Arminta "Mina" Wheeler, one of Crittenden County's Finest
Miss Wheeler, superintendent of Crittenden County Schools from 1894 to 1901, is pictured when she retired. The county was sad to see her leave the position, for she was a very popular superintendent and served her county well.
Crittenden Press of October 1893 tells her story.
Crittenden is one of the few counties
in the state that has broken away from the old idea that the offices
were created for the men and men only.
At the last November
election Miss Mina Wheeler defeated George W. Perry for School
Superintendent by one vote, after one of the most remarkable
campaigns in the history of the county.
Miss Wheeler is a native
of the county.
She educated herself and at the time of her election
was one of the best teachers in the county. Her friends who had
knowledge to this, solicited her to become a candidate, and she at
last consented, and created more real genuine enthusiasm among the
people than any other person who ever asked for office in the county.
She made a number of
public addresses of an educational nature and the people, learning
that she was thoroughly competent and was deeply interested in the
schools of her native county, rallied to her support.
At first there were
those who would not vote for a woman, but when they met Miss Wheeler
or heard her addresses their prejudice vanished, and when the
election came on and the vote was counted, and she had a majority of
two, her opponent contested the election.
After hearing the
contest the board gave her a certificate of election, and declared
that she was elected by one majority. She will enter upon the duties
of the office next Monday, and Crittenden would not exchange her
Superintendent for any other state.
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Miss Wheeler served her
4 year term 1894-1898 and was elected again for another 4 year term,
1898-1901. She won over John B. Paris by 21 votes. She was a very
popular Superintendent and served her county well. She retired at
the end of her term in January 1901.
Miss Armina Jane Wheeler
was the daughter of Isaac and Nancy Elvira Crider Wheeler. She was
born April 6, 1861.
After she retired in
January of 1901, she went to Indian Territory in Oklahoma where she
once again took up her previous occupation as a teacher.
Here she met her future
husband, Charles Gustafuson, who for several years had lived there
and been in the employ of one of the leading coal companies of the
West. They returned to Kentucky and were married at Cadiz, KY, on
Sept. 2, 1905.
After visiting family
and friends in Marion they returned to their home in Oklahoma.
An announcement in The
Crittenden Press, October 7, 1905, tells the tragic news – the
remains of Mrs. Mina Wheeler Gustafson, who died at Coal Gate, Indian
Territory, Oklahoma, last Saturday, arrived in the city Tuesday
morning and were taken to the home of her sorrowing relatives.
Her death came as a
complete shock to every one, a letter having come to her sister from
her after the telegram announcing the news of her death.
She was a woman of
superior character and possessed many womanly traits. She was
honored and loved by all who knew her. She was interred in the
Wheeler family cemetery. (this cemetery is located on
Just-A-Mere-Road).
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