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sleighs. He married for his first wife
Phoebe De Forest, by whom he had two
children: Joseph and Mary. His second
wife was Sarah De Forest, of the same
family, by whom he had four children
Nathaniel, of whom further; George,
Jane and Belinda. The De Forests were
descendants of a Huguenot family of
Avesnes, France, some of whose numbers
fled to Leyden, Holland, to escape religious
persecution. One of these, named
Isaac De Forest, son of Jesse and Marie
(DeCloux) De Forest, emigrated from
Leyden to New Amsterdam in 1636, and
there married Sarah Du Trieux. One of
their sons, David De Forest, settled in
Stratford, and was the ancestor of the
mother of Nathaniel Wheeler.
(VII) Nathaniel Wheeler, son of David
and Sarah (De Forest) Wheeler, attended
the schools of his native place, and, as
often related by his father, took his full
share of whatever work was to be done
on the farm or in the shop. It was
this helpfulness to others that prevailed
throughout his life, and wherever he was
there were always numberless examples
of those to whose welfare he contributed.
He was especially solicitous for the
welfare of those associated with him.
His associates and employees shared
generously in the fruits of his success.
He was early taught, by one skilled in the
work, the elaborate painting then in vogue
for vehicles, especially sleighs. This
enabled him in later years to devise methods
for finishing woods, which changed
the processes in this work throughout the
country, and in other countries as well,
and to conduct experiments, leading to
the most successful results in finishing
the products of the Fairfield Rubber
Works. On coming of age he took entire
charge of the business of the shop, his
father retiring to the farm. A few years lat-
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
83
er he learned die-sinking, and took up the
manufacture of various small metallic articles,
largely buckles and slides, and by
substituting machinery for hand labor
greatly reduced the cost of production. He
was now well equipped with a knowledge
of metals, which qualified him to direct
work with marked success in all these
branches. In 1848 he united his business
with that of Alanson Warren and George
Woodruff, manufacturers of similar arti-
cles, the new firm taking the name of
Warren, Wheeler & Woodruff. They
bought a water privilege on the stream
flowing through Watertown, some mile
and a half below the center, and erected
a factory for the enlarged business, with
Mr. Wheeler in charge. While in New
York on business and looking for something
to more fully occupy the new premises,
he was shown the sewing machine
invented by Allen B. Wilson, which was
then on exhibition and attracting atten-
tion.
While it is true that the art of sewing
by machinery was American in its origin
and development, European genius had
been groping toward it for nearly a cen-
tury before, Weisenthal, as early as 1755,
Heilman, Thomas Saint (granted an English
patent in 1790), Thimonier (who
first obtained a patent in France in 1830).
Newton, and Archbold of England, and
possibly others, essayed the invention, but
not one of these pointed the way to a
practical sewing machine. Something
was said to have been done by Walter
Hunt, of New York, as early as 1832 ;
but
the contrivance alleged to have been
made was abandoned or neglected until
the success of others had become publicly
known. The invention of Elias Howe,
patented in 1846, was undoubtedly the
first important step toward a practical
machine, but the perfected "Howe" was