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(b) = born    (d) = died    ( f ) = father    (m) = mother    (w) wed     

f. Thomas Wheeler
 

Thomas Wheeler II (a.k.a. "Thomas Sr.") was noted as living at Wharley End of Cranfield, in his father's ("Thomas the Elder") will, and was known as "Thomas of Wharley" while still living in England. 

Thomas Wheeler II married Ann Halsey on May 5, 1613 in a double wedding with Robert Halsey and Ann Wheeler (presumably a brother-sister wedding).  The Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, lists Thomas Wheeler's seven children's baptismal dates.

Thomas brought his family to the colonies in 1636/7, along with his brothers (Timothy, Joseph, Ephraim and Thomas Jr.) and sisters (Elizabeth and Susanna).  They came with the group of founders of Concord, Massachusetts, as noted on the Roll of Arrears of payment of ship money, and 1637, Bedford County tax listing notes: "Thomas Wheeler gone into New England". 

The "Puritan Exudos" had a profound affect on Cranfield and the surrounding villages, an area of Puritan dissatisfaction, as numerous families joined the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, former rector of Odell, in and around Concord, Massachusetts, including the families Halsey, Odell, Lawton, Sayre, Turney, GRummet, Lettin, and others. The Wheelers were respected in the community and chosen for positions of leadership in town affairs. 

Thomas was made a freeman of the colony on April 17, 1637.

Thomas and his brothers Ephraim and Thomas moved as part of the congregation of Reverend John Jones to Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1644.

It is said that Thomas was the first settler at Black Rock, CT, and that he built a stone house, or fort having a plank roof on which he mounted two four-pound cannons, one pointing toward the mouth of the harbor, and the other toward an Indian fort situated at the head of the harbor, now known by the name of Old Fort, which was defended by some 200 Indians, which was their refuge in the numerous wars with rival tribes from further inland.  His home lot a Penquonnock of 2½ acres, recorded in January 1649, was bounded on the northeast with the home-lot of Thomas Wheeler, Jr. (his eldest son).

"He built his house of stone with a strong plank roof, and upon this roof he place two small cannon.  One pointed out down the harbor against a possible Dutch invasion by sea; the other was directed at the Indian fort that stood north on the hill.  The Indians were friendly and the Dutch invisible, but Thomas was cautious man."

Thomas made his will on January 16, 1654 and the inventory was made on August 23, 1654.  He provided generously for his wife Ann, and to his "eldest son Thomas" who lived in Concord, MA, he gave his home-lot and all land, divided or undivided, in Concord.  To his daughter Sarah, wife of Thomas Sherwood, he gave 10 shillings, and to her son Thomas a colt.  To his four grandchildren (Mary, James, Thomas and John Bennet, children of his daughter Hannah, then dead) and to James Bennet who had married his daughter in 1639, he gave 10 shillings each.  To his son John, his sole executor, he left all his estate in Fairfield, reserving to his wife Ann the right to his house and lands left for her use at Greenlea.  He made Thomas Wheeler, his youngest brother an overseer of this will.

His widow, Ann, died in Fairfield in 1659, her will dated August 21 and inventory dated October 20.

* Information found in; "The Wheeler Genealogy - The Ancestral Wheeler Family of Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England Whose Descendents Settled in Colonial New England",  "Fifty Great Immigration Colonists to New England & Their Origins" - John B. Threlfall  and  "The Wheeler Family of Cranfield, England and Concord, Massachusetts" - M. Wheeler Molyneaux