Otis M. Wheeler

Notes:

"....veteran of the recent (Mexican War) and a merchant and land trader." (Henson and Parmelee, p. 153).

Otis married Elvira "Ella" Holman on 18 Jan 1849 in Texas. Elvira (daughter of Col. Isaac Holman and Anne Wigglesworth) was born on 14 Oct 1825 in Tennessee; died on 6 Apr 1855. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

After John Cartwright's death, Elvira married Otis M. WHEELER, and can be found as "wife" in his household, along with a namesake newborn son, and her first-born, four year old William Cartwright. They later moved to Polk County. Matthew Cartwright wrote in his daybook "Mrs. John Clinton Cartwright married O. M. Wheeler in 8 mos and 8 days from Death of her Husband. Myself & wife rec'd invitation from the Madam late in the evening to take supper at candle lighting. She intended to moving to the country and making her home at Col. Wheeler. We went in the dark and Rain through the mud and saw the last of John C. Cartwright's fond and ever adoring wife." (Henson and Parmelee, p. 153).

(Research):

Census Listings:

1850 Census
Texas, San Augustine County, San Augustine District
Enumerated 10 OCt 1850
Stamped 353
311-311
W. W. Holman 39 M Farmer 30,000 KY
Eliza Holman 26 F Mi
Wm. Holman 1 M Tx
312-312
Otis M . Wheeler 37 M Farmer 50000 Mass
Elvira Wheeler 25 F Tenn
Otis Wheeler 5/12 Texas
John Polley 27 M Overseer Tx
John Kelly 26 M Laborer Ohio
Wm. Cartwright 4 M Tx

Notes:

Isaac was a veteran of the War of 1812 where he earned the title of Colonel. An attorney by profession, he was attracted to politics. He was elected to the Kentucky legistlature in 1810 and again in 1816. In 1818, he moved his family to Lincoln County, Tennessee, where he immersed himself in public affairs, running for the Tennessee assembly in 1823, and later serving as state senator. A credit squeeze in Tennessee put the Holman family in a financial bind, and the family decided to move to Texas. Sons William W. and James S. made the trip first, arriving in San Augustine in October 1834. (Noble, page 111). Isaac arrived in December with his two younger sons. In March, 1835, his wife and daughters followed. The entire family became citizens of the Redlands. Isaac died only eight months after his arrival in San Augustine. (Harry Noble) In "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" it was written that the family brought 20 slaves with them to Texas. (Henson & Parmelee, p. 84)

Isaac married Anne Wigglesworth on 25 Dec 1800 in Kentucky. Anne was born on 14 Sep 1783; died on 22 Jul 1841 in San Augustine County, Texas; was buried in Holman Cemetery, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henson and Parmelee, in their book "The Cartwrights of San Augustine," wrote that Anne, along with her teenage daughters, Amanda, America and Elvira, journeyed "from Lincoln County, Tennessee via Nashville, Natchez, and Natchitoches in only fifteen days, a remarkably short time, having connected with steamboats at all three places by mere minutes. In Natchitoches a drove of horses from Arkansas had just arrived and they bought three for only $180. The colonel had been Sandford, his youngest son, to Tennessee to escort his mothers and sisters, but he had unknowingly passed them on the river. From this brief account, it is clear that Anne Wigglesworth Homas was an unusually self-reliant woman, unafraid to travel alone over unfamiliar territory. She and her three teenage daughters were relatively safe on board the steamboats, but the journey from Natchitoches seems unusual. The ladies most have been accompanied by loyal servants who could hitch the horses to their vehicles and act as an escort past Fort Jesup and through the Sabine Bottom. (pp. 84-85). Aldophus Sterne in Nacogdoches noted that a number of pope suffered from fever and died during the month [of July 1841, when both John Cartwright and Anne Wigglesworth Holman died]. While no local people identified the sickness that summer, it may have been yellow fever. Two men who left Nacogdoches in September died of the dread disease as soon as they reached Vicksburg. (p. 117).

Notes:

Married:
Shown as marrying in Woodford County, Kentucky by some. Henson and Parmelee instead cite their marriage as taking place in Harrison County.