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Show Volume XIX Issue XXIII The Ogden Valley news Page 9 January 1, 2012 A Sketch of the Life of Levi Wheeler Levi Wheeler was born July 5, 1812 at Greene, Maine. Very little is known about his father, Simon Wheeler. We first learn of Simon as working for his father-in-law, Simon Stevens, at a saw mill in Augusta and Lewiston Maine. Simon married Sarah Stevens and moved to Green, Maine where he bought a home. Several of Simon and Sarah’s children were born at Greene and Leeds, which are three miles apart. Simon and Sarah moved about considerably and at present we do not know the birthplace of all the children—12 of them. Levi told his family that his father was in the lumber business and that as a boy he helped cut the trees and take the logs down to Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers and that in the summer, even at 16 years, he went barefooted and bareheaded. Levi became a man of six feet and weighed over 200 pounds. His eyes were blue and his hair was gray at an early age, but it was thick and was never slickly combed for he had a habit of running his fingers through it. At 21 years he married Maryann Wilder Arnold, the daughter of Jonathan and Mary W. Arnold. They lived in Maine and Massachusetts where four of their children were born: Levi Lincoln, George Walton, Calvin and Almyra. The story is told that his wife first heard the Elders preach and when Levi came home from the logging she told him about them and induced him to go and hear them preach, and that one of the Elders was George Walton. They were converted and baptized in 1846, and they named their next son George Walton, after the elder who had brought them the gospel. Before their last child, Melissa, was born they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois along with some of Levi’s brothers and mother, and then moved to Paw Paw, Illinois, where his wife Maryann died with tuberculosis in 1850. Baby Melissa was then 3 years old. Jacob, Levi and probably others of the family went to the California Gold Rush of 1849. On his trip to California, Levi drove mules; he preferred them to oxen, as they were tougher and faster on foot. The oxen were slow and could not travel the steep mountains. From this Levi amassed quite a little fortune. In 1855 he packed up his belongings with his young family and came out West and settled at Ogden, Utah. He built a home on the lot where Weber College now stands. Then he built a saw mill up the canyon which became known as Wheeler Basin. At this mill many of his relatives were employed, which included his brother Simon, his sister Martha’s son, Levi Smith, and some of the Perrys. It is said that he and President John Taylor were good friends and they went together and bought a threshing machine. His first sawmill was in North Ogden, which at that time was a beautiful grove of timber. Levi made each of his sons a foreman in charge of the men who worked with them.\ Levi, Jr. was in charge of logging the timbers out, and getting them down to the stream. They would take the oxen and a two wheeled cart up and fasten the large ends of the logs on the cart and drag them down the mountainside to the stream. Calvin was in charge of getting the logs down the river to the mill. George was in charge of sawing the lumber at the mill. As the trees were used up, the mill was moved closer to the timber—from North Ogden, to Ogden Canyon, on to Wheeler Creek, and Snow Basin or Wheeler Basin. Wheeler Canyon up Ogden Canyon was named for him. Levi owned the first lumber yard in Ogden City, and he owned an interest in some business places there for which he had furnished material. He was a very Miller. Margaret had heard of the gosclose friend to Lyman Farr who was presi- pel in Scotland and tried to get her husdent over the Bishops Wards of Ogden. At band to join the Church. He would not join, so Margaret came to America alone. this time he was a very wealthy man. She was an old lady Simon, his brother, when she married owned a sawmill in Levi and a room was Ogden Canyon. It was given her in the home different from the one where she was taken owned by Levi, as it care of and where she had a long saw that kept house for hersawed up and down, self. Mrs. Gillispie and the one owned by had two children, Levi was round and William and Annie, at had a big flywheel on the time she married the side of the engine Levi. Jeanette and which kept up the Levi had one child, speed when the logs Lorin, then she died. were very big or the In 1865 Levi married work was very heavy. again and this time to Because of the a young girl, Phebe deep snow and ice Roxy Perry, at the on the river, the mill Salt Lake Endowment had to close in winterHouse. The Perry’s time. The boys found were poor people and other work, Levi, Jr. Levi looked after his freighted from Butte, young wife’s family Montana to Salt Lake Levi Wheeler also. He prospered City, Utah. They went to Promontory Point and got cedar fence in his business and Phebe had everything posts to sell at Ogden. At different times that could be given in a Pioneer home, and Levi did construction work and built she was among the women who wore silk dresses in those days. Levi was very good canals, and his sons worked with him. In 1861 Levi married Mrs. Jeanette to his wife and she said of him that he was Sinclair Gillispie and Margaret McAlpine a “gentleman.” Levi was getting to be an old man before his new family was all born. By his wife Phebe, he had the following children: Maryann, Josiah, LeRay, Sarah, Almeda, Ida, Survina, and Bertha. The last three children were born in Lewiston, Utah, while the others were born at Ogden, Utah. Here he made his home for the ten years before his death in 1866. He had a saw mill in Sugar Creek Canyon, near Franklin, Idaho. Levi made several trips East, and one was when his mother died at Paw Paw, Illinois in 1865. Several of his people came out West to see him, and always there managed to be a close tie to his brothers and sisters and their children. Levi was a kind, gentle man, generous and loving and a hard worker. He was to everyone a friend. He was tactful, and often called upon to settle problems because of his understanding way. His wife, Phebe, said that never in his life did he ever speak and unkind word to her or to anyone she knew. He even took time in his busy pioneer life to teach her to read and write. Note: These facts have been related by Levi Wheeler and his children to their children and grandchildren. Much of the information came from the writing of Ellen Cornwall Anderson, great-granddaughter of Levi Wheeler. From The Past . . . If you can identify any of these students, or the year, please call Shanna at 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879. Photo courtesy of the Huntsville Historical Department. The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 if you have material you would like to share. Jeffrey D. Shepherd DMD, MSD Specialist in Orthodontics shepherdorthodontics Fast Treatment Times • Children and Adults • Flexible Payment Options Call to schedule your complimentary exam today! Eden Professional Center 2580 North Highway 162, #A EDEN 801.745.2519 South Pointe Plaza 5300 South Adams Ave, #9 OGDEN Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary, Middle School, and High School Providing a challenging, college-focused education in the proven tradition of Catholic schools, for the families of the Ogden Valley. We want to teach your children! 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