Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Oley; Eleanor Oley, who married John Manning, father of Daniel Manning, Cleveland's first Sec- retary of the Treasury; and Simon Van Antwerp Oley. The last named was born in Albany Feb- ruary 3, 1 801, and died June i, 1857, i" Utica, N. Y. , whither he moved in about 1820. He was an extensive boot and shoe manufacturer. He was a prominent and respected citizen, and was one of the founders and earnest supporters of Grace Episcopal Church, of which he was one of the first two wardens, holding that office until his death. He married, early in the " twenties,"' for his first wife, Rachel Hunt, whose grandfa- ther, Stephen Hunt, emigrated from Holland about 1770 and settled in Dutchess county, N. Y. His son, Stephen Hunt, Jr., married Anna McDougall, daughter of Hugh and Mary (Wes- ley) McDougall, the former of whom came from Scotland about 1773; he served in the Revolu- tionary war. Mary Wesley came from England',, where she left a brother named Charles Wesley, from whom come the names in the family Charles Wesley Hunt, Charles Hunt Oley and Charles W. Oley. To Simon Van Antwerp and Rachel (Hunt) Oley were born five children, of whom we have the following record: (1) Charles Hunt Oley, born December 5,. 1826, died June 2, 1892. He was married twice, and his second wife was Jennie Hedges, of Brook- lyn; he had no children. When the Civil war first broke out he went to the front and became a captain, serving through the entire struggle. (2) Simon Oley, born September 29, 1828, died July 22, 1891. At an early age he became possessed of the idea that he wished to become a farmer, so he engaged at farm work in order to familiarize himself with the mysteries of agri- culture. In 1845 he went to Livingston county and worked at farming for eight years, in 1853 purchasing a farm in Monroe county, N. Y., where he passed the remainder of his days. He kept thoroughly abreast of the times in every- thing that pertained to his calling, and was known as a most progressive farmer — advanced in his ideas and methods — among his neighbors and fellow townsmen, by whom he was highly respected. He was a zealous member of the Episcopal Church, and served as warden for years. On December 21, 1853, Simon Oley married Martha Jane Wheeler, a native of Liv- ingston county, N. Y., who survives him, and to this union came three children, Simon Willard (who is fully spoken of farther on), Charles Wheeler and Jennie Louise. Charles Wheeler Oley, born March 22, 1856, graduated from the Geneseo State Normal, and later from the Uni- versity of the City of New York, class of '94-95. 18 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. He wandered out to Dakota in 1884, and spent two years on the plains, after which he took up ■school teaching as a profession, becoming prin- cipal of the schools at Dunellen, N. J. For the last eight years he has been principal of the Union school at Freeport, L. I. On June 28, 1888, while in Dunellen, he married Theodora J. Wilcox, and they have two children: Warren Wheeler, born April 12, 1889, and Theodora Madeline, born November 11, 1890. Jennie Louise Oley, born December 28, 1857, was mar- ried December 28, 1881, to Edwin H. Cutler, who was born May 4, 1856, son of Charles F. Cutler; the last named was born May 24, 1809. They have four children: Jessie Jane, born July 8, 1883; Franc Lucinda, June 20, 1884; Simon Oley, September 10, 1886; Emily Louise, June 3, 1894- (3) John Hunt Oley, born September 24, 1830, died March 11, 1888. He never married. When the Civil war commenced he was a mem- ber of the Seventh New York Home Guards, and was sent south to drill troops. He was rapidly promoted until he attained the rank of brevet brigadier-general, with which title he was mustered out at the close of the war. He was then appointed Internal Revenue collector for West Virginia, and after four years of this work became land agent of the well-known railroad king, C. P. Huntington, for whom he established the city of Huntington, on the Ohio river, in a cornfield. Huntington grew very rapidly, and John H. Oley held in succession every office in the gift of the citizens. (4) Sarah Oley, born September 5, 1832, died July 22, 1886. She married Wallace Mer- riam, and had one daughter, Edith Merriam. (5) Mary Elizabeth Oley, born November 4, 1834, was a teacher for many years in New York ■City in