Monday, February 8, 2016

Robert F. Wheeler, Early Crittenden County Pioneer


Robert Franklin Wheeler born Dec. 19, 1865, died Aug. 13, 1966, the eighth child of Isaac and Elvira
Wheeler, was born on a farm five miles east of Marion in the house built by his father in 1852.

Uncle Bob, as he was known by his friends in the county, operated the farm after his father's death.  

After graduation from High School he entered college in Southern Indiana.  He was forced to drop out and return home to help the family when his father died in 1896.  He taught school for almost twelve years in the one-room county schools in Crittenden County.

Besides his farm, school teaching and banking experiences, he was also in the mercantile business.  He owned a retail grocery business from 1913 to 1917, but sold the business and went into the wholesale grocery market for fourteen years.  

He was president of the Farmers Bank and Trust Company for five years, and had been on the Board of Directors of the bank since 1918 .

After that he devoted his time to this two hundred acre stock farm.

He also served as a Sunday School teacher, lay leader, and elder in the Marion First Presbyterian Church.

He is buried in the James Wheeler Cemetery, which is located on Just-A-Mere-Road off of Hwy. 120, on the farm which he was born and raised.

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