unknown ( - ) |