HIRAM M. WHEELER was born in Connecticut October 16, 1836, and is one of the four children born to Challings S. and Sibyl (Bunnell) Wheeler, natives of Connecticut, and of English descent. Challings S. Wheeler was born in 1800; was a farmer, then engaged in saw and grist milling. At 'one time owned and operated two distilleries, and was also engaged for a time in iron smelting. He was married in Connecticut, and in 1833 moved with his family to St. Joseph County, Mich., where he and two brothers entered a large tract of land, and subsequently improved a farm, and where he became Township Assessor. In 1870', he came to this township and bought a farm of 180 acres; in the tall or 1881, he rented his farm and moved to Reynolds, where he now lives in retirement. Until twenty-one years of age, Hiram M. Wheeler assisted his father, receiving a fair education meanwhile. He then went to Columbus, Ohio, where be worked in a distillery three years; then took charge of his father's distillery at Three Rivers, Mich., for a year; he next went into the grocery business at the same place for five years. During a part of this time, from September, 1861, to September, 1862, he was leader of the regimental band of the Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry. In 1865, he moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he took charge of a distillery for three years. He then bought a farm of 1,040 acres in Harrison County, Iowa, which he cultivated for about seven years. In the spring of 1875, he came to this township and purchased his present farm of 220 acres, on which he has just erected one of the finest frame residences in the county. He was married in 1857 to Esther J. Macomber, a native of New York, and to this union five children have been born, three vet living. Mr. Wheeler held the office of Township Clerk, while in Michigan, and also the combined offices of Trustee, Assessor and Director, while in Iowa. He is largely engaged in the manufacture of tiles and in the shipping of grain and stock, and is one of the most prominent farmers and business men of the county.

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