Birth: 4 MAR 1733(8?)
Death: 27 Dec 1803, Mendon, Worcester Co, MA
Spouse: Benjamin Wheelock
Marriage: 4 Jun 1752, Grafton, Worcester, MA
Notes:
Hannah Chapin was the daughter of Bejamin Chapin and Sarah French of Alstead, NH.
HOME INDEXBirth: 1786
Death: 5 Feb 1866
Burial: Laurel Glen Cemetery, Cuttingsville, Rutland Co, VT
Spouse: Thankful Harrington
Marriage: 14 Jan 1821, Concord, Middlesex, MA
Spouse: Joseph Barber Wheelock
Marriage: 8 Dec 1869
Notes:
Melissa was from North Brookfield, MA.
HOME INDEXBirth: 4 Apr 1910
Death: 11 Jul 1972
Father: Walter Stoddard
Mother: Blanche Lavinia Wheelock
Spouse: Harold Clinton Thurston
Marriage: 1 Jun 1929, Northfield, VT
Father: Harry Wheelock
Mother: Judith Gillett
Spouse: Fanny Dodge
Marriage: DATE UNKNOWN
Notes:
Children (Kate, Agnes, and Frances) taken from "The Wheelock Family in America, 1637-1969", by Walter T. Wheelock, 1969.
HOME INDEXBirth: 19 Apr 1833, Philadelphia, NY
Death: 2 Aug 1909, Munro Township, MI
Burial: Munro Cemetery, Levering, MI
Father: Artemas Wheelock
Mother: Rachel Renolds
Spouse: Jane Elizabeth Fikes
Marriage: 13 Mar 1853, Evens Mills, Jefferson Co, NY
Notes:
Daniel Wheelock was among the earliest New Yorkers to follow James Strang and his religious sect to Beaver Island, Michigan. James Strang had been excommunicated from the Mormon Church for attempting to illicitly gain control of it. He had forged a letter from the recently deceased founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, stating that he, James Strang, was to be the next president of the church. Brigham Young and other church leaders saw through this deceipt, leading to Strangs excoummincation. But others followed Strang to the Beaver Island Colony. The sect was known as the "Strangites", and James Strang, the leader, was coronated "king" in 1850. Daniel later left the group after testifying against Strang in a federal deposition regarding counterfeiting. He returned to New York, where he married Jane Fikes, then returned to Michigan to live near his brother Benjamin, in Allegan County. He then went back to NY for "civil war defense", and returned finally to Cheboygan County, Michigan, his final resting place.1
====================================================
The Story of Daniel S. Wheelock and the Strangites, by Jan Wheelock, 1998
"In 1848, two Mormon families named Chessman and Wheelock located in Cheboygan. The former had five wives, while the latter was too poor to keep but one...Wheelock located and improved a farm in Cheboygan County and is now a well-to-do farmer." (1873) [1]
The first Wheelocks of this line in northern Michigan were brothers, Lorenzo Don and Daniel S., sons of Artemas of New York. Lorenzo was the older brother, a married man, probably enticed to the Beaver Island Mormon settlement by the promise of land. Each adult Mormon male was granted a parcel of land in the early development of the Mormon congregation under the leadership of James Strang. Whether Lorenzo heard the "word" in New York, the place of his birth, or in Ohio where he may have married, is not clear. But it is clear that he resided among the early Mormons on Beaver Island, about 1848. ref. [2]
Daniel S. Wheelock accompanied his brother, and was listed as one of the Mormons on the island at the time of the "coronation" of King James Strang. However, Daniel was employed by a non-Mormon, Mr. Peter McKinley, and it appears that Daniel's loyalty was pulled between his employer and the church. Much friction existed between the Mormons and the Gentiles, with thievery, assault, defamation and conspiracy on both sides. Daniel was not very old, only 17 in 1850, and it must have been very difficult for him to be in the middle of the two sides. One tale recalled by a woman who had been a child on Beaver Island at the time, tells of Daniel receiving a severe whipping, a probable result of that conflict (if the story is true--some historians doubt its accuracy).
