Person Page - 308

       Capt. Timothy/1 Wheeler was baptised 28 Dec 1604 at Cranfield, Bedfordshire.¹ Named executor in his father Thomas's will, 7 Dec 1627, as follows: And also my will is that Timothie wheler my sonne shall have half of my messuage Closes + landes & medowes at Borne end aforeaid & half the benifitt & pfitt thereof for Thre yeares next after my decease (for an ease or helpe towards the payment of my debts) All the rest of my goods & Cattelles as well Reales as psonales, unbequeathed, I give & bequeath to the said Timothie my sonne whom I make my full & sole executor of this my last will and testament.²
     He married (1), 30 Apr 1632 at Cranfield, Susanna Knight of Cranfield, daughter of John Knight, with whom he had a daughter.³ There he was named in the will, 10 Apr 1637, of his sister Abiah.¹ Susanna probably died in England prior to Timothy's emigration to New England about 1639, having borne one daughter.³
     "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. The land was located between that late of Thomas Reade on the north and that of William Odell on the south…They probably left Cranfield the next year for Timothy and Joseph Wheeler were made freemen in Massachusetts on 13 May 1640…."³ According to Shattuck, Timothy and two brothers arrived at Concord, MA in 1639, "and all were heads of families."⁴ Bond calls Timothy "an early proprietor of Watertown."⁵
     He married (2), by 1640, Jane (–?–), with whom he had a daughter.^5,3 She died at Concord 12 Feb 1642/43.⁶ Timothy, Thomas and Ephraim Wheeler were among those who petitioned the General Court, 7 Sep 1643, seeking additional land near Concord:
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 may 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.^7,3 He signed another petition at Concord, this time seeking tax relief, 14 May 1645.⁸
     Appointed, 6 May 1646, ensign in the Concord company of Captain Simon Willard, "who was promoted from lieutenant that same day."³ He was still ensign at the time of the town's division into districts, 2 Jan 1654.⁹ Five days after the division was signed into law he was appointed an overseer of the East Quarter, where he resided next to his future father-in-law, Capt. Thomas Brooks: The east quarter by there familyes, are from Henry Farweles all eastwards with Thomas Brooke, Ensign Wheeler, Robert Meriam, Georg Meriam, John Adames, Richard Rice.⁹
     He married (3), perhaps circa 1655 at Concord (Torrey, though the record is not found), Mary/2a Brooks, daughter of Capt. Thomas/1a Brooks and Grace/1 Cunliffe, with whom he had 3 daughters.^10,11
     Over a period of years, Timothy Wheeler bought and sold land in a number of towns. "Sept. 1, 1657, for £140, he bought the house, and several lots of land belonging to the estate of Dr. Richard Palgrave, of Charlestown," says Bond.⁵ Timothy and George Wheeler together "owned a large amount of land in the center of [Concord]," says Tolman.¹² In 1660 he bought, with his father-in-law Thomas Brooks, 400 acres at Medford including a house and artifacts, of Dea. Edward Collins, for £404 sterling. The property they acquired, in which Timothy Wheeler had a one-third interest, was part of the original estate (which Collins had bought) of Matthew Cradock, wealthy London merchant, principal of the London Company, financier of the plantation at Medford, and the man behind the 1630 Winthrop Fleet. The Medford property, which passed to Timothy's brother-in-law Caleb Brooks, remained in the Brooks family for nearly 300 years. Today the 82.5 acres remaining, known as the Brooks Estate, is held in trust by the City of Medford.^5,13
     Deputy to the General Court, 1663–66, 1668, 1669, 1671, 1672.^14,3 Selectman, 1671–73.¹⁴
     "On 23 May 1666, Captain Timothy Wheeler was one of those signing the report of a committee which had reviewed Major General John Leverett's preparations for the defense of Boston.³ On that same day he was appointed together with Mr. Edward Collins and Captain Richard Beers to resolve a boundary dispute between Billerica and Woburn. They were also tasked to lay out 500 acres in response to a petition from Francis and John Wyman. On 10 Oct 1666, the committee reported the land laid out and the boundaries set. The General Court deemed this acceptable, but the matter did not rest. Later, the committee, without Edward Collins, but otherwise augmented, recommended that the Wymans contribute equally to the support of both Billerica and Woburn."³ Commissioner of Concord (with Thomas Brooks and Robert Merriam), 28 Mar 1667.¹⁵
     Timothy's father-in-law Thomas Brooks died 21 May 1667. Thomas's male heirs—three sons and son-in-law Timothy—presented the estate inventory 16 June 1667 and the following day signed an agreement for division of the estate.^16,11 Timothy sold, 1672 (recorded 1682), a house and 1 acre 8 poles at Charlestown to Thomas Crosswell.¹⁷
     "At the height of King Philip's War, just after his brother Captain Thomas Wheeler was wounded, Timothy on 13 Oct 1675 was tasked by the General Court: Whereas in Concord & the towns adjacent there is a necessity of a gunsmith to be resident there, for the fixing up of armes, from tyme to tyme, during this warr, it is hereby ordered, that Capt Timothy Wheeler be hereby impowered to impress an able gunsmith, who is to repaire to Concord, who shall carefully and diligently attend that service.³"
     1684, resident at Concord in the house of Peter Bulkeley. "This was betw. the houses of Daniel Shattuck, Esq. and Capt. John Stacy," says Shattuck.¹⁸ That same year he bought 1,000 acres for the town from the Indians. The deed he negotiated represented one of several land purchases by the town from the Indians which were, for the most part, set off 75 years later into the town of Acton.¹⁹
     "Timothy Wheeler's will of 1 Mar 1686/7 (Anno qe Regni Jacobi Secundi tertio or in the third year of the reign of James II) was proved 7 Sep 1687. He named wife Mary, lands at Charlestown and at Town End; daughter Rebecca Minot, homestead and lands at Concord; grandchildren Sarah Jones, lands at Concord, Timothy Prout and Joseph Prout, house and land at Boston; cousins [sic; they were nephews and niece] Joshua Wheeler, Samuel Wheeler, and his sister Susanna Shipley [children of Timothy's sister Susanna by her husband Obadiah Wheeler], Joseph, Ephraim, and Deliverance, children of his brother Thomas, lands at Concord; Ephraim and Joseph, youngest sons of his nephew Sergeant Thomas Wheeler, lands at Concord. He left over three acres to be used in support of Concord's school and 40 acres of woodland in the east quarter to help keep Concord's ministry. Mr. James Minot, brother Caleb Brooks, and nephew Sergeant Wheeler were named to see the will duly performed. Witnesses were Joseph Estabrook, James and Humphrey Barrett."^20,3
     Timothy Wheeler died at Concord 30 Jul 1687, aged 86, according to his gravestone, but (correctly) age 82 according to his will.^21,3 Buried in the Hill Burying Ground.²¹ Says Shattuck, "Captain Wheeler also bequeathed to the town 40 acres of woodland, 'to be improved from time to time for the use and benefit of the ministers of the said town.' This was the present ministerial lot; and the people were long accustomed to hold a bee, when a sufficient quantity of wood for the minister's annual consumption was drawn from this lot to his door."^5,22