the special work of finishing education for young ladies. Simon Van Antwerp Oley married, for his ■second wife, Harriet H. Hitchcock, by whom he had three children: (i) Harriet Maria Oley, born July 30, 1843, died November 19, 1876. She married Guilford Chace, of the firm of Archer, Pancost & Co., the oldest and largest firm of gas fixture manufacturers in the United States, and left two children, Louise and Harry. (2) Horace Hitchcock Oley, born January 31, 1842, died March 10, 1866. He was a lieu- tenant in the Civil war, and died as a result of exposure while storming a fort on the coast of Florida. (3) Louise Hitchcock Oley, born July 23, 1845, married Augustus C. Merriam, brother of her sister Sarah's husband. He was profes- sor of Latin, Greek and Sanscrit in Columbia College, and was sent to Athens to take charge of the English Classical School in that city. There he caught pneumonia, and died in 1895. When " Cleopatra's Needle " was brought to this country from Egypt and set up in Central Park he was given the laborious task of trans- lating the hieroglyphics on the crabs that were originally under the corners of the Needle. After months of work he finished the task, and pub- lished a pamphlet, which was accepted by schol- ars throughout the world. On the maternal side Dr. Oley is descended from Ebineser Stebbins and Diadama Burt. Their daughter, Koxana Stebbins, married a Wheeler, son of one of three brothers who came from England about 1775. Their son, Warren Wheeler, who was born January 12, 1798, and died May 6, 1884, was Dr. Oley's maternal grand- father. He was raised in Vermont, and at the age of nineteen married and went to western New York, at a time when the city of Rochester, N. Y. , consisted of one frame house and about a dozen log ones. The following year he drew a load of wheat to Albany in order to sell it for cash, and then he took his wife back with him, in the farm wagon with which he drew the wheat. The wife died soon after, and Mr. Wheeler waited until he was twenty-eight before he married again, his second union, with Marinda Baker, being cele- brated February 16, 1826. She was born April 26, 1803, and died February 22, 1869. Her fa- ther, Timothy Baker, who was born in 1759, and died February 9, 1844, served three }ears in the Revolutionary army, enlisting at Hancock, Mass. Timothy Baker had four daughters: Marinda, (Mrs. Wheeler), Lucy (Mrs. Odell), Sally (Mrs. Howe) and Mehitable (Mrs. Sharp); and one son, Timothy. The last named had a son, Harvey, who married Amy Hudnot, of Geneseo, N. Y. The elder Timothy Baker married, for his second wife, Sally Gould, and to them were born four children: Shelby, who served in the Civil war, and is now living in Livonia, N. Y. ; Philena, who married Nelson James, of Geneseo, N. Y., and had two daughters; Lucina, Mrs. Kenedy; and Orange Baker. Warren Wheeler and his wife Marinda Baker had four children: (i) Sarah Maria, born December 5, 1827, married Henry Coe, of Conesus, N. Y. , and to them were born three children — Fred, Ivit and Adella. Mrs. Coe is deceased. (2) Willard Warren Wheeler, born December 15, 1S29, died August 12, 1896. He married Eliza McDonall, but they had no chil- dren. He was a successful wholesale grain deal- er, and in the early oil times in Pennsylyania was one of the first to take engines into the work of boring wells. In this he was also successful, t. ', I II Id !.*! (j;i -jdi ill .lilill I ■ 1. 1 1 1.- ( J ',l)unb;/i .e"i,-.ij/!',M,,.':,,. > ^1 •...vv ,,r h|, ■| SIM ,,; . ■ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 19 sinking a number of wells, from which he derived a handsome fortune. (3) Adella married, and died childless. (4) Martha Jane, born May 9, 1835, is the mother of Dr. S. W. Oley. Warren Wheeler settled in Livingston county, N. Y., and became a wealthy and honored farmer. He long held offices of trust that were in the gift of the people, for many years serving as justice of the peace, trying many cases of dispute among the early settlers of his section. The court in those days was almost invariably held in the 'Squire's kitchen. He not only tilled the soil, but did the family tailoring and shoemaking, shod his horses and manufactured the machinery that was needed to thresh his grain, make the cider, card the flax and spin it into thread, and then the looms with which to weave it into cloth for the clothes of the family.