1735 Wheeler Homestead-Where It All Started!

Something has happened and I can no longer post pictures so I am probably going to stop this Blog and Blog at a new site. Thanks for reading what I have written and please switch to my new site. Jean

New Blog Site - Mystic and Stonington, a Storied Past, CT Tales from my Ancestors,
http://mystoningtonancestors.wordpress.com

When I was 10 years old my grandmother inherited The Wheeler Homestead in Stonington, CT also known as Maple Lawn Farm. This house, located at 343 Wheeler Road, had been in my family since 1735! A book had even been published about this house.

Today this 1735 historic house is in the process of being torn down and rebuilt. Over the old arched Victorian double doors the wooden plaque read, 

Richard A. Wheeler and Grace Denison Wheeler, my author ancestors,  published books that are still used today as major resources for local Stonington area history.( See the books listed in the plaque above) Their books tell the stories from the Indians and first settlers of this Stonington-Mystic area onward until the early 1900’s. They show old black and white photographs of many old houses and buildings  and relate their colorful history. One book explains what was transcribed on all the old gravestones in Stonington.

Using articles and books left to me, along with the book Grace Wheeler’s Memories, about this house, I hope to share with you some stories from the past but link them to the present!

This is what the house looked like when I lived there in the 60's and 70's. It had white clapboards and green shutters. Its official name was  Maple Lawn Farm since there had been many Maple trees lining the long stone driveway.

This is the same Wheeler Homestead in May, 2011. After 276 long Connecticut winters the house needs major restoration.  In this picture  the porch has been removed, the shutters are off and the ell in back has been completely rebuilt.

Can a house “reproduction” still tell the same stories of the past? 

Richard A. Wheeler, History of Stonington,CT

Something has happened and I can no longer post pictures so I am probably going to stop this Blog and Blog at a new site. Thanks for reading what I have written and please switch to my new site. Jean

New BLOG-Mystic and Stonington, a Storied Past, CT Tales from my Ancestors,

http://mystoningtonancestors.wordpress.com/

Today when you enter The Old Stonington Lighthouse Museum you will see a large plaque, hanging over the doorway, honoring Richard Ansom Wheeler.  It was placed there in 1910 to honor his service to Stonington history. The Woolworth Library also has a small framed picture of him.

 

Wheeler (1817-1904) wrote The History of the Town of Stonington, 1649-1900 with a Genealogical Register and The History of the First Congregational Church (Road Church).  Both are rare and valuable books and still major sources of early local area history. Both books tell about the early settlerment of Stonington: the Indians, the first settlers, slaves, wars, the founding of business, the building of roads, bridges, ferries, etc. 

Wheeler was the Judge of Probate and High Sheriff of New London County for many years. Apparently Richard never applied for the bar, but settled scores of estates and wrote over 650 wills, none of which were ever broken!

“Uncle Richard” was my grandmother’s uncle. My family inherited his home, the 1735 Wheeler Homestead at 343 Wheeler Road, in 1957. We kept his picture hanging in the “sitting room” with pictures of both of his two wives hanging on either side. Those same pictures still hang in the house today! My grandparents met at the house because they were both related to one of these women. (The first an Avery descendant who died, the second a Noyes descendant.)

Richard was a large man, over 6 feet tall, with red curly hair. It turned white prematurely and after that he always wore a full beard.

He became a captain in the CT Militia at 20. He was a town selectman for 15 years, a member of several Historical Societies and the New England Genealogical Society. He was President of Stonington Savings Bank and the Road Church Clerk for 65 years.

Richard descended from most of the families in Stonington. He was proud of his 1735 homestead and the fact that the property had been handed down from father to son until he passed it on to his daughter Grace, having no sons.  My family sold it for the first time out of the family in 1974, after 285 years!

Wheeler wrote about this  First Congregational Church(Road Church) located at 903 Pequot Trail. There is an old district school house located next to it.