General Notes

Archelaus Wheeler was born between 1740-1750 in Virginia, and diedin Adair County Kentucky in 1830.  He is known to have lived inBuckingham (birth to 1782) and Bedford (1782-1791) Counties, Virginia;then to Madison (1792-1800) County, Kentucky and in the portion of GreenCounty (1800-1830) which later became Adair county, KY.
     According to Vivagene Wheeler Handley in Wheeler Cousins, "theearliest record we have concerning Archelaus is his listing in the 1774Tithables of Buckingham Co, Va where he appeared as 'Archer Wheler',having one tithable, himself.  (Buckingham Co, VA Tithables, 1774, p. 1,list of George Hooper.)"
     In 1792 Madison Co, Ky Tax Lists show Eschelus Wheeler, with 1 whitemale above 21, 2 horses and 3 cattle.  No acreage is listed for him.  Hewas on the list of John Adams. Sorce: Ky Historical Society Register,Vol. 23, p. 124.  The will of Archaleus is recorded in will Book C, page545 of Adair County, Ky.  The will was not dated but was proven onJanuary 3, 1831.
     It is interesting, historically, that after the initial settlementswere established along the eastern coastal areas (Maryland, Virginia,North Carolina, etc) a full century passed before any significantmigration into the interior wilderness occurred.  Unlike the French, whohad easy access to the interior of North America via the St. LawrenceRiver and the Great Lakes, the English colonists far to the south neededa way to bypass the barrier of the Appalachian chain of mountains.  Sosignificant movement to the west had to wait for the trail-breakingexplorations of people like Daniel Boone.
     Families starting the trek west often made many stops along theway.  If they saw some available land they liked, they simply settledthere.  They might stay several years in an area before moving on, andquite often parents would remain at some stopping  point but theirrestless children moved on.  Several generations of  Wheelers lived inthe Virginia region before some decided to move further west toKentucky.  The Kentucky territory was remarkable in that no Indians livedthere.  Both the tribes to the north and to the south claimed the area astheir own hunting grounds, however, so arriving settlers had some "Indiantrouble."  Resentful bands of Indians living in Indiana, would oftenattack a
new settlement, then retreat to safety across the Ohio River.
     Getting to Kentucky was not easy. There were mountains in the way.The easier route was by water, going from Virginia to Maryland, then toabout Stoystown, Pa to Weirton, located in the northern panhandle of thecurrent West Virginia.  On flatboats or keelboats the went down the OhioRiver as far as Limestone (now called Maysville.)  Then some continued onthe Falls of the Ohio (the Louisville area).  By contrast, the overlandtrail to Kentucky was more difficult, but that did not stoop the flow ofmigrants.  (The population of Kentucky by 1790 was nearly 74,000.)  Therewere so many migrants, in fact, that before long there was established apathway, a relatively well-marked route, termed the Wilderness Trail.There were other trails, of course, but for most of its length theWilderness Trail was the "Highway to Kentucky."  the trail followedvalleys and streams along the eastern edge of the mountain ridges -knownto us as the Shenandoah, Allegheny, Blue Ridge, Great Smoky, andCumberland Mountains.  It was the discovery of the Cumberland Gap, at thesouthern part of the Appalachian Mountain range, that made the settlementof Kentucky and other areas to the south and west really practicable atthat time.  (The area is now honored as the Cumberland Gap NationalHistorical Park.)  The trek to Kentucky was some 500 to 700 milesdepending on the starting point.  Travel was by horseback or on foot, antthe trail was often quite rough, with mud, steep riverbanks and sometimesquicksand.  Many streams had to be forded, and the occasional floods madethe streams exceptionally treacherous (often a heavy rope needed to bestretched across to allow safe passage.)  Thick undergrowth made travelslow and dangerous; wild animals, poisonous snakes, prickly vines, hordesof mosquitoes, deer flies and "no-see-ums" - these all contributed to thehardships.  There was nothing but ground to sleep on.  Day began atsunrise, with some bread, beans and coffee.  At night, if the hunters hadbeen lucky, a stew was made for all.  As much as possible the healthywalked, leaving the horses and mules free to carry the few belongings,and carry the ill and wounded.  Boys were given the task of herding thecattle that were being taken along.
     The trip from central Virginia to central Kentucky could take two tosix months or more, depending on the severity of the troubles theyencountered.  The men had to be on constant alert for Indian attacks.  Itwas rare that a party made the entire trip without losing some of itspeople.  By the time they arrived, their provisions were almost exhaustedand so were they.  Many of the men were wounded or ill.  But they hastilymade shelters or set up tents, and began clearing some land so cropscould be planted as soon as possible.  In time they were able to buildlog cabins -- a trick they had learned from fellow immigrants fromScandinavia.

     I used three books as sources for the Wheelers.
" Trails West" A Genealogy of the Wheeler Family of Buckingham andCumberland County, Vis by Roy Wheeler, pgs 8 & 42, & 398-425 and says,
"The first known record found for Archelaus Wheeler is the tax list byGeorge Hooper in Buckingham Co, VA.  This is in Buckingham Co VaTithables, 10 June 1774 on page 1. There are also other Wheeler Tithableslisted for the same area in 1773-1774 lists.  As far as can bedetermined, there is only one group of Wheelers residing in BuckinghamCounty.  Such circumstances could indicate they were all related to theJohn Wheeler of the original 400 acre land patent."

"Our Wheeler Family" by Marshall R Wheeler, Ph.D. Prof Emeritus, Dept ofZoology, Univ of Texas, Austin, Texas says on pg 24;  "The families ofthe brothers, Archelaus and Benjamin Wheeler, were living near thewestern edge of Madison Co.....Archelaus was born abt 1740-1750 in VA; heand wife, Mildred were in Buckingham Co, Va in 1774, and in Bedford Co by1781.  About 1791 they moved to Madison Co, Va (which became Ky in 1792)and settled in Paint Lick Creek which formed a border of Madison andGarrard Co.  By 1796 he had moved to nearby Green Co (later called AdairCo.  He died in late 1830.  List of his known children, all of whomfollowed him into Ky: Archelaus, Jr; Nancy m Benj Dabney); John; Allen;Mildred (m John Wade); Charles; Benj (m Sarah Barlow); Samuel (m MalindaDavenport); William (m Mildred White); and Mary Polly (M James Grimes)"

and "Wheeler Cousins" compiled in 1984 by cousins, printed in Aurora, Mopg 9 states: "Putting together all the scraps of information we have beenable to derive thus far from existing records of Buckingham andCumberland Counties, we are led to believe that there was a relationshipbetween John Wheeler, Sarah Wheeler, Samuel Wheeler, Charles Wheeler,Benjamin Wheeler and Archelaus Wheeler.  They began appearing in theserecords circa 1763-1765, which coincides fairly well with the time atwhich the early Wheelers of Henrico County seem to have left thatcounty.  If this group of Wheelers found in the Buckingham-Cumberlandrecords was from Henrico, then Rowland Wheeler, known to have come fromthere, must also be a part of the family group.

All three of these books were found in the Kentucky Historical SocietyLibrary in Frankfort, Kentucky which Ed & I visited in the fall of 2000while taking the "snow-bird" trail to Florida-the land of confusingballots and people who feel they should be allowed to vote twice inelections.  (Just kidding)