Page:One of a thousand.djvu/657

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WHEELER. WHKKLEK. 6 43 elusive, and a member of the House of Representatives from 1885 to '88, inclusive, serving in 1885 as House chairman of the committee on cities, and as a member of the committee on rules of the House ; in 18S6 and '87 as House chairman of the m If WILLIAM F WHARTON committee on railroads and of the joint committee on rules, and chairman of the committee on House rules; and in t888, chairman of the judiciary committee and the committee on House rules, and House chairman of the committee on joint rules. In [883 Mr. Wharton was appointed by the mayor of Boston one of the commis- sioners to revise the ordinances of the city. lie is the editor of the seventh edition of "Story on Partnership." WHEELER, John Wilson, of 1 (range, Franklin county, is a native of that town, and has always resided there, with the ex- ception of two years spent in Fitchburg. He was burn November 20. 1832, the second of nine children of Wilson and Catherine (Holmes) Wheeler, and the only facilities he had fur education were found in the public schools. For a year or two after his majority he worked as a carpenter. From 1S56 to '62 he was clerk in a general store in Orange, then for a year or mure was in the claim agency business, and from 1863 to '67 was engaged in mercan- tile business on his own account. In 1867, at the age of thirty-five, Mr. Wheeler became associated with others in the manufacture of sewing machines, un- der the firm name of A. F. Johnson & Co. 'I' wo years later a corporation was formed, known as the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company. In 1882 the corporate! name was changed to The New 1 [nine Sewing Machine Company, and the concern has grown from its small beginnings till it now employs on an average live hundred and fifty men, and turns out three hundred machines a dav From the start. Mr. Wheeler has been the financial manager, and one of the controlling spirits of this enterprise, as ..ell as an active worker in the closely associated organization, the Orange Iron Foundry Company, organized in 1.S71. In January, 1SS1, he was elected a trus- tee nf the Orange Savings Bank, and live years later was made president, which position he now holds. He has been one JOHN W. WHEELER. of the directors of the Orange National Hank since June, ;8,So, and in January, 1888, was .made its vice-president. He is likewise president of the Orange Power Company, and in January, [889, was elec- ted one of the directors of the Gossard Investment Company, at Kansas City, Mo.,