A Story from Hudson's Past

I regularly walk my dog Joey in Cedar Park Cemetery. Its curving paths and gentle hills make for pleasant walks for both of us. When we first took up the habit of walking in the cemetery, I enjoyed discovering the graves of people I'd read about and written about--such Hudson notables as Frank Forshew, the photographer; Henry S. Moul, the architect; Grace Gillette, the school board member; Henry Galster, the doctor; J. H. Luff, the veterinarian. Other tombstones inspired me to wonder about the lives of the people buried there. Such was the case with this grave marker, which I have passed many times.

Given my current interest in World War I, I was curious to know the story of this young man, a sergeant in Hudson's own Company F, who had died in Germany three months after the Armistice that ended the war. Earlier this week, quite by accident, I came upon this notice in the Columbia Republican for July 30, 1918, in a column with the head "Soldiers News."

It inspired me to devote a day or two to learning what I could about Edward Wheeler.

A search for "Edward Wheeler" in the newspapers at Fulton History yielded a superabundance of results. It turns out that, in 1922, the wealthy rector of a posh Episcopal Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, named Edward Wheeler Hall had been the victim of a double murder, along with the woman with whom he was romantically involved--an attractive member of the church choir, who was the wife of the church sexton. It was four years before the murder was solved, and for much of that time newspapers throughout New York were obsessed with the story. (It was finally uncovered that the rector's wife and three of her male relatives conspired to hire someone to commit the crime.) After scrolling past literally thousands of articles about the violent fate of the adulterous rector and his unfortunate love, I finally discovered a series of items from the Hudson Register about the Edward Wheeler I sought. 

The first item I found appeared on the front page of the Register for June 3, 1911. It reported that Edward Wheeler, "a young man of fifteen," won first prize in "the amateur night at the Hudson theatre." Edward, the article continues, "made a decided hit with his soprano voice and his singing of 'Someone Thinks of Someone.'" His brother Perry Wheeler, who had won first prize the week before, won second prize. The article concludes: "The Wheeler boys are all vocalists, another brother George, Jr., also contesting for a prize Thursday night. Their father, George Wheeler, for many years sang in choirs and musical events about the city, possessing a bass voice of exceptional quality." 

The reference to Edward Wheeler's brothers led me to census records, to learn more about the family. George Wheeler and his wife, Annie, lived at 15 Power Avenue, in that part of the city known as Simpsonville.

Power Avenue in the 1960s
Evelyn & Robert Monthie Slide Collection, Columbia County Historical Society

When the houses of Simpsonville were documented in the early 1970s for the Historic American Buildings Survey, 15 Power Avenue was not included, probably because it no longer existed. But at the turn of the 20th century and for several decades after, it was the home of George and Annie Wheeler and their twelve children: George, Jr. (b. 1890), Harold (b. 1891), John (b. 1893), Perry (b. 1895), Edward (b. 1896), Ruth (b. 1898), Arthur (b. 1900), Rebecca (b. 1904), Frank (b. 1906), Paul (b. 1909), Ralph (b. 1911), Mildred (b. 1914).

From 1911 to 1916, Edward Wheeler's name is mentioned a few times in the newspaper, as one of "young people" who were guests at parties--a surprise party at 39 North Fifth Street, a surprise party on Partition Street, two birthday parties and a "Victrola dance" in Stottville.

39 North Fifth Street is the second house from the left in this row of Italianate worker houses constructed soon after the Civil War.

The 1915 New York State census indicates that, at the time of the census, Edward Wheeler, then 19, was working as a butcher. On February 17, 1916, the Hudson Register reported that Edward Wheeler had joined Company F. He would have been among the soldiers in this picture, taken at the Hudson Armory on June 18, 1916.

When the "F boys" were sent to Orange County in February 1917 to guard the aqueduct, a reporter for the Register was with them and sent back daily dispatches filled with droll news about the men. Edward Wheeler was often mentioned in these dispatches. On February 14, we're told he "gets his candy every day and goes all by himself to eat it." On February 24, it's reported that he is "trying to sing everybody to sleep." On February 27, we're told he hated to miss a church service but had to because he was on guard duty. On March 5, it's reported that he "had the blues . . . because he could not go to the Vails Gate minstrels." In a dispatch on March 9, he is referred to as "Doll Face." 

On Friday, July 20, 1917, Company F was formally mustered into federal service. The account of the muster in the Hudson Register tells how the mustering officer, Lieutenant Elmo Rorke, thought the muster would have greater significance if it took place in front of the Columbia County Courthouse instead of the Hudson Armory, so the company and its officers marched "in splendid manner to the Court house and there formed in front and rear rank, facing the building." The account in the Register goes on to say:

After the muster the officers gave the Register permission to have a photograph taken of the company on the Court house steps. The picture appears above, and was taken by Photographer Rowles.

In the microfilm version of the page available online, the picture had been cut out, leaving these remains.

On July 29, Company F left for training at Fort Niagara. Again, there were regular reports from Fort Niagara in the Register about the "F boys." In one of those reports, on August 25, 1917, we learn:

Edward Wheeler, Myron Hermance, and H. Akins take a row boat now and sing on the lake. They know where they are well off.

More than two decades of the Hudson Register are missing from the Fulton History database, from 1917 to 1940, so the account of Edward Wheeler singing in a rowboat on Lake Erie was the last mention of him I could find until April 7, 1943, when an article on the sports page of the Hudson Register revealed the fate of Edward Wheeler. The article was actually about Eddie Wheeler, Edward Wheeler's nephew, the son of his older brother John. In 1943, Eddie Wheeler was in the army, serving as a butcher for the commissioned officers at Fort Lee in Virginia. Also at Fort Lee was Billy Conn, the Light Heavyweight Champion best known for challenging Joe Louis in an attempt to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The article reports how the famous boxer had befriended Wheeler and asserts: "There's nothing 'swell-headed' about him and you can take that from Wheeler, who ought to know. . . . He's just an every day sort of fellow who figures he's just one man in this vast army of Uncle Sam's." The last paragraph of the article speaks of Eddie's namesake.

Young Eddie Wheeler is named after his uncle, the late Edward Wheeler, who served this country in the last war until he was stricken with pneumonia in France and died over there. . . . His remains were later brought back to this city for interment. . . . He went into federal service with Company F of this city and sailed for France in August, 1918. . . . Over there he served with the 51st Pioneers at the front and later with the Army of Occupation in Germany. . . . While on duty, he was stricken with pneumonia and died in hospital at Coblentz, France on February 16, 1919 at the age of 22 years. . . .

Coblenz is not in France but in Germany, where the Moselle River joins the Rhine. After the Armistice, Coblenz was occupied by the Third Army, a select group of troops from the American Expeditionary Forces, from early December 1918 until January 1923.

Coblenz, Germany, circa 1919

The stone that marks Edward Wheeler's grave in Cedar Park Cemetery stands beside a larger stone. On one side of that stone are carved with the names of his parents, George Wheeler and Annie Hermance.

On the opposite side of the same stone, harder to distinguish, is carved the name of Edward's brother John, who named his son after him.

John's son Edward was born on December 5, 1917, just months after Company F left for Fort Niagara. The little item discovered in the Columbia Republican for July 30, 1918, which set this whole research exercise in motion, provides evidence that Edward Wheeler had the opportunity to meet his namesake before he went overseas to the war.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK