JAMES EDWARD WELLS was born at Dingmans, Pa., in 1834, and died suddenly at his home in Goshen, May 6, 1907. He married Miss Francis E., daughter of William S. and Sarah T. (Wood) Conkling. He removed from the farm to the village of Goshen in 1901, and lived a retired life until his death. For years he was a director and superintendent of grounds of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and was one of the first members of the Goshen Grange. He was agent in New York and Jersey City for the Orange County Farmers' Milk Company, a director of the Milk Exchange, and a partner in the firm of Wells & Stage, milk commission merchants, with offices in New York. In religion he was a Presbyterian and in politics a republican. In 1894 he was elected supervisor of Goshen, and was afterward re-elected twelve times, which shows the confidence which his townsmen reposed in him. He was the descendant of William Wells, who emigrated to America in 1635, whose father was the Rev. William Wells, rector of St. Peter's Church at Norwich, England. His widow and two children survive him. The son is William A. Wells, of the Goshen National Bank, and the daughter Mrs. Cornelius Christie, of Watertown, N. Y. James Edward's father, Alfred, was a native of Goshen, and his mother, Lydia W. Nyce, was a Pennsylvanian.
FREDERICK WILLIAM WENZEL, assistant postmaster, Newburgh, N. Y., is a son of George C. and Elizabeth A. Wenzel, and was born in Newburgh, September 28, 1871. In 1890 he graduated with honors from the academy; and in 1895 succeeded his father in the manufacture of plain and fancy boxes. He was appointed to his present position March 1, 1900. Mr. Wenzel was master of Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and A. M., in 1899 and 1900; a trustee of Highland Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.; member of Ringgold Hose Company No. 1; a member of St. George's Church, and the Alumni of Newburgh Free Academy.
COLONEL CHARLES H. WEYGANT, ex-mayor of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in Cornwall, July 8, 1839, and educated at Ashland and Claverack Collegiate Institutes. In 1862 he was appointed senior captain of the 124th Regiment, N. Y. S. V., commanding Company A. He took active part in every general engagement of the Army of the Potomac. At the Battle of Gettysburg his superior officers were killed, leaving the regiment in command of Captain Weygant. He was shortly after commissioned major and July 2, 1863, was made lieutenant-colonel. In 1870 Colonel Weygant was elected sheriff of Orange County, and from 1878 to 1880 he served as mayor of the city of Newburgh. In 1886, in company with Henry T. McCoun, he purchased and developed the property now known as Washington Heights, Newburgh. He is trustee of Trinity M. E. Church; ex-commander of Ellis Post, G. A. R., and the author of the "History of the 124th Regiment, N. Y. S. V." Colonel Weygant married Miss Charlotte Sackett in 1868 and they have one daughter.
FRANK E. WEYGANT, formerly of the firm of R. F. Weygant's Sons, carriage manufacturers at Central Valley, N. Y., is a descendant of one of Orange County's old and prominent families. His father, Robert Francis Weygant, was the youngest child of Smith and Charity (Lamoreaux) Weygant. The original progenitor of the family in America was Michael, son of Rev. George Herman Weigand, a Lutheran minister of the Rhine Palatinate, who received a grant of land in 1708 from Queen Anne embraced in the territory now covered by the city of Newburgh. In 1745 Tobias, son of Michael, bought an extensive tract of land near the present village of Highland Mills. A number of his descendants made their homes in this locality.
Robert F. Weygant, who died September 3, 1902, established the carriage factory at Central Valley in 1867. This is now conducted by his sons, Fred and William. Frank E. Weygant is at present engaged in the automobile business at Ridgewood, N. J.
