Author: Fred M. Carrington
The first recorded patriarch of this family line was William Wheeler (ca 1701-?). He married Jemima Plumb (1705-1744) and they had six children. One of them was American Revolution Patriot William Wheeler (1737-1798). Patriot Wheeler was raised and died in the Bristol, CT area. On January 10, 1760, he married Mary Hotchkiss (1739-1810). They had six children, one of which was Loly, who married another American Revolution Patriot of mine, Riverius Carrington. Private Wheeler served in Capt. John Stevens' Company, in Col. Burrall's Battalion of Northern Army Forces raised in the State of Connecticut. Col. Burrall's Regiment was raised to serve in the Northern Department under General Schuyler from 1776-1777. It reinforced the troops besieging Quebec under Arnold and Wooster. After the retreat from that position in April, 1776, the Regiement was stationed at Ticonderoga and vicinity, where the men suffered severely from small pox. Two Companies of the Regiment, Capt. Downs and Capt. Stevens, were engaged in the affair of the Cedars, forty miles above Montreal, and nearly all made prisoners. The narrative of his service is taken from the book: The Record of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service During the War of the Revolution, 1775-1783, Connecticut Historical Society.