Jacob S. Phalan was born in New York City in 1839 to Irish immigrant parents. He spent his early childhood in an orphanage and was later "bound out" to a harness maker. I'm assuming that involves some sort of unpaid apprenticeship.
At some point he changed his last name to Wheeler and later enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served in what was commonly referred to as the "First Chicago Board of Trade Regiment" - Company B of the 72nd Illinois - from July of 1862 until the war's end. All but 18 of the 108 men in the company were reported to have been killed.
My father, Robert Wheeler, put a lot of time in after retirement tracing our family history. He had a hard time finding much information from outside sources about his great-grandfather, but luckily Jacob liked to write.
From Bob Wheeler's research:
Little is known for certain about Jacob's antecedents and his early life. In later years he specified that he was born in New York City on September 11, 1839. That was probably only a best guess based on the date of his admittance to the orphanage. Records of St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum, which Jacob consulted in 1910, provided no information on his parents or siblings, and very little on Jacob himself. Only that Jacob S. Phalan, age 5, was admitted on September 10, 1844, and discharged May 28, 1852, at age 13, to Philip Heeny. Jacob was never able to find any information of his family even though he made substantial efforts in his later years. He apparently did not know the names or origins of his parents. He believed that he had at least two brothers and a sister - all older than he.
Luckily for us, Jacob wrote a bit to a good friend in Galena, IL - and later in life to his son Stephen. The bulk of what we know about his life comes from those letters. Bob Wheeler continues:
There are at least two family stories as to how the name Wheeler was selected. One, that it was taken from the name of a sewing machine company, and a second that it was taken from a political poster Jacob chanced to see as he was fleeing New York City. Both family stories have it that he was in trouble with the law when he left New York. In any event it would appear that his fear of the Knownothings was sufficient by itself, to abandon, to abandon his Irish name.
His reasons for leaving New York come through very clearly in a letter to his son Charles, probably written about 1909. He was greatly frightened by the activities of the Knownothings and the great riots in New York in the 1850s. He says in his letter:
"I saw it and you have not the slightest conception of
the state of affairs at that time. I still remember the killing of Bill Poole
and his burial out at Greenwood Cemetery and it scared me out of the City and did
much to turn me from Catholicism. Bloody times - they were worse than the war -
and I have seen both. I was doing well and getting on but those scenes are with
me still and to me worse than War the way I looked at it and more horrible. So
much more more frenzied hate, unbottled frantic fanaticism let loose and running
wild. Hope never to see any more of it. War unintended; just hell let loose and on
top."
I am moved in so many ways to have my great-great-grandfather's thoughts and experiences to read. A man who couldn't possibly have much in the way of formal education was a deep thinker and a compelling writer. I plan to share more of his writing with you.
But what I want to really emphasize is to urge YOU to write.
I'm sure Jacob never dreamed his great-great-grandson Don would would cherish and gain from his thoughts and experiences. You may think something like that about yourself.
Odds are, you're wrong.
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