Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

the New York, New Haven & Hartford
Railroad Company. He was an active
member of the Board of Trade, and the
Board of Aldermen, and of the building
committees of schools and county build-
ings, and a commissioner for building the
State Capitol at Hartford. He was one
of the founders and the first president of
the Seaside Club ; a donor to and one of
the chief promoters of Seaside Park of
the city of Bridgeport; and a. commis-
sioner for its development. He was the
principal founder of the business of the
Bridgeport Wood Finishing Company,
and through the invention of "Wheeler's
Wood Filler" introduced new methods in
finishing woods, which continue to be
more and more widely followed. He was
a generous contributor to and for thirty-
three years a vestryman of St. John Epis-
copal Church. A Democrat in politics,
Mr. Wheeler repeatedly declined nomina-
tion to official positions. He served in the
Bridgeport Common Council, and also for
several terms in the State Legislature and
Senate. Upright in every aim, he commanded
the esteem of the people of his
native State, and especially of those in the
community in which for so long a period
he was a vital and beneficient factor.
Blessed with robust health until 1893, he
was overtaken by illness and died just
as the year closed.
His first wife, Huldah Ruth (Bradley)
Wheeler, of Watertown, Connecticut, to
whom he was married in 1842, died in
1857. There were four children by this
union: Martha, died young; Anna B.,
died young; Samuel H., a sketch of whom
follows ; and Ellen B. (Mrs. Edward W.
Harral). The Bradley coat-of-arms is as
follows
:
Arms—Gules, a chevron argent between three
boars' heads couped or.
Crest—A boar's head couped or.
Motto—Liber ac sapiens esio.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
86
On August 3, 1858, Nathaniel Wheeler
married Mary E. Crissy, of New Canaan,
Connecticut, who survived her husband
until April 20, 1910. By this mariage there
were four sons :
Harry De Forest, born
April 6, 1863, died July 10, 1881 ; Archer
Crissy and William Bishop, twins, of
whom further ; and Arthur Penoyer, born
October 20, 1875, died July 13, 1877.
WHEELER, Archer Crissy;
WHEELER, WiUiam Bishop.
Archer Crissy Wheeler and William
Bishop Wheeler, the twin brothers, who
for many years resided at No. 350 Golden
Hill Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut,
where Archer Crissy Wheeler still re-
sides, were born on September 14, 1864,
in Bridgeport, County of Fairfield, State
of Connecticut.
In 1893, at the time of the death of their
father, his duties and responsibilities fell
largely upon his sons. Archer Crissy and
William Bishop, and Samuel H. Wheeler,
a son of Nathaniel Wheeler by a former
marriage with Huldah Ruth Bradley, of
Watertown, Connecticut, who died in
1857-
Like their distinguished father, these
three brothers took up the work of these
large interests which devolved upon them
with ever increasing scope and magnitude.
Samuel H. Wheeler assumed the active
management of The Wheeler & Wilson
Manufacturing Company, which was finally
sold to Singer Manufacturing Company
in 1905. With their brother-in-law,
Edward W. Harral, Archer Crissy and
William Bishop Wheeler continued the
management, with practically the entire
ownership of The Fairfield Rubber Com-
pany, of Fairfield, Connecticut, which became
one of the largest manufacturers in
its line of production, and which made the
highest grade of rubber fabric for auto-