Thomas Wheeler

• General Notes
  • Thomas appeared as a resident of Lynn, MA, in 1635, when he was elected Constable there, and later held other offical positions. In 1642 he was admitted to the privilege of a freeman of the Commonwealth and purchased large tracts of land, including a mill site, upon which he built and poerated a saw and grist mill. During his residence in Lynn he married Mary, whose maiden name is not known. They were married in 1645 and prior to 1667 he disposed of his holdings in Lynn and removed to Stonington, CT. He was made freeman of CT in 1669 and represented Stonington in the General Court in 1673. In 1674 he was one of the nine men who organized the First congresational Church, and his wife Mary was one of the partakers of the first communion service. They built their home in North Stonington, where Col. James F. Brown resided in 1900, and they lived and died there. His will was burned when the traitor Arnold burned the city of New London in 1781.
    He died March 6, 1686, aged 84 years, and he and his wife are buried in the old Whitehall burial place on the east bank of the Mystic River. He served in King Philip's War and was Captain of a Company of Horse in 1669
    This "gallant and intrepid" Indian fighter was among the most interesting and important characters of our colonial period and was preeminent among the few pioneers through whose restless daring the frontiers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were so persistently extended.
    
    Born in England, the date of his arrival and the ship he came on is not known. Several historians claim that he was a resident of Concord as early as 1640, and even before this date he was in this country trading among the Indians. The first written record referring to him is on 18 May 1642, when he was made a freeman in Concord.
    
    The first recorded date of his trading with the Indians is on 1 July 1657 when he, with three others, bought from the Colony the privilege of trading with the Indians. The trading operations were carried out principally along the Merrimack River at a point that later became Nashua, New Hampshire. He owned a farm near there with his son Lt. Joseph. He lived there with his son a portion of the time, but never gave up his official position or residence in Concord. On 12 Oct 1669 he was made Lieutenant of a Horse Company formed in Concord, and in 1671 he was promoted to Captain.
    
    He was one of the original proprietors of the Ockoocangansett Plantation, the land purchased from the Indians which later became part of Marlborough, Massachusetts.
    
    His high standing among the colonists is shown by his part in the direction of the welfare of the various communities in which he dwelt. On several occasions being one of those to take title from the Indians, and to hold in trust, lands intended for the establishment of new colonies.
    
    His greatest historical prominence was reached during King Philip's War in which he took a very active part, receiving wounds so severe in the ambush of Quaboag, that he died the following year. From his narrative of that encounter:
    
    "...Myself being gone up part of the hill without any hurt, and perceiving some of my men to be fallen by the enemies shot, I wheeled about upon the Indians, not calling on my men who were left to accompany me, which they in all probability would have done if they had known of my return upon the enemy. They fired violently out of the swamp, and from behind the bushes on the hillside wounded me sorely, and shot my horse under me, so that he faultering and falling, I was forced to leave him, divers of the Indians being then but a few rods distant from me. My son Thomas Wheeler flying with the rest of the company, missed me amongst them, and fearing that I was either slain or much endangered, returned towards the swamp again, though he had then received a dangerous wound in the loins, where he saw me in the danger aforesaid. Whereupon he endeavored to rescue me, shewing himself therein a loving and dutiful son, he adventuring himself into great peril of his life to help me in that distress, there being many of the enemies about me, my son set me on his own horse, and so escaped a while on foot himself, until he caught an horse whose rider was slain, on which he mounted, and so through God's great mercy we both escaped. But in this attempt for my deliverance he received another dangerous wound by their shot in his left arm..."
    This "gallant and intrepid" Indian fighter was among the most interesting and important characters of our colonial period and was preeminent among the few pioneers through whose restless daring the frontiers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were so persistently extended.
    
    Born in England, the date of his arrival and the ship he came on is not known. Several historians claim that he was a resident of Concord as early as 1640, and even before this date he was in this country trading among the Indians. The first written record referring to him is on 18 May 1642, when he was made a freeman in Concord.
    
    The first recorded date of his trading with the Indians is on 1 July 1657 when he, with three others, bought from the Colony the privilege of trading with the Indians. The trading operations were carried out principally along the Merrimack River at a point that later became Nashua, New Hampshire. He owned a farm near there with his son Lt. Joseph. He lived there with his son a portion of the time, but never gave up his official position or residence in Concord. On 12 Oct 1669 he was made Lieutenant of a Horse Company formed in Concord, and in 1671 he was promoted to Captain.
    
    He was one of the original proprietors of the Ockoocangansett Plantation, the land purchased from the Indians which later became part of Marlborough, Massachusetts.
    
    His high standing among the colonists is shown by his part in the direction of the welfare of the various communities in which he dwelt. On several occasions being one of those to take title from the Indians, and to hold in trust, lands intended for the establishment of new colonies.
    
    His greatest historical prominence was reached during King Philip's War in which he took a very active part, receiving wounds so severe in the ambush of Quaboag, that he died the following year. From his narrative of that encounter:
    
    "...Myself being gone up part of the hill without any hurt, and perceiving some of my men to be fallen by the enemies shot, I wheeled about upon the Indians, not calling on my men who were left to accompany me, which they in all probability would have done if they had known of my return upon the enemy. They fired violently out of the swamp, and from behind the bushes on the hillside wounded me sorely, and shot my horse under me, so that he faultering and falling, I was forced to leave him, divers of the Indians being then but a few rods distant from me. My son Thomas Wheeler flying with the rest of the company, missed me amongst them, and fearing that I was either slain or much endangered, returned towards the swamp again, though he had then received a dangerous wound in the loins, where he saw me in the danger aforesaid. Whereupon he endeavored to rescue me, shewing himself therein a loving and dutiful son, he adventuring himself into great peril of his life to help me in that distress, there being many of the enemies about me, my son set me on his own horse, and so escaped a while on foot himself, until he caught an horse whose rider was slain, on which he mounted, and so through God's great mercy we both escaped. But in this attempt for my deliverance he received another dangerous wound by their shot in his left arm..."