admin ALBERT JOEL WHEELER, President of the Western Savings Bank, is one of the leading business men of Buffalo, and has for many years been prominent in elevator and malting industries.
The Wheeler family came from England during the early Colonial period, first settling in Connecticut, and later at Smithtown, L. I. Wickham Wheeler, great-grandfather of Albert J. Wheeler, was born at Smithtown in 1740, and was a farmer. His son, Ebenezer, was born at Smithtown in 1776 and spent the last twenty years of his life in Buffalo, where he died in 1857. He married Susan Gerhard, who was born in France and who died in Buffalo in 1853. Joel Wheeler, the father of Albert Joel Wheeler, was born in Smithtown, L. I., in 1814, and died May 7, 1892. Coming to Buffalo in 1832, he engaged in the provision trade, and also in the manufacture of soap. Afterward he carried on a grain commission business, and later became connected with the elevating and malting business, taking his son into partnership. For fourteen years prior to his death, Joel Wheeler was President of the Western Savings Bank. During the early ’60’s he served several terms as Alderman from the old Second Ward. In 1840 he married Mary Jane McElvaney, who was born in Orange County, N. Y., in 1821, and was a daughter of Charles and Catharine McElvaney. The McElvaney family came to this country from the north Of Ireland about 1800. Mrs. Wheeler died in Buffalo June 22, 1905. The children of Joel Wheeler were twin brother and sister, Albert J. and Mary Frances.
Albert Joel Wheeler was born in Buffalo August 3, 1841. He received his early education at the public schools, afterward graduating from W. S. Smith’s Military High School. When nineteen years old he entered his father’s office on the old Central Wharf, and in 1864, in partnership with his father, embarked in the elevating business. Purchasing the old Wells Elevator on the “Island,” the firm built an extension, re-christened the elevator “The Wheeler,” and did a general grain elevating business. When the elevator was destroyed by fire in 1888, a new one was erected on the same site. This too was burned, in 1906. The Ontario Elevator on the Evans Ship Canal was built by the Wheelers in 1888. It was burned in October, 1904, and was replaced by the Monarch Elevator, a splendid structure made of concrete and steel, and having a capacity of 600,000 bushels. In 1870 Messrs. Wheeler established a malting business, in Perry street, Buffalo, where they built a plant which has ever since been in operation. Both the grain elevating and the malting enterprises were attended with great success. After the death of his father, Albert J. Wheeled continued to conduct the business which they had controlled m common, upon the same lines which their joint experience had tried and approved. In 1892 Mr. Wheeler was elected a trustee of the Western Savings Bank, in 1896 was chosen its President, and has ever since remained the head of the institution, which is one of the oldest and most reliable of its kind in Western New York. When the German Bank failed in December, 1904, Mr. Wheeler was selacted by the Attorney General as the Receiver of the defunct bank. He closed up its affairs in such a skillful and careful manner that the depositors received a much greater proportion of their money than was at first thought possible.
Mr. Wheeler is a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, and has served as one of its trustees. He has been a member of Ancient Landmarks Lodge, P. & A. M., for the last forty years. He is a member of the Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, the Young Men’s Association, and the Buffalo Club.
In September, 1864, Mr. Wheeler married Catharine Clinton, a daughter of Judge George W. Clinton, and sister of George and Spencer Clinton. Mrs. Wheeler died in January, 1881, leaving three children, George Clinton, Joel Howard, who died in 1893, and Mabel. June 3, 1888, Mr. Wheeler married his second wife, Kate K. Barton, daughter of Peter Porter Barton and Mary C. Whitney of Lewiston, N. Y. The children of the union are two daughters, Mary and Catharine Barton.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I