ANNIAS R. WHEELER was born August 31, 1846, in Craigville, town of Blooming Grove, and after his school education worked five years as a cotton spinner, then at farming, and then for the Erie Railroad. He tried to enlist six times as a soldier for the Civil War, the first time in 1861, and five times was rejected on account of his small size and light weight, but was finally mustered in August 22, 1864, in Company C, 56th N. Y. Infantry, when his weight was only ninety pounds. He served until wounded on December 29, 1864, at the crossing of the Tillafinny River, and was discharged in New York City, May 30, 1865. He then became a farmer until 1881, then was superintendent of the Middletown Ice Company five years, in 1887 was appointed a U. S. mail-carrier, and as such served the Government seven years, then was a traveling salesman two years, then commissioner of highways for the town of Wallkill two years, and has since been in the insurance and brokerage business and a pension attorney in Middletown. He married Miss Hanna Oldfield, of Amity, town of Warwick, May 30, 1869, and they have had twelve children, only two boys and three girls surviving—Joel B., president of the common council of Middletown; Harrison W., driver for the Middletown Phoenix Engine Company No. 4; Melissa, wife of D. H. Jones, of Rutherford, N. Y.; Emma E., wife of John E. T. Clegborn, of Wellsburg, N. Y.; and Francis E., who lives with Joel B. Mr. Wheeler's father William was born in 1815 in New York City, and was a contractor. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Braffett, was born in 1827, and died in 1896.
ISAAC V. WHEELER—The Wheeler family is of English lineage, and originally embraced eleven brothers and three sisters, all of whom were early residents of Long Island, and at a later period removed to Orange County and made purchases of land. One of these brothers, Joel by name, is the progenitor of the branch of the family from which Isaac V. is descended. Isaac V. Wheeler was a native of Warwick, and was born March 4, 1823. He was the son of Colonel William F. and Juliet (Van Duzer) Wheeler, who were the parents of seven children. On the death of his father he became the possessor of the ancestral estate. He married June 21, 1853, Miss Phoebe, daughter of Jesse Bull. He was the father of six children, Juliet V.; Caroline B.; William F.; Jesse C., who died October 7, 1881; Anna M., married William A. Hayward and died September 16, 1899 (two children survive her, Alice W. and William H.); Frank A. (died in infancy); and Alice. In politics Mr. Wheeler was a republican, having descended from whig ancestry. He was one of the original incorporators of the Warwick Valley Farmers' Milk Association, and of the Warwick Savings Bank. His death occurred April 9, 1876, in the fifty-third year of his age.
Shortly after the marriage of her son William F., Mrs. Wheeler with her four daughters left the farm and moved to the home in Warwick village, now known as "The Columns," which she purchased in 1883, and at her death bequeathed to her daughters, Juliet V. and Caroline B. Mrs. Wheeler died January 21, 1904, in the seventy-sixth year of her age. She was a devoted member of the Reformed Church. Her ancestor on the maternal side, Cornelius Board, came from Sussex, England, in 1730; on her father's side she was a descendant of the historic William Bull and Sarah Wells.
WILLIAM F. WHEELER was born May 22, 1859. He is the son of Isaac V. and Phebe (Bull) Wheeler. He married May 22, 1882, Miss Tillie A. Wisner, of Chester, Orange County, N. Y., and is the father of six children, all of whom are living: William F. Wheeler, Jr., Charles V., Jesse I., Mary A., Roe W., and Ralph. The loss of his father at the age of sixteen necessitated his leaving school at an early age and assuming the responsibilities of the farm, on which he now resides. Mr. Wheeler is an ardent republican. Five generations have lived upon the estate now owned by him, it having been in the name for over one hundred years. The property, consisting of two hundred and eighty-five acres, is at present known as Peach Grove Farm. The house in which he and his family reside was built by Colonel William F. Wheeler in 1850. The barn on this place was raised on the Fourth of July, 1776, and was built by Samuel Ketchum, a Revolutionary soldier, who took part in the battle of White Plains.
EDWARD WHITEHEAD, president of the Walden Knife Company, was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, a son of John and Sarah (Hill) Whitehead. His parents brought him to America when a child and at the age of fifteen years he learned the cutlery trade.