Timothy Wheeler and the American Revolution

By Digital image from: www.history.org Provenance details from: digitalgallery.nypl.org, Public Domain, Link

For holidays like Independence Day I always have grand plans on pulling a bunch of information and tell the stories of my ancestors that were involved. And I never really pull it off.  So instead you will get a bit of information and I will build it out when I get to that generation.  We have many ancestors who participated in the revolution as both patriots and loyalists.  This post will touch on one of the stories I really enjoy from the Wright side of the tree.

I've come across this story in multiple books but don't have a direct reference for it handy.  Timothy Wheeler was my Sixth Great Grandfather and a miller in Concord, MA at the time of the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April, 19th, 1775.   Here is how he participated:

The shrewd and successful address of Captain Timothy Wheeler on this occasion deserves notice. He had the charge of a large quantity of provincial flour, which, together with some casks of his own, was stored in his barn.
A British officer demanding entrance, he readily took his key and gave him admission. The officer expressed his pleasure at the discovery; but Captain Wheeler with much affected simplicity, said to him, putting his hand on a barrel,
"This is my flour. I am a miller, Sir. Yonder stands my mill. I get my living by it. In the winter I grind a great deal of grain, and get it ready for market in the spring. This," (pointing to one barrel) "is the
flour of wheat; this," pointing to another, '"is the flour of corn; this is the flour of rye; this," - putting his hand on his own casks, "is my flour; this is my wheat; this is my rye - this is mine.'"
"Well," said the officer, "we do not injure private property"; and withdrew leaving this important depository untouched.

This saved much of the town's supplies from the British.  Timothy would have been 79 years old at the time.

Below is a table that shows Timothy Wheeler's descendants to my grandfather.  Some of this still needs to be validated.

Relationship	Name	Birth	Death
6th Great Grandfather	Timothy Wheeler	March 8th, 1696 Concord, MA	May 7th, 1782 Concord, MA
6th Great Grandmother	Abigail Munroe	1701 Lexington, MA	1743 Concord, MA
5th Great Grandfather	Timothy Wheeler	1722 Concord, MA	1795 Concord, MA
4th Great Grandfather	Timothy Wheeler	1752 Concord, MA	1820 Mason, NH
3rd Great Grandmother	Amy Wheeler	1793 Mason, NH	1874 Whately, MA
2nd Great Grandmother	Sarah Wheeler Sanders	1823 Whately, MA	1918 Northampton, MA?
Great Grandmother	Jane Caroline Reed	1846 Whately, MA	1936 Northampton, MA
Grandfather	David Sanders Wright	1887 Northampton, MA	1967 Amherst, MA