"Mr. Peter McKinley at the point was now suffering considerable losses by the Mormons taking his cattle and butchering them, also other goods which they were taking. A young man, or boy, Wheelock by name, told or gave information about the butchering of the cattle. He being a Mormon boy employed by Mr. McKinley, had to suffer the penalty by receiving fifty stripes with the "blue beaches," that being one kind of their punishments. We had never heard before of the Mormons doing anything of this kind to their people. The boy had told the truth and had to suffer the cruel whipping." [3]
On April 30, 1851, President Millard Fillmore authorized legal action against the Mormons of Beaver Island. The U.S. steamer ship Michigan was sent to Beaver Island about May 23 to arrest James Strang on charges of thievery, trespassing, mail obstruction and counterfeiting. Depositions were taken for two days, and Daniel was one of those witnesses making a deposition on June 18, 1851.
"Only one person gave testimony to support the allegation that Strang and two other Mormons had counterfeited coin of the United States. The man, a former Mormon named Daniel S. Wheelock, said Strang asked him to pass counterfeit money of October 9, 1850, the morning after a George Adams theatrical production, Pizarro, in the tabernacle. Strang's wife, Mary, who suddenly had been taken ill, had remained there overnight, and the next morning, Wheelock returned to the tabernacle to get an umbrella and saw Strang there. "He wanted men to go off on a consecrating expedition and a-passing counterfeit money," Wheelock said in his deposition. "Showed me three half dollars, and said he would make more as soon as he could get materials. They were American half dollars. Only had one in my hand. He told me they were bad." Wheelock said Strang never said anything in his presence about counterfeiting at any other time, and he said that he had never seen tools for manufacturing counterfeit coins in Strang's possession. Several Mormons testified that they had been at the tabernacle that morning but had heard no conversation between Wheelock and Strang. They said Strang was busy attending to his wife and that everyone was told to be silent." [4]
It is no surprise that the Mormons declared Daniel an apostate (September 16, 1851) and he left Beaver Island to return home to Philadelphia, Jefferson Co, New York. [5] Mr. McKinley left too, moving to Cheboygan in October 1851. Lorenzo Wheelock followed, settling a farm in Cheboygan County. James Strang was not convicted of any wrong-doing in the federal trial, but was assasinated in 1856, after which the Strangite Mormon sect was pretty much dissolved. Daniel returned to Michigan and was in Allegan County for some time before the Civil War, then enrolled in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery in New York on August 4, 1862. After the war, Daniel returned to the Cheboygan County area to farm and raise his family. Many Wheelock descendants remain in the area.
Written by Jan Wheelock, a descendent of Daniel S. Wheelock, 1998.
Notes and References
[1] "The Centennial History of Cheboygan County", published by Historical Society of Cheboygan County, Inc., pg. 86, (from original document, "History of Cheboygan and Mackinac Counties", published 1873)
[2] "The King Strang Story", by Doyle Fitzpatrick, publ. National Heritate, Lansing, 1970
[3] "A Child of the Sea - Life Among the Mormons", Elizabeth Whitney Williams, 1905
[4] "King of Beaver Island", by Roger VanNoord, publ University of Illinois Press, 1988
[5] "A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". City of James, Beaver Island, State of Michigan, from 1848 to 1855
[6] Other sources include census, family history, correspondence, additional readings on the Strangite Mormon sect.
Sources:
Birth: 27 Aug 1849
Father: Thomas Prentice Wheelock
Mother: Mary Adams Allen
Spouse: Alfred Fairbanks
Marriage: 5 Aug 1884, Medford, Middlesex Co, MA
Notes:
Her birth is recorded in Worcester 27 Aug 1849, vol 36, pg 414 in Mass Archives, no first name given.
HOME INDEXBirth: about 1863
Father: Lorenzo Don Wheelock
Mother: Ruth C. Hazzard